Oracle is making Oracle JDK available for free, including all quarterly security updates, for both commercial and production use. The new license is the "Oracle No-Fee Terms and Conditions" (NFTC) license, which permits free use for all users, even commercial and production use. Redistribution is permitted as long as it is not for a fee.

The new license comes into effect for JDK 17, which as we reported was released in September.

Commenting on the license, Oracle's Donald Smith, Senior Director of Product Management, says:

"Oracle will provide Oracle JDK LTS releases under the NFTC for at least one full year after the subsequent LTS version, giving you more flexibility on your upgrade schedules"

The new license doesn't cover separately downloaded and separately licensed Java SE Subscription features such as Java Management Service, Advanced Management Console and GraalVM Enterprise.

Oracle will also continue providing Oracle OpenJDK releases under the open-source General Public License (GPL), as it has since 2017.

Oracle JDK 11, Oracle JDK Java 8, and Oracle JRE with Java Web Start in Java 8, are available under the OTN License Agreement for Java SE. This OTN license permits personal use, development, testing, prototyping, demonstrating and some other limited uses at no cost.

Oracle will use the NFTC for JDK 17 and later releases. LTS releases, such as JDK 17, will receive updates under this license for one year after the release of the subsequent LTS. After the free use license period, Oracle intends to use the OTN License, the same currently used for Java 8 and 11 LTS releases, for subsequent updates. Non-LTS releases such as JDK 18 will be available for their entire planned six months support life under the NFTC.

More Information

NFTC License

Introducing the Free Java License

JDK 17 On OpenJDK

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