Grails Version History - 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7

Site Admin · 11 Sep 2026 · 7 views

The Evolution of Grails

Grails has undergone significant evolution since its early versions. Understanding this history helps you make informed decisions about which version to use and how to plan upgrades.

Grails 3 - The Spring Boot Merge

Grails 3 was a major rewrite that merged with Spring Boot. It introduced the profile system, Gradle-based builds, and a new project structure. This was a breaking change from Grails 2.

Grails 4 - Refinement

Grails 4 focused on stability and compatibility. It upgraded to Spring Boot 2.x, improved GORM, and added better support for Gradle 5.x. Most Grails 3 apps could upgrade with minimal changes.

Grails 5 - Micronaut Foundation

Grails 5 was built on Micronaut Foundation while keeping Spring Boot compatibility. Key improvements included:

Faster startup and lower memory usage
Improved GraalVM native image support
Spring Boot 2.7 compatibility
Better Gradle plugin support

Grails 6 and 7 - Modern Era

Grails 6 and 7 continued the modernization with Spring Boot 3.x support, Jakarta EE migration, and improved performance. These versions target the latest JVM features and cloud-native deployments.