Side by side
Ninja vs Pants
Both stand on build automation software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Free plan LinuxMacWindows
Ninja focuses on running generated build inputs in parallel and handling incremental dependencies. Its design depends on a separate input generator and lacks built-in rules and build-time customization features.
Visit Ninja Free plan LinuxMacWindows
Pants brings build orchestration, dependency inference, and execution features together for several languages. Check its supported systems and IDE limitations against your development environment before adopting it.
Visit PantsThe facts
| Ninja | Pants | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Not published | Not published |
| Runs on | Linux, Mac, Windows | Linux, Mac, Windows |
| Lowest paid plan | Free or on request | Free or on request |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | ninja-build.org | pantsbuild.org |
| On build automation software | #17 of 42 | #21 of 42 |
Ninja: what it does well
- Runs builds in parallel by default.
- Can discover C and C++ header dependencies.
- GN and CMake can generate Ninja input files.
- Binaries are available for Linux, Mac, and Windows.
- The project identifies Apache-2.0 as its license.
What to know first
- It has no built-in rules for compiling C code.
- A separate program must generate its input files.
- It has no public API.
- The site identifies v1.13.1 as its last release.
Pants: what it does well
- Free under the Apache License 2.0.
- Infers file dependencies from imports.
- Provides caching and remote execution.
- Lockfiles pin versions and expected artifact hashes.
- Runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows with WSL 2.
What to know first
- No tight PyCharm or VSCode integrations yet.
- Alpine Linux is not currently supported.