Build automation involves scripting or automating the process of compiling computer source code into binary code. Below is a list of notable tools associated with automating build processes.

Make-based

• GNU make, a make implementation with a large set of extensions
• make, a Unix build tool
• mk, developed originally for Version 10 Unix and Plan 9, and ported to Unix as part of plan9port
• MPW Make, developed for the classic Mac OS and similar to but not compatible with Unix make; the modern macOS (OS X) comes with both GNU make and BSD make; available as part of Macintosh Programmer's Workshop as a free, unsupported download from Apple
• nmake
• PVCS-make, follows the concept of make but with additional syntax features^[1]

Make-incompatible

• Apache Ant, popular for Java platform development and uses an XML file format
• Apache Buildr, historic open-source build system, Rake-based, gives the full power of scripting in Ruby with integral support for most abilities wanted in a build system
• Apache Maven, a Java platform tool for dependency management and automated software build
• ASDF LISP build system for building LISP projects
• A-A-P, a Python-based build tool
• Bazel, a portion of Blaze (Google's own build tool) written in Java, using Starlark (BUILD file syntax) to build projects in Java, C, C++, Go, Python, Objective-C, and others
• BitBake, a Python-based tool with the special focus of distributions and packages for embedded Linux cross-compilation
• Boot, a Java build and dependency management tool written in Clojure
• boost.build For C++ projects, cross-platform, based on Perforce Jam
• Buck, a build system developed and used by Facebook, written in Java, using Starlark (BUILD file syntax) as Bazel
• Buildout, a Python-based build system for creating, assembling and deploying applications from multiple parts
• Cabal, a common architecture for building applications and libraries in the programming language Haskell
• Dub, the official package and build manager of the D Language
• dale,^[2] a D build tool
• FinalBuilder, for Windows software developers. FinalBuilder provides a graphical IDE to both create and run build projects in a single application. The final builder also includes the ability the execute the unit test, deploy web projects or install and test applications.
• Flowtracer, a build management tool
• Gradle, an open-source build and automation system with an Apache Groovy-based domain specific language (DSL), combining features of Apache Ant and Apache Maven with additional features like a reliable incremental build
• Grunt, a build tool for front-end web development
• Gulp, a build tool for front-end web development
• IncrediBuild, a suite of grid computing software for compiling and building software
• Leiningen, a tool providing commonly performed tasks in Clojure projects, including build automation
• Mix, the Elixir build tool
• MSBuild, the Microsoft build engine
• NAnt, a tool similar to Ant for the .NET Framework
• Ninja, a small build system focused on speed by using build scripts generated by higher-level build systems
• Perforce Jam, a build tool by Perforce, inspired by Make
• Qt Build System
• Rake, a Ruby-based build tool
• rez,^[3] a C/C++ build tool
• sbt, a build tool built on a Scala-based DSL
• SCons, Python-based, with integrated functionality similar to autoconf/automake
• Stack, a tool to build Haskell projects, manage their dependencies (compilers and libraries), and for testing and benchmarking.
• tinyrick,^[4] a Rust build tool
• vast,^[5] a shell build tool
• Visual Build, a graphical user interface software for software builds
• Waf, a Python-based tool for configuring, compiling and installing applications. It is a replacement for other tools such as Autotools, Scons, CMake or Ant

Build script generation

These generator tools do not build directly, but rather generate files to be used by a native build tool (as the ones listed in the previous two sections).

• BuildAMation, a multi-platform tool, using a declarative syntax in C# scripts, that builds C/C++ code in a terminal using multiple threads, or generates project files for Microsoft Visual Studio, Xcode or MakeFiles.
• CMake generates files for various build tools, such as make, ninja, Apple's Xcode, and Microsoft Visual Studio.^[6] CMake is also directly used by some IDE as Qt Creator,^[7] KDevelop and GNOME Builder.^[8]
• GNU Build System (aka autotools), a collection of tools for portable builds. These in particular include Autoconf and Automake, cross-unix-platform tools that together generate appropriate localized makefiles.
• GYP (Generate Your Projects) - Created for Chromium; it is another tool that generates files for the native build environment. It has been superseded by GN which generates files for ninja and other build systems.
• imake
• Meson, a build system optimized for performance and usability is based on ninja on Linux, Visual Studio on Windows and Xcode on macOS. Meson is also directly used by GNOME Builder.^[8]
• OpenMake Software Meister
• Premake, a Lua-based tool for making makefiles, Visual Studio files, Xcode projects, and more
• qmake

Continuous integration

• AnthillPro, build automation with pipeline support for deployment automation and testing. Cross-platform, cross-language
• Apache Continuum - discontinued
• Bamboo, continuous-integration software
• Bitbucket Pipelines and Deployments, continuous integration for Bitbucket hosted repositories^[9]
• Buildbot, a Python-based software development continuous-integration tool which automates the compile/test cycle
• CruiseControl, for Java and .NET
• Go continuous delivery, open source, cross-platform
• GitLab (GitLab Runner), continuous integration and git server
• GitHub (GitHub Actions), free continuous integration service for open-source projects and git server
• Hudson, an extensible continuous-integration engine
• Jenkins, an extensible continuous-integration engine, forked from Hudson
• Spinnaker, open source multi-cloud continuous delivery service from Netflix and Google
• TeamCity
• Travis CI, a hosted continuous-integration service

Configuration management

• Ansible (Python-based)
• CFEngine
• Chef (Ruby-based)
• LCFG
• NixOS Declarative configuration model
• OpenMake Software Release Engineer
• Otter
• Puppet (Ruby-based)
• Salt (Python-based)
• Rex (Perl-based)

Meta-build

A meta-build tool is capable of building many different projects using a subset of existing build tools. Since these usually provide a list of packages to build, they are also often called package managers.

• Pkgsrc, Portage, MacPorts and other package managers derived from the BSD Ports Collection.
• Nix, functional package manager for Linux and macOS focusing on reproducible builds, used for the NixOS Linux distribution.
• Guix, functional package manager based on Nix, used for the GuixSD Linux distribution.
• Collective Knowledge, cross-platform package manager to rebuild software environment for research workflows
• Homebrew, package manager for macOS

Others

• checkinstall, checkinstall is a program that monitors an installation procedure and creates a standard package for your distribution.
• Open Build Service, a hosted service to help build packages for various Linux distributions

Licensing overview