Bazel vs fastlane
Bazel
bazel.build
fastlane
fastlane.toolsSide by side
| Figure | Bazel | fastlane |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Build Automation Software | 8.8 (#3) | 8.7 (#4) |
| Extensibility | Users can write custom Bazel rules and macros in Starlark, a language that is a subset of Python. | The site describes hundreds of community-built actions and plugins for customizing workflows. |
| Purpose | Bazel is an open-source tool that automates software builds and tests. | fastlane is an open source platform for automating development and release workflows for iOS and Android apps. |
| Support | The project directs users to its discussion group, GitHub issue tracker, Slack, and Stack Overflow. | The documentation directs users to search existing GitHub issues and submit an issue with setup details, including the output of fastlane env, if needed. |
Plans
In their own words
Bazel
Bazel is a free, open-source tool for automating software builds and tests across languages and platforms. Projects define targets in BUILD files using Starlark, which can also be used to create custom rules and macros. Bazel caches prior work and rebuilds what needs to change, while running tasks in parallel. It supports languages including C++, Java, Kotlin, Python, Go, and Rust, with outputs for desktop, server, Android, and iOS. Bazel runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and the documentation describes builds with 100,000 or more source files across multiple repositories. Sandboxing can make builds and tests more hermetic, and failures return a non-zero exit code for basic CI integration. Teams can share outputs through a remote cache, but must select and maintain its backend and secure access because it can contain binaries. IDE options include plugins for IntelliJ, Android Studio, CLion, and Visual Studio Code, plus Xcode integration. Bazel is not well suited to uncached deployment steps that change cloud configuration.
fastlane
fastlane is a free, open-source platform for automating iOS and Android app development and release workflows. Teams define workflows as lanes and can run them with a single command. A lane can manage build numbering, code signing, builds, beta uploads and changelog creation; fastlane also supports store releases, including metadata and screenshot management and submission for review. It can create localized app store screenshots for the languages and devices an app supports. The site lists support for more than 15 beta testing services, including TestFlight, Crashlytics Beta, Play and Hockey. Documentation describes integrations with more than 400 tools and services, including major CI systems, alongside community-built actions and plugins. For iOS signing, signing identities and profiles can be kept in a private encrypted Git repository and synced between machines. fastlane runs on a user's machine or server, and its documentation says credentials and other sensitive information stay there. macOS is officially supported; Linux and Windows are partially supported. The project uses the MIT license.