Alternatives to Gradle
An open-source build automation tool for Java, Kotlin and Android projects, with Kotlin and Groovy build scripts. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Gradle
An open-source build automation tool for Java, Kotlin and Android projects, with Kotlin and Groovy build scripts.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Gradle.
Apache Maven
A build and dependency management tool for Java projects based on a project object model.
Apache Maven uses a conventional project layout and verbose XML configuration instead of Kotlin or Groovy scripts, which makes it less flexible but widely supported for Java builds.
Bazel
An open-source build and test system for multi-language projects, with incremental builds and caching.
Bazel handles large multi-language monorepos with local and distributed caching, but its build files and rules take time to learn and add overhead for small projects.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
SDKMAN!
Manages parallel versions of JVM SDKs and build tools.
Kotlin
A concise, multiplatform programming language from JetBrains for backend, Android, web and desktop apps.
Amazon Corretto
A no-cost OpenJDK distribution from Amazon with long-term support and quarterly security updates.
Eclipse Temurin
Free prebuilt OpenJDK Java runtime and development kit binaries from the Eclipse Adoptium project.
Android Studio
Google's official IDE for building Android apps, based on IntelliJ.
Jenkins
A self-hosted open source automation server for building, testing and deploying software projects.
