A brand new survey reveals that greater than 80% of IT Asset Administration (ITAM) and Software program Asset Administration (SAM) professionals are turning away from Oracle Java, pushed largely by rising prices, audit dangers, and rising frustration with the seller’s advanced and evolving licensing construction.
The findings come from the 2025 ITAM & SAM Survey, collectively performed by the ITAM Forum – a non-profit membership affiliation representing ITAM professionals – and Azul, a supplier of open-source Java runtime options. The survey analyzed responses from 500 IT professionals accountable for Java utilization and compliance inside their organizations, portray a transparent image of industry-wide dissatisfaction with Oracle’s latest licensing insurance policies.
A key supply of frustration stems from Oracle’s shift in January 2023 to a brand new pricing mannequin often called the Java SE Common Subscription. This mannequin launched a per-employee pricing construction, changing the earlier per-device or per-processor mannequin. Underneath the brand new coverage, organizations should pay licensing charges for each worker – no matter whether or not they use Java – if their Java utilization exceeds Oracle’s free-use thresholds. This modification has had vital operational and monetary implications for corporations utilizing Oracle Java at scale.
The survey discovered that 96% of ITAM and SAM professionals expressed concern over Oracle’s licensing and pricing practices. Many respondents reported present process Oracle audits and stated the brand new pricing mannequin has pressured them to spend money on monitoring instruments, monitoring methods, and inner audit processes simply to make sure they continue to be compliant—or to facilitate a whole migration away from Oracle Java.
Consequently, 79% of companies have both already moved away from Oracle Java, are within the technique of doing so, or plan to transition within the close to future. Price financial savings, less complicated compliance, and safety had been cited because the main motivations behind these strikes. Amongst those that had accomplished migrations, 57% ranked safety and reliability as their prime considerations, whereas 51% of these planning emigrate cited it as their major motive, adopted by value discount (42%) and simpler compliance (40%).
ITAM Market Progress
Open-source Java alternate options would seem to supply a compelling path ahead. Two-thirds of survey contributors estimated they might save a minimum of 40% by switching away from Oracle. Only one% of respondents believed migrating would end in no value financial savings.
The mass shift away from Oracle Java additionally displays broader traits within the ITAM and SAM industries. In response to the report, the ITAM market has grown at a compound annual development price (CAGR) of 6.9% – from $1.15 billion in 2019 to $1.49 billion in 2023. The SAM section, specifically, is predicted to develop even quicker, at a projected CAGR of 16% by way of 2029. Contributing components embody the rising prices of software program – now accounting for almost 30% of IT budgets – together with elevated software program virtualization, cloud adoption, and heightened regulatory scrutiny.
Martin Thompson, founding father of the ITAM Discussion board, famous the strategic significance of SAM and ITAM professionals in navigating more and more opaque licensing frameworks. “The outcomes spotlight a elementary mismatch between the complexity of recent software program licensing and the sources organizations depend on to successfully handle software program compliance,” he stated. “As licensing missteps can result in severe monetary penalties and operational disruptions, these professionals require correct instruments, processes, and government backing to handle compliance successfully.”
