Bazel vs Please
Bazel
bazel.build
Please
please.buildSide by side
| Figure | Bazel | Please |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · Monorepo Management Tools | 8.8 (#1) | 7.1 (#30) |
| Spec score · Build Automation Software | 8.8 (#3) | 7.1 (#36) |
| CI integration | Bazel returns a non-zero exit code when a build or test invocation fails, supporting basic CI integration. | The documentation shows how to use Please in GitHub Actions, including a setup action for installing Please in workflows. |
| Purpose | Bazel is an open-source tool that automates software builds and tests. | Please is a cross-language build system focused on performance, extensibility and correctness. |
| Support | The project directs users to its discussion group, GitHub issue tracker, Slack, and Stack Overflow. | Users can raise issues on GitHub, chat on Gitter or use the discussion group for questions. |
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.