Oracle’s Java subscribers have been urged to draw up their escape plans as the company looks to squeeze end-of-financial-year revenues from customers, led by the threat of comprehensive software audits.

It comes two years after Oracle altered the licensing terms for the Java standard edition (SE) subscription from a per-user model based on server processors and cloud instances, to a per-employee model – a shift described as “sheer greed” by the MD of one organisation affected.

An SME with 250 employees could see its licensing costs increase 14-times, from $3,000 (£2,435) a year to $45,000 (£26,500).

When it introduced the Universal subscription model, Oracle claimed users on the existing licensing plan could stick with it – but its salespeople were keen to sell IT departments on the idea that the new model would be more straightforward and less bureaucratic to administer.

Now, warn analysts, the company is turning the screws on any organisation tempted by the new licensing model, with Oracle software auditing teams across the world being beefed-up as the company attempts to pull in every last penny it can before the close of its financial year at the end of May.

The company’s approach to software licensing doesn’t just look to crowbar extra fees (and fines) from organisations for infractions of the licensing agreement – whether deliberate or, more typically, inadvertent – but to use it as a negotiating tool to provide the leverage to get other software deals over the line.

Scott Sellers, CEO of Java specialist Azul, said that Oracle has been expanding its Java-focused audit teams since the change in licensing terms.

He said Oracle is “putting specific Java sales teams in country, and then identifying those companies that appear to be downloading [Java tools from Oracle]”.

That provides them with the leverage to demand an audit of the organisations identified and the rest, as they say, is money.

Sellers suggested that, instead, because Java is open source, companies can and should migrate to more competitive alternatives; first by using tools to identify the extent of usage and then putting in place a migration strategy.

Even if the organisation ultimately chooses not to migrate, it provides the ultimate leverage against Oracle – the ability to walk away.

Azul has introduced JVM Inventory, a new feature of its Intelligence Cloud platform designed to address the challenges and risks associated with migrating from Oracle Java.

JVM Inventory, when combined with Azul’s Migration Toolkit (AMT) or other software asset management (SAM) discovery tools, allows Azul’s Migration Advisory experts and channel partners to gain detailed, runtime-level visibility across Java deployments. This new solution aims to accelerate the process of classifying, migrating, and tracking Oracle Java instances by delivering actionable information that cannot be obtained through SAM tools alone.

Azul highlights findings from its 2025 State of Java Survey & Report, which reveals that 82% of respondents are concerned about Oracle’s Java SE pricing and licensing policy, with 88% considering a move to OpenJDK alternatives. Rising per-employee subscription pricing reportedly increases the total cost of ownership by two to five times for many organisations, prompting enterprises to evaluate alternatives and accelerate migrations.

Customer data from Azul suggests that, on average, an Oracle Java migration takes between six and nine months without automated assistance. This duration is largely a result of the fragmented and manual nature of discovering and classifying Java Virtual Machines (JVMs) using traditional asset management tools. These tools often do not account for runtime context, making it challenging to determine which Oracle JVMs are actively being used, which ones are bundled under a permitted licence, or which are installed but idle. Such gaps can result in unnecessary licensing expenses and increased non-compliance risk.

Azul’s Migration Advisory experts and channel partners leverage the JVM Inventory and the Migration Toolkit to provide a complete view of an organisation’s Oracle Java footprint. The data is gathered directly from the JVM, including information relating to vendor, version, installation path, and the specific applications utilising the JVM. This runtime insight allows advisory teams to validate and enrich reporting, identify active Oracle Java instances even in complex environments such as containers, and pinpoint unused installations for removal.

With this detailed visibility, organisations can identify Oracle Java usage that is subject to commercial licensing terms and focus migration efforts on those areas. The approach is intended to enable enterprises to accelerate their move to alternatives like Azul Platform Core while more effectively reducing audit risk and licensing costs.

Addressing the complexity faced by larger organisations, the tool is capable of mapping estates containing tens of thousands of Oracle JVMs. By focusing only on those instances actively in use, migration teams can streamline their projects and inform application owners about upcoming changes. Azul states that this can significantly reduce the time required for enterprise-wide migrations, potentially cutting weeks or months from the standard project timeline.

As migrations progress, JVM Inventory also manages and tracks the usage history of JVMs to support trend analysis and ongoing compliance monitoring. This reduces the need for repeated manual scanning and spreadsheet-based reporting often required by SAM processes.

The product is also designed to maintain compliance post-migration. Through continuous runtime detection, it can identify and flag instances where Oracle Java is reintroduced into environments, empowering organisations to quickly take corrective action and automate compliance processes, including alerting and removal or replacement of unauthorised Oracle JVMs.

Evan Boyd, Vice President, Global Operations at Software Licensing Compliance, commented: “Azul’s new JVM Inventory is a game-changer for partners, either discovering active Java licensing for ITAM advisories or accelerating Oracle Java migrations. It gives our team and our customers the clarity and runtime intelligence we need to quickly identify where Oracle Java is actually in use, dramatically shortening what used to be a long and painful discovery exercise, and instead now leads to quicker actionable insights. For partners like us, JVM Inventory allows us to deliver faster, higher-value advisories, JDK migrations and better ongoing compliance services that reduce risk for our clients. Azul is giving us the tools we need to help enterprises get Oracle Java out — and keep it out — with confidence.”

Key features of the solution include discovery and inventory of Oracle Java instances, accurate classification and prioritisation for replacement or removal, continuous tracking throughout the migration process, and ongoing compliance monitoring to detect reintroduction of Oracle Java instances. Azul states that pairing JVM Inventory with the Migration Toolkit yields the most comprehensive Oracle Java discovery, helps reduce migration risks through accurate classification, accelerates identification of application stakeholders, and supports compliance and audit defence efforts.

Scott Sellers, CEO and Co-founder of Azul, said: “Azul has always been committed to solving the hardest Java challenges for our customers, and JVM Inventory paired with the Azul Migration Toolkit is a perfect example of that innovation in action. By giving enterprises unprecedented visibility into their Java environments with actionable intelligence from runtime data, we’re not only simplifying Oracle Java migrations, we’re also helping organisations take control of their Java subscription costs, reduce audit risk and ensure long-term compliance. It’s a powerful step forward for companies looking to future-proof their Java strategy.”

JVM Inventory functions alongside Azul Platform Core to detect and eliminate Oracle Java, maintaining compliance and supporting ongoing migration efforts. The feature is available as part of Azul Intelligence Cloud and is licensed with a base charge and according to the average number of JVMs monitored monthly.