Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Gradle VS CMake

Compare Gradle VS CMake and see what are their differences

Gradle logo Gradle

Accelerate developer productivity. Gradle helps teams build, automate and deliver better software, faster. DocsExplore the documentation of Gradle. Find installation ..

CMake logo CMake

CMake is an open-source, cross-platform family of tools designed to build, test and package software.
  • Gradle Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-11
  • CMake Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-09-21

We recommend LibHunt CMake for discovery and comparisons of trending CMake projects.

Gradle features and specs

  • Performance
    Gradle is known for its high performance, including build caching and incremental builds. It optimizes tasks to avoid unnecessary work and speeds up the development process.
  • Flexibility
    Gradle provides a highly flexible and customizable build automation system. It supports Java, Kotlin, Groovy, Scala, and more.
  • Dependency Management
    Gradle offers robust dependency management, allowing easy handling of complex dependencies and transitive dependencies. It integrates well with repositories like Maven Central and JCenter.
  • Multi-project Builds
    Gradle excels at handling multi-project builds. It supports both monorepo and multi-repo project structures, enabling scalable build configurations.
  • Integration
    Gradle integrates smoothly with popular IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse, and Android Studio, improving the developer experience and productivity.
  • Declarative Builds
    Gradle uses a domain-specific language (DSL) which makes it easier to declare build configurations in a readable format. It supports both Groovy and Kotlin DSLs.

Possible disadvantages of Gradle

  • Complexity
    Gradle’s flexibility can introduce complexity. New users might find it challenging to grasp Gradle’s concepts and DSL, especially for sophisticated build configurations.
  • Configuration Time
    Initial configuration and setup of Gradle can be time-consuming. Fine-tuning the build scripts to optimize performance may also require significant effort.
  • Documentation
    While Gradle’s documentation is comprehensive, it can sometimes be overwhelming. Users might need to rely on community resources or tutorials for certain advanced configurations.
  • Compatibility Issues
    Gradle changes and updates can sometimes introduce compatibility issues with plugins or existing build scripts, requiring adjustments when upgrading.
  • Resource Intensive
    Gradle can be resource-intensive, potentially consuming significant memory and CPU resources, particularly for very large projects.

CMake features and specs

  • Cross-platform support
    CMake is designed to support multiple operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux. This allows developers to write platform-independent CMake scripts.
  • Build tool agnostic
    CMake can generate build files for a variety of build systems including Makefiles, Ninja, and Visual Studio solutions. This means developers are not tied to a specific build tool.
  • Large community and extensive documentation
    CMake has a large user base and an extensive amount of documentation and tutorials available which can be helpful for new and experienced users alike.
  • Integrated testing support
    CMake includes support for testing frameworks such as CTest, which allows for automated testing of code during the build process.
  • Modular and scalable
    CMake is highly modular, enabling users to create reusable and maintainable code by organizing CMake scripts into libraries and modules.

Possible disadvantages of CMake

  • Steep learning curve
    CMake's complexity and its extensive range of features can be difficult for beginners to grasp, leading to a steep learning curve.
  • Verbose syntax
    CMake scripts can often become verbose and difficult to read, especially for large projects. This can make maintenance and debugging challenging.
  • Inconsistent module quality
    The quality and support of different CMake modules can vary, sometimes leading to issues with compatibility or functionality.
  • Performance overhead
    CMake may introduce some performance overhead during the configuration process, especially for very large projects.
  • Complexity in advanced features
    Some of the more advanced features of CMake, such as custom commands and complex dependency management, can be quite difficult to implement correctly.

Analysis of CMake

Overall verdict

  • CMake is generally considered a good tool for managing the build process of software projects, especially those with a complex codebase that spans multiple platforms.

Why this product is good

  • Flexibility
    It offers great flexibility in terms of defining build processes, enabling advanced configuration and optimization techniques to be used.
  • Integration
    It integrates well with many popular IDEs and other tools, providing a smoother development experience.
  • Wide adoption
    CMake is widely used in the industry, which leads to robust community support and regular updates.
  • Cross platform support
    CMake is designed to support multiple platforms, which makes it highly valuable for projects that need to be compiled and run on different operating systems.

Recommended for

  • projects requiring cross-platform compatibility
  • developers looking for a powerful build configuration tool
  • complex software projects with numerous dependencies
  • teams that value strong community and industry support

Gradle videos

Gradle project properties best practices (don't be that guy)

More videos:

  • Review - Gradle Demystified - Josh Allen
  • Review - Working With Gradle in IntelliJ IDEA

CMake videos

CMake for Dummies

More videos:

  • Review - CppCon 2017: Mathieu Ropert “Using Modern CMake Patterns to Enforce a Good Modular Design”
  • Review - Hunter, a CMake driven package manager for C/C++ projects - Daniel Friedrich - Lightning Talks

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Gradle and CMake)
DevOps Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Front End Package Manager
Continuous Integration
78 78%
22% 22
JavaScript Package Manager

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

CMake might be a bit more popular than Gradle. We know about 54 links to it since March 2021 and only 41 links to Gradle. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Gradle mentions (41)

  • Android Studio Ladybug broke my build.
    First off, Gradle is the build system selected by the Android team at Google as the official tool for generating Android APKs, Bundles, or libraries. Gradle exists outside Android and can be used with other technologies. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Tutorial: Build a Java SDK based on OpenAPI Spec
    Gradle: Gradle offers more flexibility and faster build times, especially for larger Projects. It can be useful if your SDK requires more advanced build customizations or if you prioritize build performance. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • My Journey with AWS CDK and Java: What You Need to Know
    From what I’ve seen, adopting the CDK in Java is relatively easy for most of these teams as they already understand the language and the ecosystem. Integrating the CDK with their existing build tools like Maven and Gradle is well documented, which leaves them with the learning curve of understanding how to work with infrastructure as code, how to structure a CDK project and when to use L1, L2 and L3 constructs. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Rapyd API Request Signatures in Java
    To begin, create a new Java project with the Gradle build option using IntelliJ IDE. Gradle is a build automation tool that supports compiling, testing, packing, and deploying applications, and it also helps seamlessly manage dependencies. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Setting up linters in Gitlab CI for C++ and Groovy / Jenkins code
    Because executing CodeNarc from the command-line is not so simple, I find it easier to use Gradle and its dedicated plugin to execute CodeNarc:. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
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CMake mentions (54)

  • DeadLock: Research Results & Tech Stack
    All this C++ project can't be ran as simple C++ code, so I will be building this whole package using CMake. It will streamline building this project onto other computers. - Source: dev.to / 3 days ago
  • Master This Feature of DevEco Studio to Efficiently Implement ArkTS and C++ Glue Code
    For knowledge in this aspect, you can refer to the relevant documents of the CMake build tool: https://cmake.org/. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Creating a Native Desktop GUI Using C++ with GTK
    I used CMAKE to define the build configurations. I find it very convenient that CMAKE generates the Makefile on Linux and can also create a Visual Studio project on Windows. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Top 7 C++ Tools to explore in 2024 if it's not already the case.
    CMake stands for "Cross-platform Make" and is an open-source, platform-independent build system. It's designed to build, test, and package software projects written in C and C++, but it can also be used for other languages. Here's an overview of CMake and its features:. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • My first Software Release using GitHub Release
    When doing research for this lab exercise I looked at both vcpkg and conan. Both are package managers that would automate the installation and configuration of my program with its dependencies. However, when it came to releasing and sharing my program my options were limited. For example, the central public registry for conan packages is conan-center, but these packages are curated and the process is very... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Gradle and CMake, you can also consider the following products

Apache Maven - Apache Maven is a project comprehension and management software tool.

GNU Make - GNU Make is a tool which controls the generation of executables and other non-source files of a program from the program's source files.

SCons - SCons is an Open Source software construction tool—that is, a next-generation build tool.

Apache Ant - Apache Ant is a Java library and command-line tool whose mission is to drive processes described in build files as targets and extension points dependent upon each other.

SBT - SBT is a build tool for Scala, like Ant or Maven but with hieroglyphics.

CircleCI - CircleCI gives web developers powerful Continuous Integration and Deployment with easy setup and maintenance.