No. 5 of 33 ·Formal Verification Tools

CBMC

Windows · Mac · Linux · Self-hosted

Freedom report

Three barsScore 6.5

Free tierA free tier is on its own pricing page
Open codeNo open-source code on record
Runs widely3 of 6 device platforms
DocumentedPlans, terms and facts published

CBMC is ranked #5 of 33 in formal verification tools on Freedom251. It runs on Linux, macOS, Self-hosted, Windows. There is a free plan.

CBMC plans and pricing

All plans

CBMC Free 4-clause BSD licensed open-source software github.com · 4 Oct 2026

Compared on formal verification tools

Free plan: Yes
Verification method: model-checking
Supported formalisms: contracts
Counterexamples: Yes
Input languages: C, C++, Java bytecode, SystemC
Deployment: self-hosted

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The record

Purpose: CBMC is a bounded model checker for C and C++ programs that explores possible execution paths and checks assertions.
Safety checks: It can check array bounds, pointer safety, exceptions, user-specified assertions, and some undefined behavior such as signed integer overflow.
Bounded analysis: CBMC may require restricting inputs to a bounded size, and its verification unwinds loops before passing the resulting equation to a decision procedure.
Language support: The repository states support for C89, C99, most of C11, C17, C23, many GCC and Visual Studio extensions, and SystemC using Scoot.
Platforms: The installation guide points to installation instructions for macOS, Ubuntu, Windows, and Docker.
Distribution: The release page provides macOS Homebrew instructions, Ubuntu DEB packages, Windows MSI installers, and Docker container images.
Build integration: goto-cc can replace gcc or cl.exe in Makefiles to collect project models for verification.
Continuous integration: The user guide describes using CBMC as part of routine software development and continuous integration.
Related tools: The user guide names CBMC Viewer and CBMC Starter Kit as third-party tools for summarizing findings and adding verification to a project.
Solver support: CBMC supports an incremental SMT2 backend that can use an SMT-LIB 2.6 compliant solver, with examples for Z3 and CVC5.
License: The repository identifies CBMC as licensed under the 4-clause BSD license.
Support: The repository asks users encountering problems to file a bug report as a GitHub issue.
Release guidance: The repository says released versions are tested and intended for production use, while develop versions are not recommended for production use.
Price from: Free

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Formal Verification Tools in 2026#5 of 33

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Sources

diffblue.github.io/cbmc/· checked 4 Oct 2026
github.com/diffblue/cbmc· checked 4 Oct 2026
diffblue.github.io/cbmc/installation_guide.html· checked 4 Oct 2026
github.com/diffblue/cbmc/releases· checked 4 Oct 2026
diffblue.github.io/cbmc/cprover-manual/md_goto-cc.html· checked 4 Oct 2026
diffblue.github.io/cbmc/user_guide.html· checked 4 Oct 2026
diffblue.github.io/cbmc/cprover-manual/md_smt2-incr.html· checked 4 Oct 2026