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Ninja vs Ninja (Kitware branch): catalog facts
Ninja	Ninja (Kitware branch)
Free Free and open source.	Free Free and open source under the Apache 2.0 licence.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line	Windows, Command line
Very fast incremental builds Works as a CMake backend	Adds jobserver pipe mode ahead of upstream Ninja Maintained by Kitware, the developers of CMake
Build files are not convenient to write by hand Needs a higher-level generator for most projects	Staging branch that may be rebased without notice Only useful if you need the extra features
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: Apache-2.0	License: Apache-2.0
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.