asdf vs mise
asdf
asdf-vm.com
mise
mise.jdx.devSide by side
| Figure | asdf | mise |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Runtime Version Managers | 8.1 (#6) | 7.7 (#12) |
| Spec score · Development Environment Managers | 8.0 (#15) | 7.6 (#31) |
| CI integration | The homepage says asdf provides a GitHub Action to use `.tool-versions` in CI/CD workflows. | The documentation describes using mise in CI, including GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, and Xcode Cloud. |
| Purpose | asdf is a tool version manager that uses one `.tool-versions` file to share exact tool versions with a project team. | mise manages development tools, environment variables, and project tasks through a project configuration file. |
| Shell support | The homepage lists Bash, ZSH, Fish, and Elvish support with completions available. | Shell hooks are listed for bash, zsh, fish, nushell, PowerShell, and other shells. |
Plans
In their own words
asdf
asdf is a free, open-source version manager for Linux and macOS. It gives project teams one command interface and a shared `.tool-versions` file for selecting exact versions of multiple tools and runtimes. Plugins support tools such as Node.js, Ruby, and Elixir, while the plugin API allows additional tools. When a command runs, asdf searches for configuration from the current directory upward toward the home directory, then uses shims to launch the selected executable. Existing `.ruby-version`, `.nvmrc`, and `.node-version` files can be supported per plugin. Listed shell support includes Bash, ZSH, Fish, and Elvish, with completions. A GitHub Action uses `.tool-versions` in CI/CD workflows. Installation options include Homebrew, Zypper, Pacman, precompiled binaries, Go, and source builds. asdf manages tool versions rather than system packages or upstream dependencies. If no version is set, execution errors unless the tool is configured as `system`.
mise
mise is a free, MIT-licensed open-source tool for managing development runtimes, command-line tools, environment variables, and project tasks from a configuration file. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows and lists a registry of more than 1,000 tools. Projects can pin tool versions and share those choices with teams and continuous-integration systems. Configuration can load variables from dotenv files, secrets, and shell commands. Tasks can define build, test, lint, and other commands with dependencies and arguments, with task graphs, affected-build handling, and remote caching listed. The bootstrap command can declare packages, dotfiles, repositories, and services for machine setup. Shell hooks cover bash, zsh, fish, nushell, PowerShell, and other shells. Documentation describes GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, and Xcode Cloud use. Community plugins are listed for Emacs, IntelliJ, Neovim, and VSCode, with support depending on editor, extension, and language. Security controls include trust settings, safe and paranoid modes, checksums, signatures, provenance, and artifact attestations.