{"id":35447,"date":"2024-10-29T01:54:14","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T05:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eginnovations.com\/blog\/?p=35447"},"modified":"2025-04-10T13:58:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T17:58:31","slug":"jetty-vs-netty-a-comprehensive-comparison-for-site-reliability-engineers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eginnovations.com\/blog\/jetty-vs-netty-a-comprehensive-comparison-for-site-reliability-engineers\/","title":{"rendered":"Jetty vs Netty: A Comprehensive Comparison for Site Reliability Engineers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/span>Jetty vs Netty \u2013 A Short Overview<\/span><\/h2>\n

Here\u2019s a quick TL;DR version in terms of the differences:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Jetty = Web servers, servlet containers, and handling HTTP requests.<\/td>\nNetty = Network apps, asynchronous I\/O, and handling tons of connections.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Think:<\/strong> web apps, APIs, microservices.<\/td>\nThink:<\/strong> chat servers, real-time data, multiplayer games.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/span>Which suits your app needs?<\/span><\/h2>\n

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<\/span>Jetty Introduction<\/span><\/h2>\n

Jetty is a lightweight, highly scalable web server and servlet container often used in applications where a full Jakarta EE (Java EE)<\/a> stack is not required. It is known for its ease of use, flexibility, and support for various protocols including HTTP\/2 and WebSocket. The lightweight servlet container is easy to embed within a Java application.<\/p>\n

The Jetty web server (HTTP) is similar to the likes of Tomcat<\/a> (see: Apache Tomcat vs Eclipse Jetty: Top Differences – GeeksforGeeks<\/a> if you are looking for information on Jetty vs Tomcat).<\/p>\n

Tomcat is great when you\u2019re running a traditional web server, but it can feel a little heavy sometimes. Jetty, on the other hand, is like Tomcat\u2019s agile sibling\u2014lightweight, embeddable, and ready to be tucked into your apps as if it\u2019s not even there.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Netty Introduction<\/span><\/h2>\n

Netty is a non-blocking I\/O (NIO) framework that enables the development of scalable network applications. It is designed for building high-performance protocol servers and clients, and it excels in scenarios requiring high throughput and low latency.<\/p>\n

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<\/span>What is NIO?<\/span><\/h3>\n

NIO, or Non-blocking Input\/Output, lets Java handle multiple connections using a single thread, instead of needing one thread per connection like traditional I\/O.<\/p>\n

This means the thread doesn\u2019t have to sit idle waiting for data\u2014it can keep doing other tasks. It\u2019s like how Node.js uses an event loop, where the system can manage many tasks at once without getting stuck waiting.<\/p>\n

NIO is great for making applications faster and more efficient, especially when they need to handle lots of connections at the same time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/span>Key Differences between Netty and Jetty<\/span><\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s now jump into a comparison where we\u2019ll break down the differences between Jetty and Netty by each feature or capability. We\u2019ll also explore their respective use cases, so you get a clear picture of which technology fits your specific server-side needs.<\/p>\n

<\/span>1. Architecture and Design<\/span><\/h4>\n

Jetty:<\/strong><\/p>\n