A global survey of 663 IT professionals with Java expertise finds 86% are migrating some portion of their applications to an open-source edition of the Java platform or have already migrated (25%).

Conducted by Dimensional Research on behalf of Azul Systems, a provider of a platform for applications based on OpenJDK, an open-source distribution of Java, the survey also finds the primary reason for shifting is the cost of the Oracle Java subscription (53%), followed closely by a general preference for open source software.

Additionally, 38% said they are concerned there might be additional changes in pricing, licensing and support from Oracle, followed by a quarter (25%) that are concerned about potential Java usage audits that might be required by Oracle. Additionally, 24% said the level of Oracle Java support being provided was not meeting expectations.

Azul Systems CEO Scott Sellers said that while Oracle is within its rights to request audits, it’s challenging for organizations to ensure that developers and the DevOps teams that support them are not inadvertently exceeding the bounds of an Oracle Java licensing agreement. Rather than risk being billed for additional licenses that could add up to millions of dollars, it’s simpler for organizations to rely on an OpenJDK distribution that is based on Java Platform, Standard Edition (SE), he noted.

The survey finds that among respondents who work for organizations that have migrated already a full three quarters (75%) completed those projects in less than 12 months, with 23% requiring less than three months. Overall, 84% said the process was either easier (41%) or went as planned.

Additionally, among those respondents that have migrated a quarter (25%) said Oracle Java is significantly more expensive, compared to 41% that said Oracle Java is somewhat more expensive.

Among those planning to migrate, more than half of respondents (52%) said they expect those efforts to require one to two years, compared to 23% that are planning projects that are three to four years out. Only 14% expect their migration to take less than a year.

In general, migrations to open-source editions of Java have accelerated in the wake of a change to Oracle Java licensing that increased costs for many organizations by basing pricing on the number of employees accessing a Java application rather than the number of developers involved or processor cores required, noted Sellers. Thus far, however, only 36% of respondents who rely on Oracle Java have moved to the new employee-based pricing model, the survey finds.

Overall, the survey finds that only 14% of respondents have no migration plans, with 36% of those respondents reporting they are satisfied with Oracle support and pricing.

At a time when more organizations are sensitive to the total cost of IT, it’s apparent that as licensing fees add up organizations are weighing their options. After all, what may seem like a relatively small change to a licensing model can quickly increase costs in a way that many organizations are not prepared to absorb the next time an audit is conducted.