In an illustrative embodiment of a process for software version recommendation, a computer receives information representative of a software instance at a target machine, analyzes the received information using a set of predefined rules and a set of available updates metadata associated with a particular updates agent and target machine to identify information pertinent to a combination of a respective target machine associated with the particular updates agent. The computer, responsive to a determination to send the identified information as a recommendation to the respective target machine, sends the recommendation to the combination of the respective target machine associated with the particular updates agent.