Azul’s Payara Deal Forges a New Powerhouse in Enterprise Java

SUNNYVALE, CA – December 10, 2025 – In a move that reverberates through the enterprise software landscape, Azul, the only company singularly focused on the Java platform, has announced its acquisition of Payara. This isn't just another line item in a quarterly M&A report; it's a strategic consolidation that creates a formidable, unified open-source alternative in a market long dominated by proprietary giants. By bringing Payara, a leader in Jakarta EE application server solutions, into its fold, Azul is making a clear statement: the future of enterprise Java is open, modern, and no longer tethered to the costly licensing models of the past.

For years, enterprises have navigated a complex and often fragmented Java ecosystem. The acquisition directly addresses this challenge, promising a cohesive platform that supports an organization’s entire Java fleet—from legacy monolithic applications to modern, cloud-native microservices. This move goes beyond simple product integration; it represents the culmination of a long-standing partnership and a shared vision for empowering developers and businesses to innovate freely and efficiently.

The Open-Source Alternative Solidifies

The strategic heart of this acquisition lies in its direct challenge to proprietary Java vendors, most notably Oracle. For years, enterprises have expressed growing frustration with Oracle's shifting and often expensive Java licensing strategies. This has created a significant market demand for viable, enterprise-grade alternatives. Azul has steadily built its reputation by meeting this demand, and the addition of Payara supercharges that effort.

Payara, which originated from the open-source GlassFish application server, brings deep engineering expertise in the Jakarta EE space. This complements Azul's renowned high-performance Java Virtual Machines (JVMs). The result is a comprehensive, commercially supported, open-source stack. For a Chief Technology Officer, this means a single, reliable partner for their entire Java infrastructure, from the runtime that executes the code to the application server that manages it. This integrated offering aims to eliminate the fragmented tooling and operational complexity that often plagues organizations attempting to migrate away from platforms like Oracle WebLogic or Red Hat JBoss EAP.

“This strategic acquisition is further testament to Azul’s commitment to support the needs of our global enterprise customer base,” said Scott Sellers, co-founder and CEO of Azul, in the official announcement. His emphasis on customer needs underscores the market-driven nature of this decision. The combined entity is now better positioned than ever to offer a compelling value proposition: the performance, security, and innovation of a dedicated Java leader, but with the flexibility and cost-effectiveness inherent in the open-source model.

Accelerating the Inevitable: Cloud-Native Modernization

Beyond the competitive dynamics, the Azul-Payara union is a powerful enabler of digital transformation. Nearly every large enterprise is on a journey to modernize its applications, moving from on-premises data centers to the cloud and re-architecting monolithic systems into agile microservices. This acquisition is tailor-made to accelerate that journey.

The synergy between the two companies was already proven. An existing partnership saw the integration of Payara's solutions with Azul Platform Prime, a move designed to facilitate codeless 'lift-and-shift' migrations to modern cloud infrastructures. Now, as a single entity, they can deepen this integration, providing a seamless path for businesses to modernize their critical Java applications without costly and risky rewrites. Payara’s expertise in building resilient microservices and hybrid-cloud deployments provides the application-level agility, while Azul’s platform provides the underlying runtime performance and optimization needed to run these services efficiently at scale.

As Steve Millidge, founder and CEO of Payara, noted, “After a strong and long-standing partnership with Azul, combining forces is the natural next step and positions us for accelerated growth.” This sentiment points to a future where the combined roadmap will likely focus on delivering even more tightly integrated solutions that simplify cloud adoption, enhance developer productivity, and ensure mission-critical systems remain robust and secure, whether they run on-premises or across multiple clouds.

The Financial Engine: Private Equity Fuels Market Consolidation

This strategic acquisition was not made in a vacuum. It follows a recent majority investment in Azul by Thoma Bravo, one of the world's largest and most influential software-focused private equity firms. Thoma Bravo is known for its 'buy and build' strategy, where it invests in strong platform companies and helps them grow through strategic acquisitions and operational expertise. The Payara deal is a classic example of this playbook in action.

Thoma Bravo's backing provides Azul with the financial firepower and strategic counsel to compete more aggressively and expand its market footprint. “The acquisition of Payara accelerates Azul’s growth and broadens the company’s reach across the global enterprise Java market,” commented Adam Solomon, a partner at Thoma Bravo. This perspective reveals the larger game at play: market consolidation. By helping Azul absorb a key partner, Thoma Bravo is betting on its ability to build a category-defining leader in the enterprise Java space.

This financial backing signals confidence in the long-term viability and growth potential of open-source business models in enterprise software. It also suggests that the Java ecosystem may be entering a new phase of maturity, where independent, open-source-centric players consolidate to provide more comprehensive and compelling alternatives to the incumbent giants.

A Market Poised for Disruption

The timing of this acquisition is impeccable. The application server market, which Payara squarely addresses, is a significant and growing space. Market research validates the press release's claim of a total addressable market valued at over $26 billion and projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate between 11% and 14%. Critically, the Java segment constitutes the largest share of this market, highlighting the immense opportunity.

For the hundreds of thousands of businesses that rely on Java for their most critical operations—from financial services and healthcare to logistics and e-commerce—this deal offers a new path forward. It provides a credible, powerful, and cost-effective solution for modernizing their infrastructure, reducing dependency on a single proprietary vendor, and embracing the agility of the cloud. By uniting two respected names with deep roots in the open-source community, Azul is not just acquiring a company; it is building a movement toward a more open, innovative, and resilient future for enterprise Java.