Rust vs. Java: Choosing the right tool for your next project
Rust and Java couldn’t be any more different. One is a battle-tested giant with enterprise-scale use cases. The other is a relative newbie with a rapidly growing community and real-world applications.
While Rust is praised for its focus on safety and performance, its complexity presents a challenge to adopters (arguably, the steep learning curve is why so many developers love it!). In contrast, Java remains a cornerstone language thanks to its maturity and widespread use.
In this comparison, we dive into the strengths and trade-offs of each language to help you choose the best fit for your next project.
Rust vs. Java: Which one dominates in 2025?
Data from the State of Developer Ecosystem Report 2024 clearly illustrates the differences between Rust and Java in market share and adoption. Rust achieved a milestone in 2024 with a user base of about 2.27 million developers, including 709,000 who use it as their primary language. Unsurprisingly, Java continues to attract tens of millions of developers globally due to its maturity and robust ecosystem.
Rust and Java usage patterns since 2018
While Java usage share has remained relatively stable, you can see a noticeable drop since 2023. This stands in contrast to Rust, which has been experiencing steady growth since 2021.
Rust adoption is growing
Most respondents to the State of Developer Ecosystem Report 2024 said they planned to use Go and Rust. Interestingly, one out of every six Go users is considering switching to Rust. Rust is also one of the three indisputable leaders in the JetBrains Language Promise Index.
What about Rust’s commercial adoption?
Rust is gaining commercial traction, thanks to its emphasis on memory safety, efficiency, and security. While it’s still a minor player when compared to giants like Java, JavaScript, and Python, it has seen a big increase in enterprise development. In a recent survey, 45% of respondents stated that their organisation makes non-trivial use of Rust, a seven percentage point increase from 2023.
Rust in 2025: The most-admired programming language
How mature is Rust? Quick overview of Rust’s evolution
A Mozilla developer, Graydon Hoare, started working on Rust as a side project in 2006. The language was officially funded by Mozilla Research in 2009 with the goal of creating a safer, concurrent, and practical language that could compete with C++ in terms of performance while ensuring higher security and thread safety.
Rust went through multiple iterations before launching its first stable release, Rust 1.0, in May 2015. The language was developed with contributions from a dedicated open-source community, and it’s constantly expanded with compiler enhancements and features focused on ensuring safety and efficiency.
Rust developers like to stay on top of these advancements and tend to use the latest release of the language: the vast majority of developers surveyed in the 2024 State of Rust Survey said they used the current stable version.
Core philosophy of Rust
The fundamental principle of Rust is to guarantee memory safety without garbage collection and parallelism without data races. To this end, the Rust compiler enforces the “ownership” and “borrowing” concepts at build time.
The strict implementation of memory safety rules means that Rust apps don’t contain null pointer dereferences, dangling pointers, or buffer overflows, which are typical weaknesses in system-level programming languages like C and C++. Rust also stresses zero-cost abstractions, iterator chains, and type inference, enabling high-level programming without losing efficiency.
Popular Rust use cases
- System-level software – Operating systems, embedded systems, and other foundational software that require tight control over hardware and resources are good use cases for Rust. Its ability to assure memory safety and parallelism makes it an ideal choice for creating reliable and high-performance system-level software.
- WebAssembly – Given its performance characteristics, Rust is becoming a popular choice for WebAssembly, particularly online applications that require high-speed performance beyond what standard JavaScript can provide. This use case is growing as the web matures into a platform for more complicated and performance-critical applications.
- Command-line interfaces (CLIs) – Rust is a popular choice for building command-line interfaces because it compiles to efficient binary code, making CLI tools fast and reliable. Using Rust, developers can build command-line apps that require high performance, accurate error control, and cross-platform compatibility.
- Game dev – Game developers are turning more and more to Rust because of its efficiency, memory safety, and concurrency characteristics, making it a viable option for both independent and AAA projects. While C++ dominates the scene, Rust provides a compelling alternative with the promise of faster development cycles and less troubleshooting.
- Web3 – Rust is gaining popularity in Web3 thanks to its performance, safety, and concurrency characteristics, making it a good choice for decentralised applications, smart contracts, and blockchain infrastructure. Its emphasis on memory security is consistent with Web3 requirements of trust and reliability.
Java in 2025: 30 years of Write Once, Run Anywhere
Java: A short history
Java’s origins can be traced back to 1991, when Sun Microsystems’ James Gosling led a team to develop a language for consumer electronic devices. Initially known as “Oak,” the company eventually renamed it as Java – a reference to a particular coffee variety – and released it in 1995. That’s right, Java is celebrating its 30th birthday this year!
How did the language gain so much traction? The key to Java’s popularity is its platform independence, achieved thanks to compiling code into bytecode, which the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) then interprets. This is called Write Once, Run Anywhere; you can write and execute code on any system that supports the JVM.
Core philosophy of Java
Apart from Write Once, Run Anywhere, another fundamental concept of Java is Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), which lets developers organise code into classes and objects, making it more modular, reusable, and scalable. Java also rigorously adheres to the DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) principle, which ensures that common logic is written once (like in parent classes or utility methods) and used throughout the application. This gives you code that’s easy to maintain and debug.
What is Java used for today?
- Enterprise software – Giants such as Amazon, Google, Netflix, and many Fortune 500 companies continue to rely heavily on Java to power services that millions of people use every day. This is possible because Java has evolved with the times, introducing new capabilities and frameworks that keep it relevant in the age of cloud-native, microservices-based systems.
- Android app development – Java is the primary language used to develop the logic and functionality of Android applications. It’s backed by a strong community and rich resources. While Kotlin is now Google’s recommended language for Android, Java is still used a lot, especially in existing projects and among engineers with prior knowledge.
- Web services – Java has also been a go-to language for developers building web services; applications that connect client and server applications via standard protocols.
- Big Data – Java applications are scalable and can handle massive amounts of data, ensuring that Big Data applications operate without failure thanks to its robustness. Java comes with solid Big Data tools and frameworks, including Apache Hadoop, Spark, and Kafka.
Rust vs. Java: Differences across ecosystem, tooling, and community
Technical differences between Rust and Java
Runtime
Java is built on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), which offers a vast and mature runtime environment with capabilities such as garbage collection, just-in-time (JIT) compilation, and extensive standard libraries. This makes it ideal for cross-platform development and quick iteration. However, this has an overhead in terms of memory utilisation and startup time.
In contrast, Rust provides a minimal runtime (zero-cost abstractions), which means that its abstractions compile down to very efficient machine code with no additional runtime cost. It lacks a garbage collector, allowing developers to fine-tune memory and speed, making it excellent for systems programming and performance-critical applications.
Performance
When it comes to performance, Rust is designed to deliver predictable, high-speed execution thanks to its lack of garbage collection and fine-grained control over memory and system resources. This is why Rust is a strong choice for performance-critical tasks like game engines, operating systems, or embedded systems.
Java, on the other hand, relies on the JVM’s just-in-time (JIT) compiler to optimise performance at runtime. While JIT can lead to impressive speeds for long-running In latency-sensitive scenarios, applications built with Java may experience longer startup times and unpredictable pauses caused by garbage collection, which can lead to less consistent performance.
Memory management
Memory management in Java is fully automatic and handled by the garbage collector, which frees developers from manually managing memory but can introduce unpredictable pauses during execution.
Rust takes a different approach, enforcing memory safety at compile time without a garbage collector. This means developers must explicitly manage memory, but the compiler guarantees safety and prevents common bugs like null pointer dereferencing or data races, offering both performance and reliability without runtime overhead.
Learning curve differences
Java offers a lower learning curve for most beginners, particularly those who are comfortable with object-oriented programming. Its syntax is simple, and the extensive ecosystem of libraries, frameworks, and mature documentation makes it accessible. The breadth of Java’s APIs can be intimidating at first, but it also means that learners can find tools and courses for almost every problem. Official Java tutorials, JetBrains Academy, and communities such as Stack Overflow and r/java are all great places to start.
In comparison, Rust has a steeper initial learning curve, owing primarily to its ownership concept and borrow checker. These impose tight memory safety guidelines, which might be frustrating for newbies. Many developers are unfamiliar with concepts such as lifetimes and borrowing, which require a mentality shift, particularly for those coming from garbage-collected languages. However, these limits bring you stable and efficient code.
Fortunately, the Rust community is known for its friendliness and extensive learning resources. The Rust Book, Rustlings, the Rust Users Forum, r/rust, and the official Discord server are all good places to start. JetBrains Academy provides hands-on learning for Rust as well.
In essence, Java provides a more familiar path with broad-reaching capabilities, whereas Rust requires more upfront but pays with efficiency, safety, and control.
Tooling and ecosystem differences
In terms of tooling and general developer experience, Rust and Java both provide solid but distinct ecosystems that impact developer productivity.
Integrated Development Environments (IDEs)
Java IDEs – IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse, and NetBeans – provide developers with tools for code completion, debugging, refactoring, and project management by default. IntelliJ IDEA, in particular, is well known for its extensive integration with Java technology and intelligent support.
Rust has made significant progress in IDE support. There’s RustRover, and IntelliJ IDEA also supports Rust through a plugin, which adds many of the usual productivity benefits that Java developers are accustomed to.
Build systems and package managers
Rust’s unified toolchain includes Cargo, which serves as a build system, package manager, and dependency manager. It’s straightforward, consistent, and widely commended for making Rust projects simple to initiate, develop, test, and publish.
In contrast, Java includes several build tools, the most popular of which are Maven and Gradle. Maven is XML-based and structured, but Gradle provides greater flexibility with Groovy or Kotlin-based scripts. Despite their maturity and strength, these tools can be more complex and require more configuration compared to Cargo’s “batteries-included” solution.
Debugging and profiling tools
Building on decades of work, Java has mature debugging and profiling tools, including VisualVM, JProfiler, and built-in IDE features. Garbage collection logs, memory profiling, and thread analysis are all fully supported.
Rust debugging relies on tools such as GDB or LLDB, with increasing support from IDEs and third-party tools. While strong, these tools might be more low-level and demand a deeper understanding of systems programming ideas. The ecosystem is evolving, but Java’s tooling remains more mature and user-friendly for large-scale applications.
Developer experience
Java provides a sophisticated, enterprise-grade programming experience. Java’s robust tooling and decades of refinement make it ideal for teams and large-scale systems, enabling high developer productivity.
Rust’s experience is more modern, simplified, and community-focused. Cargo’s stability, informative compiler messages, and improved IDE support make it pleasurable to use after the initial learning curve. It’s especially appealing to developers who prioritise safety, efficiency, and simple tooling workflows, particularly for greenfield projects and performance-critical applications.
Community and adoption differences
Community size and activity
Java is one of the largest and most mature programming communities in the world. After decades of growth, its ecosystem now includes extensive online forums (such as Stack Overflow, Reddit, and Oracle communities), conferences (such as JavaOne and Devoxx), and big open-source contributions across practically every domain, solidifying its status as a mainstream language.
Rust’s community may be new, but it’s active, enthusiastic, and rapidly increasing. Its open development model (hosted on GitHub with community RFCs) promotes openness and collaboration. Rust also runs its conferences, such as RustConf, and maintains active forums, Discord servers, and a significant presence on sites such as users.rust-lang.org and Reddit’s r/rust. The community is bound to grow: even if not many developers are currently using Rust, a lot of them (11%) plan to adopt it in comparison to Java (4%).
Libraries and frameworks
Java has a large ecosystem of libraries and frameworks. Spring, Jakarta EE, and Micronaut are among the most popular frameworks for enterprise web development. While Java is not as popular in data science as Python, libraries like ND4J and DeepLearning4J, as well as interaction with big data platforms such as Apache Hadoop and Spark, make it viable. Java is the foundation of Android development via the Android SDK (though Kotlin has grabbed the lead in recent years).
Rust’s library ecosystem is still expanding, although it is already robust in some areas. Web development frameworks such as Actix and Axum are gaining popularity. Rust excels at systems programming, particularly with crates for embedded development, game engines, and performance-critical tooling. Rust, on the other hand, is still in its early stages and trails more established languages in data science and GUI/mobile programming.
Industry adoption and job market trends
Java continues to be a highly sought-after language, with opportunities in enterprise software, Android, and backend development. Its endurance means that experienced Java developers remain in high demand, particularly in banking, enterprise IT, and large-scale backend services.
Rust’s job market is modest but rising rapidly. Companies like Mozilla, Dropbox, Amazon, Microsoft, and Cloudflare use it for performance-critical or security-sensitive applications. While Rust has fewer job opportunities than Java, it’s becoming increasingly popular in fields such as systems programming, blockchain, developer tools, and game development.
Interestingly, according to the State of Developer Ecosystem Report 2024, the share of top-paid employees by programming language for Rust is an impressive 27% – only 3% less than for Java (30%).
Do Java and Rust have anything in common?
Memory safety
Both languages aim to prevent common memory-related bugs (such as null pointer exceptions, buffer overflows, and use-after-free errors) that frequently occur in C/C++.
The JVM in Java automatically manages memory by cleaning up unused objects at runtime. This simplifies memory management for developers but introduces runtime overhead and potential pauses.
Rust achieves this through its ownership and borrowing system: this model enforces strict rules at compile time, ensuring memory safety without requiring a runtime garbage collector. It provides C/C++-like performance without the need for manual memory management.
Concurrency support
Both languages provide robust mechanisms for writing concurrent and parallel software, which are essential for modern multi-core processors and scalable applications.
Java uses traditional threads, the java.util.concurrent package (including Executors, Concurrent Collections, and Locks), and synchronisation mechanisms like the synchronised keyword.
Rust emphasises “fearless concurrency” by using its ownership and type system to prevent data races at compile time. This allows developers to write safe concurrent code without relying on a garbage collector. Rust also supports asynchronous programming using async/await and high-performance libraries like Tokio for building scalable, non-blocking applications.
Cross-platform capability
Java achieves Write Once, Run Anywhere through the JVM, which allows Java bytecode to run on any operating system that has a compatible JVM. This abstraction layer enables strong cross-platform portability without recompilation.
Rust, on the other hand, compiles to native machine code for a wide range of platforms, offering high performance and fine-grained control. Additionally, Rust is increasingly used with WebAssembly, enabling cross-platform execution in web browsers and server-side environments, further extending its reach beyond traditional native targets.
Modern language features
Both languages support advanced concepts such as generics and functional programming paradigms – for example, Rust emphasises immutability by default, while Java offers streams and lambda expressions. They also provide robust error-handling mechanisms. Additionally, both have strong static type systems that help catch many errors at compile time, improving code safety and reliability.
Backend or server-side
Both languages are widely used for building high-performance backend services, APIs, and microservices. However, Java has a much longer history and a larger footprint in this space, particularly within enterprise environments, where its mature ecosystem and extensive frameworks remain dominant.
Rust vs. Java: Which one should you pick?
When is Rust the clear winner?
Rust shines in scenarios requiring low-level control, performance, and memory safety. It’s the obvious choice for system development (OS, device drivers), high-performance computing, and creating fast command-line tools.
Rust’s ability to compile to WebAssembly makes it perfect for producing secure, quick code for browsers or serverless environments. Any application that requires little runtime overhead, predictable performance, and guaranteed memory safety – without a garbage collector – is a good fit for Rust.
When is Java the best choice?
Java excels in large-scale enterprise applications where stability, maintainability, and a robust ecosystem are critical. It’s the language for Android smartphone development, online services, and large data processing systems such as Hadoop and Spark.
Java’s extensive collection of mature libraries and frameworks, together with its Write Once, Run Anywhere universality, make it ideal for microservices architectures and rapid development cycles that require developer productivity and cross-platform support.
Interoperability
Rust and Java can be used together for applications that require both Rust’s performance and safety, as well as Java’s ecosystem and portability. You can do that using Java Native Interface (JNI), which allows Java programs to access Rust libraries compiled as native binaries.
While interoperability adds complexity, this strategy allows developers to integrate Rust’s high-performance components into existing Java programs, using the capabilities of both languages. And it’s definitely doable: 15% of developers use Java together with their Rust projects.
Wrap up
By 2025, Rust has established itself as the language of choice for systems programming, WebAssembly, and performance-critical applications, thanks to a rapidly growing and devoted developer community. Its emphasis on memory safety and zero-cost abstractions continues to draw developers seeking modern, dependable alternatives to C and C++.
Java continues to dominate enterprise software, Android development, and large-scale backend systems due to its extensive ecosystem, mature tooling, and widespread industry usage.
To sum up, Java is the leader in terms of community size, tooling maturity, and employment availability, while Rust, although newer, is quickly building a passionate community, developing library support, and carving out a solid niche in performance-focused apps.
Are you curious to see how Rust measures up to another popular language, Go? Take a look at our Rust vs. Go comparison.
Subscribe to Rust Blog updates
