---
title: CMake Reviews
meta_title: 'CMake Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2'
meta_description: Filter 17 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to
  find out how CMake works for a business like yours.
aggregate_rating:
  rating_value: 4.3
  review_count: 17
  scale: '5'
date_modified: '2026-08-07'
parent_category:
  name: CI/CD Tools
  url: https://www.g2.com/categories/ci-cd-tools
---


# CMake Reviews
**Vendor:** Kitware  
**Category:** [Other Continuous Delivery Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/other-continuous-delivery)  
**Average Rating:** 4.3/5.0  
**Total Reviews:** 17
## About CMake
CMake is a 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 environment of your choice.




## CMake Reviews
  ### 1. Painful but powerful!

**Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Connor H. | Application Developer, Internet, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** April 22, 2016

**What do you like best about CMake?**

I love the format of the configuration files, they're fairly down to earth and look somewhat like the code I'd be writing whilst using CMake anyway so it's got that going for it. Configuring it once you get the hang of it is a breeze and it has strong support from the communities which rely on it so you can feel secure knowing that you'll be able to rely on it for a long time.

**What do you dislike about CMake?**

I'm not a huge fan of the man-esque online documentation, for people who aren't familiar with *n*x man pages a simple search for how to do something could turn into a witch hunt for something which turns out to be a single line. It's intimidating for people looking to get into using software like it really. 

**Recommendations to others considering CMake:**

I would highly recommend checking out websites like StackOverflow for nifty snippets that you can reuse. If you use an IDE with snippet support (such as CLion by JetBrains) then you can add these snippets as templates so you simply type a trigger word to paste the snippet.

**What problems is CMake solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Until I made the switch to CMake I was confined to Windows only development environments - which also required a hefty 4GB installation for Visual Studio, my primary development environment - which was incredibly frustrating as I'm a minimalist when it comes to travel, so my laptop was packing a minimal Ubuntu image. I couldn't really make use of Microsoft's project structure on the go so I was unable to work when I had nothing else to do. CMake and it's IDE integration made it easy to configure builds for both platforms without wanting to tear my hair out.


## CMake Discussions
  - [What is CMake used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-cmake-used-for)

- [View CMake pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/cmake/reviews?filters%5Bnps_score%5D%5B%5D=3&section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-08-12+16%3A16%3A00+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=e35b40d3-3fa7-4ed5-b7f2-9fd55eb67398&secure%5Btoken%5D=e544e906ebeb23d8b0cb4c5a54760b6e0c23a29feae8934d48a47251fb75556f&format=llm_user)


## Top CMake Alternatives
  - [GNU Make](https://www.g2.com/products/gnu-make/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (18 reviews)
  - [SCons](https://www.g2.com/products/scons/reviews) - 4.1/5.0 (17 reviews)
  - [GNU Automake](https://www.g2.com/products/gnu-automake/reviews) - 4.2/5.0 (11 reviews)