Overview

Oracle GraalVM accelerates application performance while consuming fewer resources—improving application efficiency and reducing IT costs. It achieves this by compiling your Java application ahead of time into a native binary. The binary is smallerstarts up to 100x fasterprovides peak performance with no warmupand uses less memory and CPU than an application running on a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). With profile-guided optimization and the G1 (Garbage-First) garbage collectoryou can get lower latency and on-par or better peak performance and throughput compared to an application running on a JVM.

Key Benefits

Oracle GraalVM’s key benefits are:

• Low Resource Usage: A Java application compiled ahead of time by Oracle GraalVM requires less memory and CPU to run. No memory and CPU cycles are spent on just-in-time compilation. As a resultyour application needs fewer resources to run and is cheaper to operate at scale.
• Fast Startup: With Oracle GraalVMyou can start your Java application faster by initializing parts of it at build time instead of runtimeand instantly achieve predictable peak performance with no warmup.
• Compact Packaging: A Java application compiled ahead of time by Oracle GraalVM is small and can be easily packaged into a lightweight container image for fast and efficient deployment.
• Improved Security: Oracle GraalVM reduces the attack surface of your Java application by excluding the following: unreachable code (unused classesmethodsand fields)the just-in-time compilation infrastructureand build-time initialized code. Oracle GraalVM’s closed world assumption prevents your application from loading unknown code by disabling dynamic features such as reflectionserializationand so on at runtimeand requires an explicit include list of such classesmethodsand fields at build time. Oracle GraalVM can embed a software bill of materials (SBOM) in your binarymaking it easier for you to use common security scanners to check your Java application for published Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs).
• Easily Build Cloud Native Microservices: Popular microservices frameworks such as MicronautSpring BootHelidonand Quarkusand cloud platforms such as Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)Amazon Web Services (AWS)Google Cloud Platform (GCP)and Microsoft Azure all support Oracle GraalVM. This makes it easy for you to build cloud native Java microservicescompiled as binariespackaged in small containersand run on the most popular cloud platforms.
• Extend your Java Application with Python and Other Languages: With Oracle GraalVM you can embed languages such as PythonJavaScriptand others to extend your Java application.
• Use Existing Development and Monitoring Tools: Your existing Java application development and monitoring tools work with application binaries. Oracle GraalVM provides build plugins for Maven and Gradleand GitHub Actions for CI/CD. Oracle GraalVM supports Java Flight Recorder (JFR)Java Management Extensions (JMX)heap dumpsVisualVMand other monitoring tools. Oracle GraalVM works with existing Java editors/IDEsand unit test frameworks such as JUnit.

What to Read Next

• Start with installing Oracle GraalVM by following the installation guide.
• Whether you are new to Oracle GraalVM and Native Image or have little experience using itcontinue to Getting Started with Native Image.
• Developers who already have Oracle GraalVM installedor have experience using itshould proceed to the Reference Manuals for in-depth coverage.