JSF hosting for JavaServer Faces applications

Where JSF runs

JavaServer Faces, now Jakarta Faces, is a component-based web framework. A full Jakarta EE server such as WildFly or Payara already contains a Faces implementation (Mojarra or MyFaces), CDI and bean validation, so you deploy a WAR and it works.

On Tomcat you bring everything yourself: the Faces implementation (Mojarra or MyFaces), Weld or OpenWebBeans for CDI, and the EL implementation. It saves memory and is a good choice for simple applications.

Memory and view state

JSF keeps component state on the server by default. With many users this adds up, so give the JVM generous heap. Consider client-side state saving or limiting the number of views per session if memory is tight. A 4 GB plan is a sensible starting point for a production Faces application, and 8 GB if the database runs on the same server.

Versions

• Faces 3.0 (Jakarta EE 9) and 4.0 (Jakarta EE 10) use the jakarta.faces package.
• JSF 2.3 and earlier use javax.faces and run on Tomcat 9, WildFly up to version 26 or Payara 5.

Pick the server that matches the namespace of your application, or tell us what you run and we will recommend one.