FASTBuild vs GNU Automake
FASTBuild
fastbuild.orgGNU Automake
gnu.orgSide by side
| Figure | FASTBuild | GNU Automake |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Build Automation Software | 8.6 (#6) | 7.4 (#28) |
| Integrations | The download page lists third-party Unreal Engine 4 integrations and Visual Studio and VSCode-related tooling. | Automake works with Autoconf and documents building shared libraries using GNU Libtool. |
| Intended users | The maker says FASTBuild is used by large studios and independent developers for PC, Mac, Linux, console, smartphone, and retro-system development. | Automake is intended to reduce Makefile maintenance for GNU package maintainers. |
| Purpose | FASTBuild is an open-source build system for scalable compilation, caching, and network distribution. | GNU Automake generates GNU Coding Standards compliant Makefile.in files from Makefile.am templates. |
| Support | The site directs bug reports, feature requests and questions to GitHub issues and provides online or downloadable documentation. | Automake provides public mailing lists for discussion, patches, and bug reports. |
Plans
In their own words
FASTBuild
FASTBuild is an open-source build system for compiling software across Linux, macOS and Windows. It runs compilation work across worker threads, can reuse results from local or network caches, and can distribute builds among networked machines when their settings and worker setup are compatible. The maker says caching can accelerate compile times up to 10x. Some compiler settings do not support caching or distribution; FASTBuild handles affected objects without caching or builds them locally. Supported toolchains include MSVC, GCC, SNC, Clang, GreenHills, CodeWarrior and NVCC, plus syntactically compatible command-line compilers. It can combine C++ files into Unity or Blob builds, while allowing writable files to be built individually for quicker iteration. FASTBuild can generate Visual Studio and XCode project files. The maker describes it as a self-contained executable that needs no installation or dependencies beyond compiler tools. It is free, with commercial use and redistribution allowed under license conditions; the license provides the software without warranty. The listed current release is v1.20, released 26-Apr-2026.