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Comparison · DevOps

RESTEasy vs Undertow

A side-by-side editorial comparison of RESTEasy and Undertow — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Shared themes:java

RESTEasy vs Undertow: at a glance

FeatureRESTEasyUndertow
SectorDevOpsDevOps
Velocity score5.00.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesjakarta-ee, rest-api, java, maintenancehttp-server, java, http2, cve-fixes
Last editorial update3h ago2h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is RESTEasy?

Jakarta REST implementation in pure maintenance across two parallel branches.

RESTEasy is the Jakarta RESTful Web Services implementation used by WildFly, and it ships every release twice — once on the 7.0.x line and once on 6.2.x, usually within an hour of each other. The overwhelming majority of each release note is Dependabot version bumps. Real fixes appear one or two per release and land on both branches: resource methods inherited from package-private classes not being registered, EJB interface methods not scanned for endpoint annotations, SSE response headers not committed when closing without sending.

Read the full RESTEasy trajectory →

What is Undertow?

Undertow 2.4.0 clears three CVEs and finally lands long-open HTTP/2 and timeout requests

Undertow's 2.4 line opened in May 2026 with a release that combines three CVE fixes with a backlog of feature requests, several of them years old judging by their issue numbers — in-flight request processing time tracking, comments in the predicate language, a configurable async context timeout replacing a hard-coded one, HTTP/2 GOAWAY connection management, a TLS protocol version exchange attribute, and a method to invalidate all cache paths. The two releases since have been small: a handful of Jiras in 2.4.1, and a 2.4.2 whose entire release note is the sentence that it was tagged.

Read the full Undertow trajectory →

RESTEasy vs Undertow: editorial side-by-side

R
RESTEasy
DEVOPS
5.0

Jakarta REST implementation in pure maintenance across two parallel branches.

◆ Current state

RESTEasy is the Jakarta RESTful Web Services implementation used by WildFly, and it ships every release twice — once on the 7.0.x line and once on 6.2.x, usually within an hour of each other. The overwhelming majority of each release note is Dependabot version bumps. Real fixes appear one or two per release and land on both branches: resource methods inherited from package-private classes not being registered, EJB interface methods not scanned for endpoint annotations, SSE response headers not committed when closing without sending.

◆ Where it's heading

The project is tracking the Jakarta EE platform rather than pushing it — migrating to Jakarta Persistence 3.2, aligning @Inject handling with the CDI specification so resources no longer need a public no-arg constructor, and moving to JUnit 6 internally. There is no visible feature agenda beyond specification conformance and keeping the dependency tree current.

◆ Prediction

Expect the two-branch pattern to continue with the same fix backported to each; nothing in these entries indicates when 6.2.x support ends.

U
Undertow
DEVOPS
0.0

Undertow 2.4.0 clears three CVEs and finally lands long-open HTTP/2 and timeout requests

◆ Current state

Undertow's 2.4 line opened in May 2026 with a release that combines three CVE fixes with a backlog of feature requests, several of them years old judging by their issue numbers — in-flight request processing time tracking, comments in the predicate language, a configurable async context timeout replacing a hard-coded one, HTTP/2 GOAWAY connection management, a TLS protocol version exchange attribute, and a method to invalidate all cache paths. The two releases since have been small: a handful of Jiras in 2.4.1, and a 2.4.2 whose entire release note is the sentence that it was tagged.

◆ Where it's heading

The 2.4.0 pattern — a long-deferred feature backlog shipping in the same release as security fixes — suggests features move when a release has to happen anyway rather than on their own schedule. What did ship points at operational control: timeouts that were hard-coded becoming configurable, connection lifecycle handling for HTTP/2, and attributes exposing TLS and timing detail to whatever sits above the server. Enabling test runs on JDK 25 in 2.4.1 is the only forward-looking item in the two follow-up releases.

◆ Prediction

With three entries and one substantive release among them, there is little to extrapolate from; the JDK 25 test enablement is the one thread that implies more work, pointing at runtime compatibility rather than features as the near-term focus.

Alternatives to RESTEasy and Undertow

Other DevOps products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either RESTEasy or Undertow.

See all RESTEasy alternatives → · See all Undertow alternatives →

Recent activity from RESTEasy and Undertow

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 7d agoRESTEasyDependency bumps plus a fix for inherited package-private resource methods
  2. 7d agoRESTEasy6.2.x counterpart carrying the same inherited-resource fix
  3. 1mo agoUndertow2.4.2.Final
  4. 2mo agoUndertowUndertow 2.4.1 makes the HTTP/1.1 reason-phrase optional
  5. 2mo agoUndertowUndertow 2.4.0 fixes three CVEs and adds HTTP/2 GOAWAY handling
  6. 3mo agoRESTEasyJakarta Persistence 3.2 migration and multipart form data on async proxies
  7. 3mo agoRESTEasy@Inject without a public no-arg constructor; EJB interface endpoint scanning
  8. 8mo agoRESTEasyJUnit 6 upgrade, Jakarta Persistence 3.2, async proxy multipart support
  9. 8mo agoRESTEasy6.2.x dependency updates and a Jackson provider byte-copy fix

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between RESTEasy and Undertow?

Both compete on the same themes — java — within DevOps. RESTEasy is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is RESTEasy better than Undertow?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. RESTEasy is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other DevOps products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to RESTEasy?

Top RESTEasy alternatives in DevOps are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "RESTEasy alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/resteasy for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Undertow?

Top Undertow alternatives in DevOps are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Undertow alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/undertow for the full list with editorial commentary on each.