diff --git a/.github/actions/setup-java-gradle/action.yml b/.github/actions/setup-java-gradle/action.yml
index e94de2e..c19a931 100644
--- a/.github/actions/setup-java-gradle/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/setup-java-gradle/action.yml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ runs:
       uses: actions/setup-java@v5
       with:
         distribution: temurin
-        java-version: 21
+        java-version: 25
 
     - name: Setup Gradle
       uses: gradle/actions/setup-gradle@v4
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 26d57a4..f6583aa 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ template repo for Java (or Kotlin/Scala) Gradle projects
 
 ## Features
 
-- JDK 21
+- JDK 25
 - [Gradle 9](https://github.com/gradle/gradle) (Kotlin DSL)
 - [GitHub Actions](https://github.com/features/actions) CI/CD
 - Automatic code formatting via [Spotless](https://github.com/diffplug/spotless)
diff --git a/build.gradle.kts b/build.gradle.kts
index 250e2ab..28f1d4c 100644
--- a/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/build.gradle.kts
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ allprojects {
 
   apply(plugin = "java")
   configure<JavaPluginExtension> {
-    sourceCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_21
-    targetCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_21
+    sourceCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_25
+    targetCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_25
   }
 
   apply(plugin = "com.diffplug.spotless")
diff --git a/example-kotlin/build.gradle.kts b/example-kotlin/build.gradle.kts
index 6b2cc84..b6351bf 100644
--- a/example-kotlin/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/example-kotlin/build.gradle.kts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ plugins {
 }
 
 kotlin {
-  jvmToolchain(21)
+  jvmToolchain(25)
 }
 
 // TODO disabling on Kotlin/Scala atm... too many false positives
diff --git a/gradle/libs.versions.toml b/gradle/libs.versions.toml
index 8a46634..e4b0326 100644
--- a/gradle/libs.versions.toml
+++ b/gradle/libs.versions.toml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ mockito = "5.19.0"
 scala = "3.7.1"
 kotlin = "2.2.10"
 # plugins
-spotless = "7.2.1"
+spotless = "8.0.0"
 checkstyle = "10.12.0"
 spotbugs-plugin = "6.2.5"
 buildtimetracker = "5.0.1"
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
index 48b43d3..a35649f 100644
--- a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
+++ b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 distributionPath=wrapper/dists
-distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-9.0.0-all.zip
+distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-9.1.0-all.zip
 networkTimeout=10000
 validateDistributionUrl=true
 zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME