Modern backend
development
with Kotlin
Kotlin is a perfect fit for building backends on the JVM, including AI-powered services, and is trusted by major tech companies worldwide.
Safety: fewer production bugs and crashes
Performance: optimized for high-load
Kotlin coroutines
Run 10,000+ lightweight tasks on just a few threads
Inline functions
Less overhead as the compiler copies function bodies at the call site
Inline classes
Wrap primitives without extra allocations or garbage collector pressure
The JVM
Decades of fine-tuning for high throughput and low latency
Watch the full story on Kotlin coroutines from their creator, Roman Elizarov.
Watch Adobe’s talk on using coroutines to scale under massive load.
Rich JVM ecosystem for backend development
Seamless Java integration
Full interop with Java allows using any JVM library or framework
Enhanced Java frameworks with Kotlin
Kotlin takes frameworks that were originally written in Java and enhances them with expressive features, making the API clearer and more intuitive
Gradual Kotlin adoption
100% interoperability between Java and Kotlin allows you to adopt Kotlin incrementally and on your own terms
Rich framework ecosystem
Quickly develop backend solutions with the most popular frameworks, including Spring, Hibernate, Ktor, Koog, MCP Kotlin SDK, and others.
With its versatile set of features, Spring is the world’s most popular Java framework. When it’s paired with Kotlin, and its concise syntax, the two make the ultimate combo for application development.
Read tutorial
Ktor is a multiplatform toolkit built by JetBrains for creating Web applications in Kotlin. It makes use of coroutines for high scalability and offers an easy-to-use API.
How to start
How to start – incremental adoption in Java projects
Because of Kotlin’s full interoperability with Java,
teams can introduce it gradually
Start using Kotlin for your tests.
Implement new services from scratch in Kotlin using your existing framework (Spring, Quarkus, Jakarta EE, etc.).
Develop new features in Kotlin within existing Java projects.
Gradually convert your existing Java codebase to Kotlin.
Use your favorite tools
IDE support
IntelliJ IDEA is the best environment for Kotlin developers, created by JetBrains – the makers of Kotlin. It makes coding easier with features like smart navigation, refactoring, and code analysis. The built-in AI assistant Junie helps by converting Java to clean Kotlin and generating tests quickly.
Download
Additional materials
Build better backends with Kotlin. Check out the Kotlin for Backend playlist for real-world use cases, expert insights, and performance tips.
