No. 15 of 73 ·Reverse Engineering Tools

JADX

Windows · Mac · Linux

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

JADX is ranked #15 of 73 in reverse engineering tools on Freedom251. It runs on Linux, macOS, Windows. There is a free plan.

JADX plans and pricing

All plans

JADX Free Apache 2.0 licensed · decompilation may not recover 100% of code github.com · 4 Oct 2026

Compared on reverse engineering tools

Free plan: Yes
Native-code decompilation: No
Bytecode decompilation: Yes
Debugger integration: Yes
Plugin support: Yes
License type: free

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The record

Purpose: JADX provides command-line and GUI tools for producing Java source code from Android Dex and APK files.
Input formats: It decompiles APK, DEX, AAR, AAB, and ZIP files and can decode AndroidManifest.xml and resources.arsc.
Deobfuscation: A deobfuscator is included, with options for mappings and identifier renaming.
GUI navigation: The GUI supports syntax highlighting, jump to declaration, find usage, and full-text search.
Smali debugger: The GUI debugger supports stepping, breakpoints, and modifying register values and object fields; it requires adb and a debuggable app or rooted device/emulator.
Library use: JADX can be used as a library in Java projects.
Plugins: The CLI can list, install, update, disable, enable, and uninstall plugins, including plugins from the JADX plugin marketplace.
Platforms: The project documents Windows batch files, macOS Homebrew installation, Arch Linux packages, and Flathub installation.
Runtime requirement: Running downloaded releases requires Java 11 or later in a 64-bit version.
Limitation: JADX warns that it cannot decompile all code in most cases, so errors can occur.
License: The project is licensed under Apache 2.0.
Security reporting: The security policy asks users to report issues through a new security advisory and says maintainers will respond within three working days.
Support: The project directs users to its troubleshooting wiki and invites issue reports and pull requests through GitHub.
Price from: Free

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Reverse Engineering Tools in 2026#15 of 73
Best Decompiler Software in 2026#7 of 24

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Sources

github.com/skylot/jadx· checked 4 Oct 2026
github.com/skylot/jadx/wiki/Smali-debugger· checked 4 Oct 2026
github.com/skylot/jadx/blob/master/SECURITY.md· checked 4 Oct 2026