GlassFish 5 x Payara Server 5 –
Comparison
Payara Server builds on the foundation of GlassFish to deliver a production-ready, supported, and continuously improved platform for your Jakarta EE applications. With enhanced security patches, stability fixes, performance tuning, and enterprise support, Payara Server ensures your mission-critical applications run smoothly — without the risks of using an unsupported GlassFish version.
Compare GlassFish 5 and Payara Server 5
Compare feature availability, support options, and enterprise enhancements to
understand why Payara Server is the preferred choice for production and mission-critical deployments.
| Feature | GlassFish 5.x | Payara Server Enterprise 5 |
|---|---|---|
| License | Open Source | Open Source |
| Release Frequency | Irregular | Monthly |
| Releases in 2020 | 3 | 12 |
| Security Fixes | Infrequent | Instant emergency and backported fixes for Payara Enterprise customersAs soon as possible for community |
| Production Support | No | Yes |
| Migration & Project Support | No | Yes |
| Component Upgrades (e.g. Tyrus, Mojarra) | Irregular | As needed |
| Supported IDEs | EclipseNetbeansIntelliJ IDEA | EclipseNetbeansIntelliJ IDEAVisual Studio Code |
| Caching Tools | No | JCache, Domain Data Grid, Payara Scales (additional cost) |
| Automatic Clustering | No | Yes (via Hazelcast) |
| Asadmin Command Recorder | No | Yes |
| Slow SQL Logging | No | Yes |
| Health Check Service | No | Yes |
| Request Tracing | No | Yes |
| Monitoring Logging | No | Yes |
| Custom Notifiers | No | Yes |
| Microservices Distribution | No | Yes (Payara Micro) |
| MicroProfile Support | No | Yes |
| Docker Support | Community provided | Official images |
| HTTP & HTTPS Port Auto-binding | No | Yes (Payara Micro only) |
| Generate Uber JAR | No | Yes (Payara Micro only) |
| Production-tuned Domain Template | No | Yes |
| Upgrade Tool | No | Yes (Watch demo.) |
| Jakarta EE Compatible | Yes | Yes |
| Runs on JDK 11 | Yes | Yes |
| Embedded Data Grid | No | Yes (Domain Data Grid) |
Trusted by Global Leaders Across Industries
With a relentless focus on stability, security, and flexibility, Payara enables
enterprises in unlocking the full value of their Java investments.
“Having commercial support from Payara, who own the codebase, really takes open-source to the next level. They validated our configuration, made recommendations for improvement, and gave us confidence we were getting the most out of the product and making the best decisions from the start.”
Neil Openshaw
Senior Manager
Software Engineering
“The biggest impact has been the ability to scale our operations and grow our user-base. With Payara, we’ve been able to increase the number of users that we serve by 4 times.”
Reid Watson
Senior Associate Software Developer
“Partnering with Payara Server Enterprise has been a game-changer for us at LinkPulse. Their expert support, reliable 24/7 service, and long-term lifecycle have allowed us to deliver seamless migrations and maintain critical public sector systems without interruption.”
Fernando Maldonado
Project Leader
“’Using Payara Enterprise support enables us to get our APIs more stable and we feel more confident in the service we provide to our customers”
Stefan Ajderev
IT Infrastructure and Security Manager at DPD
Get You Started with Payara Server Enterprise
Book a FREE demo or contact our team to explore how Payara Server Enterprise supports secure, stable, and high-performance Java applications. Access resources to get started quickly or dive deeper into the platform.