$ echo 'class Hello { public static void main(String[] args) { System.out.println("Hello, world"); } }' >Hello.java
    $ javac Hello.java 
    $ java --version
    openjdk 21.0.7 2025-04-15 LTS
    OpenJDK Runtime Environment Zulu21.42+21-CRaC-CA (build 21.0.7+6-LTS)
    OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Zulu21.42+21-CRaC-CA (build 21.0.7+6-LTS, mixed mode, sharing)
    $ time java -cp . Hello
    Hello, world
    
    real 0m0.026s
    user 0m0.010s
    sys  0m0.018s

For some reason this machine is still on 21. Anyway, the overhead of the JVM itself is pretty low.

For small tools it's fine:

    $ echo 'class Dig { public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception { var addr = java.net.InetAddress.getByName(args[0]); System.out.println(addr); } }' >Dig.java
    $ javac Dig.java
    $ time java -cp . Dig news.ycombinator.com
    news.ycombinator.com/209.216.230.207
    
    real 0m0.047s
    user 0m0.026s
    sys  0m0.021s

    $ time host news.ycombinator.com
    news.ycombinator.com has address 209.216.230.207
    news.ycombinator.com has IPv6 address 2606:7100:1:67::26
    
    real 0m0.052s
    user 0m0.005s
    sys  0m0.004s

Java startup gets slow when you use some massive framework like Spring. If you need a program to start fast, don't use one!