Task is a task runner / build tool that aims to be simpler and easier to use than, for example, GNU Make.
Cost / License
- Free
- Open Source
Platforms
- Windows
- Mac
- Linux
- Go (Programming Language)
CMake is described as 'Family of tools designed to build, test and package software. CMake is used to control the software compilation process using simple platform and compiler independent configuration files. CMake generates native makefiles and workspaces that can be used in the compiler' and is a Build System in the development category. There are more than 25 alternatives to CMake for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Mac, Windows, BSD and Self-Hosted apps. The best CMake alternative is Gradle, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like CMake are Maven, GNU Make, Premake and SCons.
Task is a task runner / build tool that aims to be simpler and easier to use than, for example, GNU Make.
The Microsoft Build Engine is a platform for building applications. This engine, which is also known as MSBuild, provides an XML schema for a project file that controls how the build platform processes and builds software.
Rake is a software task management and build automation tool. It allows you to specify tasks and describe dependencies as well as to group tasks in a namespace.
Tup is a file-based build system for Linux, OSX, and Windows. It inputs a list of file changes and a directed acyclic graph (DAG), then processes the DAG to execute the appropriate commands required to update dependent files.
qmake is a tool from The Qt Company that helps simplify the build process for development project across different platforms. qmake automates the generation of Makefiles so that only a few lines of information are needed to create each Makefile.
pypyr is an open source task-runner for automation pipelines. pypyr lets you script sequential tasks in a simple yaml format with conditional execution, loops, error handling and retries for any step in your pipeline.


pypyr is the most popular Self-Hosted alternative to CMake.
GNU Automake is a programming tool that produces portable makefiles for use by the make program, used in compiling software.

Embedthis MakeMe is a modern replacement for make and autoconf. It manages the building of programs and products by direct compilation and the generation of IDE projects and Makefiles. MakeMe can portably build programs for Linux, Mac and Windows and handles cross-compilation...

BuildAMation is a build system and project generator for C and C++ desktop applications, with an extensible architecture. It is written in C#, and works on Windows, Linux and Apple OSX. Build modes supported are a multithreaded native command line build, VisualStudio solution...
Reggae is a (meta) build system with multiple front (D, Python, Ruby, Javascript, Lua) and backends (make, ninja, tup, custom). This is alpha software, only tested on Linux and likely to have breaking changes made.