Comparison: Payara Platform / Eclipse GlassFish
| Quick overview | Eclipse GlassFish 7.0.25 | Payara Community 6.2025.6 | Payara Enterprise 6.27 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pros |
Eclipse GlassFish 7.0.25 Lightweight yet robust and powerful, no vendor lock-in. Fast modernization, strong focus on Jakarta EE, MicroProfile, and security.
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Payara Community 6.2025.6 Platform for development projects that supports Jakarta EE and MicroProfile applications.
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Payara Enterprise 6.27 Robust, flexible clustering, advanced monitoring and health check features. Strong focus on Jakarta EE and MicroProfile.
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| Cons | Eclipse GlassFish 7.0.25
Lighter in enterprise features, fewer MicroProfile features.
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Payara Community 6.2025.6
Not recommended for production. Configuration and commercial support not straightforward, locked to a vendor, modernization slower.
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Payara Enterprise 6.27
Commercial subscription required, often at a very high cost.
Source code not publicly available.
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Table 2.1: Feature Comparison Overview
| Feature / Aspect | Eclipse GlassFish 7.0.25 | Payara Community 6.2025.6 | Payara Enterprise 6.27 |
| Jakarta EE Support | Jakarta EE 10 Jakarta EE 11 since version 8.0.0-M12 | Jakarta EE 10 Jakarta EE 11 since version 7 Beta | Jakarta EE 10 |
| Java Support | Java 11, 17, 21, and 24 | Java 11, 17, 21, and 24 | Java 11, 17, and 21. |
| MicroProfile Support | Partial MicroProfile 6.1 (Config, REST Client, JWT). Health coming in GlassFish 7.1.0 | MicroProfile 6.1. | MicroProfile 6.1. |
| Release Cadence | Monthly | Monthly | Monthly |
| Project Activity | Steady pace last 2 years, around 55 changes a month | Steady pace, around 60 changes a month | Unknown – no public data |
| Release Activity | 20 resolved issues a month | 18 resolved issues a month | 10 resolved issues per a month |
| Project Governance | Eclipse Foundation. OmniFish is the leading contributor | Payara Foundation Payara Services Ltd. as the leading contributor | Payara Services Ltd. |
| Focus | Stability, security, performance, standards. | Innovation, experimental features, flexibility. | Stability, security, mission-critical systems. |
| Commercial Support | By OmniFish. No migration required – directo support for Eclipse GlassFish OmniFish deeply involved in the core GlassFish project | By Payara Services. Via migration to Payara Enterprise By OmniFish. No migration required. Migration to GlassFish recommended. | By Payara Services. |
| Support Model | OmniFish: Consultancy sessions, Long-term support, SLAs, emergency fixes, custom feature development in core GlassFish | Payara Services: Long-term support, SLAs, Migration support, Emergency fixes OmniFish: Consultancy sessions, Long-term maintenance support, Emergency fixes | Payara Services: Long-term support, SLAs, Migration support, Emergency fixes |
| Support Prices | OmniFish: Moderate. Only production installations count. | Payara Services: High. All installations count. OmniFish: Moderate. Only production installations count. | Payara Services: High. All installations count. |
| Consultancy Model | OmniFish: Consultancy available without a contract. | Payara Services: Consultancy only with a long-term contract. OmniFish: Consultancy available without a contract. | Payara Services: Consultancy only with a long-term contract. |
| Installation Size | GlassFish Server Full: 142 MB Embedded GlassFish Full: 83 MB | Payara Server Full: 221 MB Payara Micro: 97 MB | Information not available |
| Startup Time | Fast. Starts 30% faster than Payara. Embedded GlassFish starts much faster. | Generally good. Payara Micro starts faster. The default Hazelcast-based clustering delays startup. | Information not available |
| Deployment Time | Various improvements, work out of the box without tuning (optimized file scanning, faster implicit CDI detection) | Various improvements, need tuning (warlib directory, CDI scanning excludes) | Some improvements, need tuning (CDI scanning excludes) |
| Microservice distribution | Embedded GlassFish, executable from command line. Starts 50% faster than Payara Micro, comparably fast to Spring Boot | Payara Micro, executable from command line, generates uber jar. Starts in seconds, 3 times slower than SpringBoot | Payara Micro, executable from command line, generates uber jar. |
| Admin Console | User-friendly UI, Asadmin Command Logger | User-friendly UI, Asadmin Recorder | User-friendly UI, Asadmin Recorder |
| Auditing features | Asadmin Command Logger (all commands – via UI, REST, CLI) | Auditing service (commands in Admin Console only) | Auditing service (commands in Admin Console only) |
| Observability | Server monitoring via REST and JMX. | Server monitoring via REST and JMX. MicroProfile Metrics, Telemetry. Notification service. HealthCheck service. | Server monitoring via REST and JMX. MicroProfile Metrics, Telemetry. Notification service. HealthCheck service. Monitoring console. |
| Clustering | Based on Hazelcast. Session replication, flexible data grid, JCache | Based on Hazelcast. Session replication, flexible data grid, JCache | Based on Shoal and GMS. Session replication, centrally managed clusters |
| Remote nodes | Manage Linux nodes via SSH. Manage Windows nodes manually or via SSH emulation. | Manage Linux nodes via SSH. Manage Windows nodes via native SSH. | Manage Linux nodes via SSH. Manage Windows nodes manually or via SSH emulation. |
| CLI/Automation | CLI commands, Command Logger for automation. Embedded GlassFish configured on command line | CLI commands, ASAdmin Recorder for automation. Payara Micro configured on command line | CLI commands, ASAdmin Recorder for automation. Payara Micro configured on command line |
| Logging subsystem | Fast asynchronous logging based on JUL, dynamic reconfiguration, high throughput | Legacy logging based on JUL (java.util.logging), low throughput | Legacy logging based on JUL (java.util.logging), low throughput |
| IDE Integration | Eclipse, NetBeans, IntelliJ IDEA, VS Code. | Eclipse, NetBeans, IntelliJ IDEA, VS Code. | Eclipse, NetBeans, IntelliJ IDEA, VS Code. |
| Docker images | Unified image for both GlassFish server and Embedded GlassFish | Separate images for each distribution | Docker images for customers |
| Commercial features | With support from OmniFish:
| With support from OmniFish:
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