Best Package Managers in 2026
Updated
93 package managers ranked on what their makers publish — plans and prices, free tiers, platforms and the facts on their own pages.
93ranked
1free plans on this page
4 Oct 2026last checked
Package Managers, ranked on how quickly a newcomer can get going. 1 of the 18 on this page can be tried for free.
- 76 pkgin
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 77 Fink
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 78 urpmi
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 79 opkg
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 80 eopkg
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 81 Zero Install
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: yes
- 82 RPM
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 83 dpkg
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 84 DUB
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: yes
- 85 Pacman
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 86 CPAN Minus
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 87 Pacstall
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 88 Slackware pkgtools
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 89 CRUX pkgutils
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 90 zef
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 91 slackpkg
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 92 pkgman
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 93 BowerFree plan
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: yes
Compare all 18 in a table
| # | Platform | Score | Free plan | From | Free plan | Paid from | Package formats | Supported platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 76 | pkgin | 5.8 | No | — | — | — | pkgsrc binary packages | NetBSD; DragonFly BSD; Solaris/SunOS; Debian GNU/Linux; Mac OS X; Minix |
| 77 | Fink | 5.8 | No | — | — | — | DEB (.deb), Fink package descriptions (.info), source tarballs | macOS/Darwin; x86_64 and arm64 supported by the development branch |
| 78 | urpmi | 5.8 | No | — | Yes | — | RPM | Mageia Linux; i586; x86_64 |
| 79 | opkg | 5.8 | No | — | Yes | — | .ipk, .deb | OpenWrt embedded Linux; OpenWrt 24.10 and older |
| 80 | eopkg | 5.8 | No | — | Yes | — | .eopkg | Solus Linux |
| 81 | Zero Install | 5.7 | No | — | — | — | — | — |
| 82 | RPM | 5.7 | No | — | — | — | RPM v4, RPM v6 | Linux |
| 83 | dpkg | 5.7 | No | — | — | — | .deb | Linux |
| 84 | DUB | 5.7 | No | — | — | — | dub.json, dub.sdl | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 85 | Pacman | 5.7 | No | — | Yes | — | Compressed tar archives (.pkg.tar.*) | Linux, primarily Arch Linux x86-64 |
| 86 | CPAN Minus | 5.6 | No | — | — | — | Perl modules, CPAN distributions, tar.gz archives | Perl 5.8.1 or later |
| 87 | Pacstall | 5.6 | No | — | Yes | — | native .deb packages; AppImages; binaries; Git repositories; release artifacts | Ubuntu and Linux distributions using dpkg/apt |
| 88 | Slackware pkgtools | 5.6 | No | — | Yes | — | tgz, txz, tbz, tlz | Slackware Linux on x86, x86_64, and ARM ports |
| 89 | CRUX pkgutils | 5.5 | No | — | — | — | tar.gz, tar.bz2, tar.lz, tar.xz, tar.zst | Linux x86-64 |
| 90 | zef | 5.4 | No | — | Yes | — | Raku distributions; Git repositories; tar.gz archives; local paths | — |
| 91 | slackpkg | 5.4 | No | — | Yes | — | .txz, .tgz | Slackware Linux |
| 92 | pkgman | 5.4 | No | — | — | — | HPKG | Haiku OS |
| 93 | Bower | 4.8 | Free plan | Free | — | — | — | — |
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