No. 36of 40 ·Build Automation Software

qmake

Windows · Mac · Linux · iPhone

Freedom report

Two barsScore 5.3

Free tierA free tier is on its own pricing page
Runs widely4 of 6 device platforms
DocumentedThinly documented

qmake is ranked #36 of 40 in build automation software on Freedom251. It runs on iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows. There is a free plan.

qmake plans and pricing

All plans

Qt Community Edition Free Open-source use under LGPL or GPL · source code must be open to copy, modify, and distribute · limited access to some Qt capabilities qt.io · 11 Oct 2026

Compared on build automation software

Free plan: Yes
Build as code: Yes
Supported operating systems: multi-platform

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The record

Purpose: qmake manages the build process for applications, libraries, and other components by expanding project files into Makefiles.
Project files: qmake project files use `.pro` files that can specify source files, configuration, libraries, and include paths.
Qt tools: qmake automatically includes build rules for Qt's moc and uic tools.
Project types: qmake has templates for building applications, libraries, and plugins.
Third-party libraries: Project files can specify third-party libraries and include paths, and qmake can use pkg-config for supported libraries such as D-Bus and ogg.
IDE project generation: qmake can generate Microsoft Visual Studio project files and, on macOS, Xcode project files.
Mobile targets: The platform notes describe qmake features for iOS, including creating universal binaries, frameworks, and bundles.
Qt 6 limitation: In Qt 6, qmake remains supported for building Qt applications but cannot compile custom Qt plugins or libraries that rely on Qt 5 build-system internals.
Security responsibility: Qt describes application security as a shared responsibility among application developers, Qt Group and Qt Project, and operators or device manufacturers.
Build security: Qt warns that developer tools such as qmake treat processed projects as trusted input, so building an untrusted project can execute code on the build machine.
Security reporting: Qt directs reports about open-source Qt vulnerabilities to [email protected] and says it does not currently have a bug bounty program.
Licensing: Qt offers commercial and open-source licensing, with the Community Edition available under LGPL or GPL terms.
Maker and location: Qt Group is headquartered in Espoo, Finland, and its company history page says the first public Qt Framework version was released in 1995.
Headquarters: Espoo, Finland
Price from: Free

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Build Automation Software in 2026#36 of 40

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Sources

doc.qt.io/qt-6/qmake-overview.html· checked 11 Oct 2026
doc.qt.io/qt-6/qmake-manual.html· checked 11 Oct 2026
doc.qt.io/qt-6/qmake-common-projects.html· checked 11 Oct 2026
doc.qt.io/qt-6/qmake-project-files.html· checked 11 Oct 2026
doc.qt.io/qt-6/qmake-platform-notes.html· checked 11 Oct 2026
doc.qt.io/qt-6/qt6-buildsystem.html· checked 11 Oct 2026
doc.qt.io/qt-6/security.html· checked 11 Oct 2026
doc.qt.io/qt-6/qt-tools-security.html· checked 11 Oct 2026
qt.io/development/qt-framework/qt-licensing· checked 11 Oct 2026
qt.io/group· checked 11 Oct 2026