No. 18 of 51 ·Development Environment Managers

SDKMAN!

Windows · Mac · Linux · API

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Freedom report

Two barsScore 5.6

Free tierNo free tier on record
Open codeNo open-source code on record
Runs widely3 of 6 device platforms
DocumentedPlans, terms and facts published

SDKMAN! is ranked #18 of 51 in development environment managers on Freedom251. It runs on API, Linux, macOS, Windows.

Compared on development environment managers

Free plan: Yes
Supported scope: language_and_sdk
Project version pinning: Yes
Lockfile support: Yes
Automatic switching: Yes
Shell integration: Yes
Operating systems: cross_platform
CI/CD usage: Yes

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The record

Purpose: SDKMAN! manages multiple Software Development Kits on Unix systems through a command-line interface and API.
JVM ecosystem: It supports JVM SDKs and tools including Java, Scala, Kotlin, Groovy, Ant, Gradle, Maven, SBT, Spark, Spring Boot and Vert.x.
Version switching: Users can install, uninstall, list, use, default, upgrade and inspect SDK versions from the CLI.
Project environments: An .sdkmanrc file can define SDK versions for a project, and automatic switching can occur when entering a directory.
Installation platforms: SDKMAN! supports macOS, Linux and Windows through WSL or Git Bash with MinGW.
Windows limitation: Windows cannot run SDKMAN! natively; it requires WSL or MSYS+MinGW, and Cygwin is no longer supported.
Dependencies: The installer requires curl, zip and unzip, and SDKMAN! works with Bash and ZSH.
CI mode: The installer offers CI mode that answers prompts, disables colored output and turns off self-updates.
Vendor publishing: JVM SDK vendors can publish releases through the SDKMAN! State API and choose the default user version.
JDK integration: Java distributions are pulled automatically from the Foojay DISCO API.
Ecosystem limit: SDKMAN! is intended for the JVM ecosystem and is not the right home for Go, Rust, Node.js, Python or Ruby toolchains.
Open source: SDKMAN! is open source and licensed under Apache 2.0.
Security support: Only the latest released CLI version receives security updates.
Vulnerability reporting: Security issues can be reported through GitHub Private Vulnerability Reporting or by emailing [email protected].

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Development Environment Managers in 2026#18 of 51
Best Runtime Version Managers in 2026#10 of 30

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Sources

sdkman.io· checked 30 Sept 2026
sdkman.io/usage/· checked 30 Sept 2026
sdkman.io/install/· checked 30 Sept 2026
sdkman.io/vendors/· checked 30 Sept 2026
github.com/sdkman/sdkman-cli/security· checked 30 Sept 2026