fastlane vs Ninja
fastlane
fastlane.toolsNinja
ninja-build.orgSide by side
| Figure | fastlane | Ninja |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Build Automation Software | 8.7 (#4) | 8.1 (#13) |
| Integrations | The documentation says fastlane integrates with more than 400 tools and services and lists major CI systems such as GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, and CircleCI. | GN and CMake can generate Ninja files; the manual also names Premake as a possible fit. |
| License | The project is licensed under the MIT license. | The project repository identifies its license as Apache-2.0. |
| Platform support | fastlane is officially supported on macOS; Linux and Windows are partially supported, with some tools limited by underlying software availability. | The manual says Ninja works on Unix-like systems and Windows, and runs on Mac OS X and FreeBSD; it has seen the most testing on Linux. |
| Purpose | fastlane is an open source platform for automating development and release workflows for iOS and Android apps. | Ninja is a small build system designed to evaluate incremental builds quickly. |
| Support | The documentation directs users to search existing GitHub issues and submit an issue with setup details, including the output of fastlane env, if needed. | The project site links to a mailing list and lists the #ninja-build IRC channel on irc.oftc.net. |
Plans
In their own words
fastlane
fastlane is a free, open-source platform for automating iOS and Android app development and release workflows. Teams define workflows as lanes and can run them with a single command. A lane can manage build numbering, code signing, builds, beta uploads and changelog creation; fastlane also supports store releases, including metadata and screenshot management and submission for review. It can create localized app store screenshots for the languages and devices an app supports. The site lists support for more than 15 beta testing services, including TestFlight, Crashlytics Beta, Play and Hockey. Documentation describes integrations with more than 400 tools and services, including major CI systems, alongside community-built actions and plugins. For iOS signing, signing identities and profiles can be kept in a private encrypted Git repository and synced between machines. fastlane runs on a user's machine or server, and its documentation says credentials and other sensitive information stay there. macOS is officially supported; Linux and Windows are partially supported. The project uses the MIT license.