OSS Tanbou
View on GitHub

Netty — A Java networking framework for high-performance event-driven protocol servers and clients

OSS health 96
About these scores

Discovery score is an unbounded weighted, log-compressed index of stars, watchers, forks, and contributors. Growth momentum is its change over the observed period; OSS health is a 0–100 score from available repository recency, Community Health, and release data.

Stars
35,061
Primary language
Java
License
Apache-2.0
Repository last updated
Sep 17, 2026

Overview

Netty is an asynchronous event-driven network application framework for building high-performance protocol servers and clients in Java. The 4.2 line combines channels and handler pipelines with codecs, TLS, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, and optional native transports. The latest release checked on September 17, 2026 is 4.2.18.Final.

Features and best fit

Based on official documentation; not hands-on tested · Content checked:

Build protocol pipelines from event loops, channels, and handlers

Netty is an event-driven non-blocking I/O framework where client/server bootstraps, channels, and handler pipelines compose protocol processing. It is not an HTTP-only server: it is a foundation for TCP/UDP protocols, gateways, proxies, and custom network services.

Sources: [2][3]

Use HTTP/2, HTTP/3, TLS, and native transports within the same modular framework

Netty 4.2 requires Java 8 or newer, while the optional io_uring native transport requires Java 9 or newer. The repository separates codecs, TLS, QUIC/HTTP3, and native transports into modules so applications can select the Maven artifacts they actually need.

Sources: [2][3]

For Java services that need fine control over high-connection networking and custom protocols

Netty fits systems that need to control connections, buffers, codecs, and event loops below the level of an HTTP application framework. It does not provide Servlet lifecycle or application routing by itself, so higher protocol and application layers remain your responsibility.

Sources: [2][3]

4.2.18.Final contains substantial security hardening; regression-test existing traffic

The 4.2.18.Final release strengthens validation and resource limits across multiple protocols, and its release notes warn that previously accepted workloads may now be rejected. QUIC configurations with hostname verification also face stricter trust-manager requirements. Treat this as an upgrade that needs protocol-level regression testing, not just a dependency bump.

Sources: [4]

Official sources

  1. [1]netty/netty — GitHub repository metadata(2026-09-17)
  2. [2]Netty — README (4.2 branch)(2026-09-17)
  3. [3]Netty — pom.xml (4.2 branch)(2026-09-17)
  4. [4]Netty 4.2.18.Final release(2026-09-17)
Supplemental curator note

Treat Netty as a lower-level networking framework for building protocol servers and clients, not as a Servlet container such as Jetty.

Try it in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Get the source

    git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/netty/netty.git
  2. 2

    Enter the repository

    cd netty
  3. 3

    Check the official steps

    Continue with the commands in the README Installation, Quick Start, or Getting Started section.

    find . -maxdepth 1 -iname 'README*' -exec sed -n '1,220p' {} \; -quit
Check the official README

Growth

Growth trends · Last 30 days

35,061 Stars

Trend data is still being collected.

Development activity

Last 90 days · weekly

Commits (last 30 days)
83
Open PRs
87

Development activity is still being collected.

Built with

Categories and tags

Categories

Tags

GitHub data

GitHub dataView detailed GitHub data
View on GitHub
Stars
35,061
Forks
16,269
Watchers
1,668
Open issues
587
Primary language
Java
License
Apache-2.0
Repository last updated
Sep 17, 2026
Write a related article

Share a guide or use case for this OSS in Markdown. Articles are published after administrator approval.

Report incorrect information

Tell us if any listing information is incorrect or outdated.