Magistrate Desmond Nair said the state had not made a case that he would flee, or that he had a violent character.
The Paralympic champion denies murder, saying he shot Reeva Steenkamp thinking she was an intruder at his home.
The next hearing in the case has been set for 4 June. Bail was set at 1m rand (£74,000; $113,000).
He was ordered to hand over his passport, avoid his home in Pretoria and report to a police station between 07:00 and 13:00 every Monday and Friday.
Reeva Steenkamp’s family say they want the truth
Mr Nair took almost two hours to deliver his judgement.
He criticised the testimony of Detective Hilton Botha for not following up important leads and changing his evidence.
But the magistrate also said he had difficulty understanding why Mr Pistorius had opened fire in the way he did.
However, he said Mr Pistorius had “reached out to meet the state’s case” and had given a full version of events at an early stage.
