Ccache vs FosterStack

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.

FosterStack is a self-hosted remote build cache server intended as a replacement for Develocity Build Cache Node. It supports Gradle and the Apache Maven Build Cache Extension remote HTTP mode, although Maven acceptance coverage is in progress. Size-capped LRU eviction frees space for new entries. HTTP Basic Auth over TLS uses constant-time credential comparison, and credentials are not logged. Prometheus metrics and a read-only status page report hit rates and cache size against its cap. Deployment options are a Docker image or static binary; release binaries are available for Linux and macOS on amd64 and arm64. Windows is not built or planned. The MIT-licensed core has signed releases with SLSA provenance, and security patches are included in the free tier. The maker says the free core makes no outbound connections and collects no telemetry or usage data. FosterStack identifies the product as v0.1 and says nobody outside its own work is yet running it in a production build pipeline. The full self-hosted server is free. Team, Business, and Compliance plans are described but not yet available, with listed prices of $49.00 per month, $199.00 per month, and $499.00 per year, respectively.