Choosing the Right Modern Java Framework: A Hands-on Battle Between Micronaut, Quarkus, Helidon, and Javalin (WORKSHOP)

Java’s ecosystem has quietly evolved beyond Spring Boot. Today, frameworks like Micronaut, Quarkus, Helidon, and Javalin offer radically different trade-offs in startup time, memory footprint, cloud-native behavior, reactive support, and GraalVM compatibility. But most developers have never seen them side-by-side, i.e. running the same workload.

In this hands-on workshop, participants will build and benchmark the same REST + Kafka/Postgres microservice using all four frameworks.

Each participant will :
Scaffold App → Add API → Add DB → Add Kafka → Build Native → Benchmark

We will live compare:

Startup Time  |   Memory  |   Throughput  |   Native Build

Micronaut   vs   Quarkus   vs   Helidon   vs   Javalin

The workshop also covers dependency injection models, reactive vs imperative programming, configuration systems, observability, and container-native builds. By the end, developers gain a real, measurable understanding of what these frameworks actually offer in production and not just marketing claims.

This is a practical, decision-making workshop for engineers building modern JVM systems.

• Participants will learn exactly when to use Micronaut, Quarkus, Helidon, or Javalin

• With GraalVM and Native Image Experiences, participants will:

  • Build native executables

  • Compare cold-start times

  • Understand what works well and what breaks in native mode

• Participants will measure: (No theory, actual numbers)

  • Throughput (RPS)

  • Heap usage

  • CPU usage

  • Container size

  • Boot time

• Clear understanding of:

  • Event-loop vs thread-per-request models

  • Backpressure

  • Async DB + Kafka consumption

  • CPU vs I/O bottlenecks

Pre Requisites:
Java 17+
Docker
Maven/Gradle
Postman/Insomnia tools
8GB RAM Recommended
Active Internet Connection


P.S.: @Reviewers, This is NOT a duplicate submission. This is a workshop, which involves hands on coding for participants. I have submitted another proposal with almost the same content which will be delivered via a slide deck.
Also, most of the content is from my work experience in the last 8 years.