Ccache vs Depot

Ccache is a build tool that can reduce repeated compilation work by storing prior results and recognizing when a single-file compilation recurs. It supports compilers such as GCC, Clang and MSVC, and languages including C, C++, assembler, CUDA, Objective-C and Objective-C++, with support varying by compiler and language. Runtime support includes Linux, macOS and native Windows at support level A, and Windows with MSYS2 and other Unix-like platforms at level B. Direct and depend modes can avoid running the preprocessor. Remote caching is possible through adaptable storage backends, with listed helpers for HTTP, HTTPS and Redis protocols. Ccache records cache hit and miss statistics, manages cache size, supports Zstandard compression, and uses BLAKE3 and XXH3 in its hashing and corruption checks. It works with Make, CMake, Ninja and Visual Studio. It is free software under the GNU GPL version 3 or later. Its scope has limits: multi-file compilation, linking and compilations with unsupported flags fall back to the real compiler. The project also cautions that cache misses add overhead and recommends measuring typical workloads.

Depot provides software delivery tools spanning source control, builds, CI runners, sandboxes, caches, and registries. Its container build service is a drop-in replacement for Docker builds, with persistent caching and native x86 and Arm support. Depot CI runs existing GitHub Actions workflows as a programmable, debuggable CI service, while Depot Registry is an OCI-compliant registry for builds, pull-through caching, and other artifacts. Integrations include GitHub Actions, CircleCI, GitLab CI, Google Cloud Build, Travis CI, Bitbucket Pipelines, Buildkite, Jenkins, and AWS CodeBuild. Cache integrations cover Bazel, Go, Gradle, Maven, Pants, sccache, Nx, and Turborepo. Each build and CI run is isolated in a dedicated virtual machine. Depot says communications use TLS and storage is encrypted at rest; it also identifies SOC 2 Type 2 compliance and time-bound, permission-based debugging access. Plans start at $20 a month, billed monthly, with a 7-day trial and no free plan. Developer includes community support; Business includes Slack Connect support.