clcache vs FosterStack

clcache is a free, open-source Python script for Windows builds using Microsoft Visual C++ cl.exe. It intercepts compiler calls and reuses cached object files to avoid recompiling matching work, while unsupported invocations can be passed to the real compiler. Cache keys use preprocessed source, a normalized command line, and the compiler binary’s size and modification time. Command-line controls provide statistics, cleanup, clearing, and maximum-size settings; the default limit is 1073741824 bytes (1 GiB). Object files can be compressed at levels 1 through 9, though changing compression settings requires clearing the cache. Hard-link mode requires cache and build directories on the same drive. Documentation covers Visual Studio and MSBuild integration, recommends disabling TrackFileAccess, and describes optional hash caching and memcached storage. The documented path requires /c, excludes /link and /Zi, and supports /Z7. INCLUDE and LIBPATH changes may not be detected.

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.