Skip to content
SPECIFICTION
Get listed

Jabba vs PHPBrew

Jabba

github.com

PHPBrew

phpbrew.github.io

Side by side

FigureJabbaPHPBrew
Price fromFreeFree
Free planYesYes
Free trial——
Open source——
WindowsYes—
macOSYesYes
LinuxYesYes
Self-hosted—Yes
Plans published11
Spec score · Runtime Version Managers8.5 (#3)7.4 (#18)
LicenseThe repository is licensed under Apache License 2.0.The project identifies its license as MIT.
PurposeJabba is a Java version manager inspired by nvm and written in Go.PHPBrew builds and installs multiple PHP versions in the user's home directory.
Version switchingUsers can install JDKs, switch among installed versions, set a default version, and select a project version through a .jabbarc file.It can temporarily use a PHP version or switch the default version, and integrates with bash and zsh.

Plans

Jabba

  • JabbaFree

Jabba pricing →

PHPBrew

  • PHPBrewFree

PHPBrew pricing →

In their own words

Jabba

Jabba is a free Java version manager written in Go for installing and switching among JDK versions on macOS, Linux and Windows. Its JDK index, powered by DiscoAPI, lists versions for the user's operating system and architecture. The README names distributions including Oracle, Adopt OpenJDK, Zulu, IBM SDK, GraalVM, OpenJDK, Liberica and Amazon Corretto. Users can list remote JDKs, filter versions with semantic version ranges, install versions and switch among those installed. A `.jabbarc` file can specify a project's JDK, while a default alias can select the version used in new terminals. Jabba can link to a system JDK and coexist with an existing Java installation. The README documents shell integration for bash, zsh and fish, plus installation through Homebrew, shell scripts, PowerShell, Scoop or Docker. Custom JDK downloads are also supported. Jabba does not switch Java globally on its own; the README gives manual platform-specific snippets instead. The repository describes Jabba as a community fork that is a work in progress and warns that some README instructions may be outdated. It is licensed under Apache-2.0.

Visit github.com

PHPBrew

PHPBrew builds and installs multiple PHP versions in a user’s home directory, including without root permission. It is intended for Linux and macOS and compiles PHP from source. Build variants simplify configuration choices such as PDO, MySQL, SQLite, and debug support. Users can temporarily select a version or change the default, with bash and zsh integration for switching and project version pinning. PHPBrew installs extensions from PHP source or PECL and can create configuration to enable them. It can compile Apache PHP modules and provides PHP-FPM management commands when PHP is built with the +fpm variant. Library lookup can use Homebrew, MacPorts, Debian, Ubuntu, or a custom path. Development packages must be installed before building. The project uses the MIT license and directs users to troubleshooting and wiki documentation. Builds of PHP versions no longer officially supported are not guaranteed, and issues involving versions older than 5.4 will not be fixed. The listed plan costs nothing.

Visit phpbrew.github.io