Difference between JAX-WS, Axis2 and CXF
What is the difference between:
All three can be used to create webservices in Java.
As of I know JAX-WS is a specification and Axis2 and CXF are implementations, but Java 1.6 has implementation of JAX-WS if I am not wrong.
So one can use Java 1.6 to develop JAX-WS web services without using Axis2 or CXF? Then what is the use of Axis2, CXF?
Answer
The JAX-WS implementation built into the JDK really is just the basic soap stuff. If you need any of the more complex WS-* things like WS-Security, WS-RM, WS-Policy, etc..., you need to use one of the alternatives like CXF or Metro or Axis2. It can also depend on what you are trying to integrate with. For example, CXF has top notch Spring support as well as very good OSGi support.
CXF also has other things besides just JAX-WS. It has a compliant JAX-RS implementation as well and supports exposing services as both REST and SOAP very well. Has a W3C compliant SOAP/JMS implementation if that type of things is required. Basically, lots of stuff not available from the in-jdk JAX-WS impl.
Also see: