bazel-remote vs NativeLink

bazel-remote is free, Apache-2.0-licensed open-source software that runs as a self-hosted HTTP/1.1 and gRPC server for Bazel remote caching and other REAPI clients. Cache data can stay on disk with a configured maximum size; least recently used files are removed when that limit is reached. Storage backends include S3, Google Cloud Storage, and an experimental Azure Blob Storage proxy. The server exposes HTTP REST endpoints and REAPI v2 ActionCache, ContentAddressableStorage, Capabilities, and Byte Stream services over gRPC. Zstandard-compressed CAS blobs can reduce network use and increase effective cache capacity. Prometheus metrics are available for HTTP and gRPC endpoints. Deployment options include Docker images, Docker Compose, Kubernetes examples, or a standalone Linux binary, including ARM64 Docker deployments such as Raspberry Pi. Authentication supports .htpasswd-style credentials or mutual TLS; LDAP is experimental, and only one mechanism can be active. TLS settings are configurable. The default permits unauthenticated access, so operators must configure protection.

NativeLink brings remote build caching, remote execution, and observability into a Rust-native platform. Its content-addressed cache deduplicates build artifacts so teams, CI systems, and agents can reuse prior results. Remote execution spreads compilation and tests across worker fleets on AWS, GCP, or bare metal, with GPU, ARM, and Apple Silicon support. Listed build systems include Bazel, Buck2, Siso, Soong, Pants, Goma, BuildStream, and CMake through recc. CI integrations include GitHub Actions, GitLab, Buildkite, and Jenkins; other listed connections include AWS, GCP, Azure, S3, GCS, and Redis. The product also lists integrations with AI coding platforms. It can run as a self-hosted Rust binary. Clients support Linux, macOS, and Windows, while servers support Linux and macOS. The free Open Source tier includes community Slack support. Most of the monorepo uses FSL-1.1-Apache-2.0, but metrics and remote persistent workers are Business Source License modules requiring Enterprise or a separate license for shared production use.