Jakarta EE vs Spring Boot in 2026: I Migrated a Production Backend and the Tradeoffs Aren't What You'd Expect

Short summary

Author migrated a production backend from Spring Boot 3.x to Jakarta EE 11/Payara and measured real tradeoffs. Spring Boot wins on startup (4.2s vs 18.7s), memory (310MB vs 480MB), and ecosystem; Jakarta EE offers portability but at the cost of slower startup, larger footprint, and manual configuration. For most teams, Spring Boot remains superior unless vendor independence is critical.

• •Spring Boot: 4.2s startup, 52MB JAR, mature ecosystem
• •Jakarta EE: portability at cost of 18.7s startup, 480MB memory, manual configuration
• •Decision: choose Spring Boot unless vendor lock-in is a blocker

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