Play!

If you are tired of using bloated Java stacks, Play! is the solution for you. This Java-based framework is absolutely free and designed to prioritize developer productivity with a focus on RESTful architectures. The excellent tools offered by Play! makes it an ideal framework for creating modern web applications.

One notable feature of the Play! framework is its support for a relational database via JDBC. Furthermore, it facilitates Object-Relational Mapping using Hibernate. To optimize performance, the framework also comes with Memcache support. It has a Web services consumption feature that works excellently with both JSON or XML. Play! also supports OpenID, making it ideal for distributed authentication.

Another added benefit of the framework is its image manipulation API, which enables you to perform image processing within your application. The framework also has a plugin architecture that allows you to combine multiple Web applications, reuse Java code or resources like Javascript and CSS.

In summary, if you want a clean, versatile, and efficient framework for developing web applications, Play! is an excellent option to consider. It comes packed with remarkable features that make it easy for developers to be productive without worrying about bloated stacks.