[cbm-vic-20]

Licensing for OpenJDK is trivial (GPLv2+Classpath). Just like gcc/g++ and its runtime library exception.

Licensing for Oracle JDK is more complicated. This is the one where you can use it for free, but after the next LTS you either have to move to the LTS or pay for updates. There's no reason to use Oracle JDK unless you want to pay for support from Oracle, or if your applications specifically require Oracle JDK. Oracle JDK is built from the same source as OpenJDK.

https://blogs.oracle.com/java/post/free-java-license

[extraduder_ire]

What is even the benefit to using Oracle JDK at this point? Years ago, I saw that some jetbrains IDEs said to use it instead of openJDK, but I haven't seen anything else like that.

[lenkite]

Oracle JDK offers LTS support with regular security patches and critical bug fixes, even for older LTS releases. (More than a decade plus, I believe, but need to check)

OpenJDK community builds usually only provide updates until the next release (6 months).

Oracle offers paid commercial support contracts: guaranteed patch timelines, 24/7 enterprise support, performance issue troubleshooting, and compliance assurance.

You can also built features atop the Oracle JDK and still get support. SAPJVM does this for instance - hot debugging as a feature.