--- title: GNU Make Reviews meta\_title: 'GNU Make Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta\_description: Filter 19 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how GNU Make works for a business like yours. aggregate\_rating: rating\_value: 4.4 review\_count: 19 scale: '5' date\_modified: '2026-08-07' parent\_category: name: CI/CD Tools url: https://www.g2.com/categories/ci-cd-tools --- # GNU Make Reviews & Product Details Make is a tool which controls the generation of executables and other non-source files of a program from the program's source files. * * * Seller [FreeCAD](https://www.g2.com/sellers/freecad) Discussions [GNU Make Community](https://www.g2.com/products/gnu-make/discuss) Show More ## Value at a Glance Averages based on real user reviews. ### Perceived Cost $$$$$ [ View More Pricing Information ](https://www.g2.com/products/gnu-make/pricing) ## Top-Rated Alternatives [ ![CMake](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "CMake") CMake 4.3/5(17) ](https://www.g2.com/products/cmake/reviews) [ ![SCons](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "SCons") SCons 4.1/5(17) ](https://www.g2.com/products/scons/reviews) [ ![Leiningen](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Leiningen") Leiningen 4.8/5(3) ](https://www.g2.com/products/leiningen/reviews) [ View All Alternatives ](https://www.g2.com/products/gnu-make/competitors/alternatives) ## User Insights Average based on 19 real user reviews. Perceived Cost $$$$$ [Log in to unlock pricing and user insights](/login) ![David O.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "David O.") DO David O. Cloud Architect - Digital Transformation, Infrastructure/Platforms Migration, Systems Integration Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 7/23/2018 "GNU Make Review" 4/5 What do you like best about GNU Make? It's one of the best tools in compiling open source software for security hardening and custom configuration. We use it for building large binaries or libraries. It easy to update any source file, and any dependent files are regenerated with minimal effort. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Make? You need to be an advanced or intermediate Linux/Unix user to be able to troubleshoot compilation issues. Installing GNU Make for the first time might be tricky depending on your Linux distribution if it doesn't have the necessary libraries or if you're trying to use a particular GNU Make version and you need to resolve dependencies. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering GNU Make: If you're considering using open source software or want to compile software from original sources for custom configuration or security hardening, you will most likely need to use GNU Make. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Make solving and how is that benefiting you? We use GNU Make to create custom Nginx configuration and security-harden our systems. We also use it to compile the latest releases of OpenSSL directly for the source. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Andrew C.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Andrew C.") AC Andrew C. Digital Signal Processing Engineer Defense & Space Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 7/17/2018 "Make, frustrating but powerful" 4/5 What do you like best about GNU Make? Make and its associated configuration files offer mature build scripting. Newer tools are less confusing and have a gentler learning curve but they don't match the level of support make has. It's been around forever and is thus easy to find support. Make allows powerful build configuration and integrates well into third-party programs such as auto tools and CMake. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Make? Makefiles can get insanely complicated. For large projects, I need to use tools like CMake to handle the generation of Makefiles because of the complexity. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering GNU Make: Take the time to learn Make. It is difficult at first but truly knowing the tool is very powerful and will save many headaches down the road. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Make solving and how is that benefiting you? We have to distribute our development programs throughout our company for others to use. We don't have the time to stick them in containers when we are quickly iterating. Make allows us to write build scripts that have powerful configuration options so that others can build the development programs locally. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Higher Education](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Higher Education") UH Verified User in Higher Education Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 7/22/2018 "Make, the old comprehensive way" 3.5/5 What do you like best about GNU Make? I have used CMake, make, and IDE's inbuilt make programs, but nothing has offered a more comprehensive way to make and build my .c and .c++ files as well as GNU Make does. The IDEs are less confusing and seem like they're organized, but they can only offer a limited number of options that barely touch the surface. With Make I can organize the code myself in a customized directory structure and determine the Make sequence myself. Also, the community of experts on Make is so huge that all you need is a google search for answers to most questions. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Make? Make offers a huge level of customization, but it gets really complicated when you combine files of different types under the same project. You may have to resort to using CMake or IDEs for such cases. Make is years behind on handling large amount of files. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering GNU Make: GNU Make handles projects with a smaller number of files or code and by giving you a better level of customization and better code structure. The makefile really helps organize the code for users unfamiliar with your code. If you have a bigger project though, I'd recommend using CMake or an IDE. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Make solving and how is that benefiting you? Making and building scripts, handling projects with multiples files of code etc. I've realized that it really helps package all my code into a single makefile that can be used by people who are unfamiliar with my code. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite VM Victor M. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 7/26/2018 Business partner of the seller or seller's competitor, not included in G2 scores. "makefiles" 4.5/5 What do you like best about GNU Make? The more generic Makefiles, the better. They can be easily reused and once one has a panoply of files for various circumstances, it is only a matter of copying them to the corresponding directory. Although primitive, the Makefiles have had a great journey and will continue to have it. And learning a few basic tricks will save you typing a lot with what you can devote to what you really like, which is typing a lot. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Make? In the beginning it is a little complicated to understand its operation but it is possible to find good documentation in the network Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Make solving and how is that benefiting you? the processing of files in automated tasks Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite JM James M. Co-Founder Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 7/24/2018 "Hard to setup, but the price can't be beat!" 4.5/5 What do you like best about GNU Make? MAKE is the standard for compiling programs. Personally I prefer it for programming embedded systems over more expensive options like uvision as it's flexible, free, and cross platform. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Make? Going from another complier to Make can be a hassle. Always requires setup to get working. Lack of dedicated support beyond forms makes it hard to troubleshoot at times Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Make solving and how is that benefiting you? The ability to compile and run programs/firmware across different platforms (Mac, linux, windows). We no longer need to duel boot windows on our machines to compile programs. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Mukesh R.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Mukesh R.") MR Mukesh R. Software Engineer Quality Computer Software Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 7/24/2018 "Write a code in simple steps" 4.5/5 What do you like best about GNU Make? It's very easy to write code using this tool. All you need to do is convert your code to makefile and tool will handle pretty much rest. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Make? conversion step sometime could be troublesome and copying over code does lead security concern. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering GNU Make: I would highly recommend anyone considering tool to build or write code for any in house products. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Make solving and how is that benefiting you? Building in house tool for validation and verification. Automate some simple scenario to improve quality in timely manner. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Pedro Andrés B.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Pedro Andrés B.") PB Pedro Andrés B. Software Engineer Computer Software Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 7/24/2018 "Traditional software building tool" 5/5 What do you like best about GNU Make? It allows me to define the building instructions of my software Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Make? It is still command-line based. It would be nice to have a graphical Makefile editor. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Make solving and how is that benefiting you? I can now build my software with a single command Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Information Technology and Services](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Information Technology and Services") AI Verified User in Information Technology and Services Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 7/26/2018 "Make, a powerful tool to have" 4.5/5 What do you like best about GNU Make? The fact that you can automate the compilation of your project (the most basic function of make) is a life saver, organising all the dependencies of a project. It can basically solve of your build configuration needs. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Make? The learning curve might be steep, and the manual, while trustworthy and complete, it's long and maybe not in the best format. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering GNU Make: Invest time in learning how to use make. Don't just rush in and use code you find, it will be quite useful to know how to use it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Make solving and how is that benefiting you? We use GNU make to manage our servers configuration and our project's compilations. It's pretty much part of an standard toolkit. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![JR R.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "JR R.") JR JR R. Co-Founder/CTO Computer Networking Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 7/24/2018 "Make... love it, hate it, but use it" 5/5 What do you like best about GNU Make? I always works as advertised, and there is a tremendous amount of community knowledge about its characteristics and idiosyncrasies. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Make? Makefiles can get very verbose. In addition debugging both failures to build as well as "over building" can get very hairy. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Make solving and how is that benefiting you? Make is typically used to build software efficiently; however, we've been able to use it for building/refreshing documentation and even project plans based on well defined dependencies. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Research](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Research") UR Verified User in Research Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 4/29/2018 "Universal build system" 5/5 What do you like best about GNU Make? Make is old, granted, but that gives it an unequalled portability. Also, it is more difficult to use than the tools specialized for an ecosystem (e.g., go build for go), but that makes it a great tool for the projects mixing different environments (C++ with Python etc.). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Make? I would like it to be able to run in daemon mode and watch the files in a given run, and recompile when I save. I would like not to have to run it each time, it should just read the filesystem notifications. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering GNU Make: Don't limit yourselves to the default POSIX Make, it lacks way too many features. Expect and require GNU Make: there is no time to waste with limited products. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Make solving and how is that benefiting you? I use it to build my projects, package them, publish them, publish the documentation, etc. It's the cornerstone of my mechanization of all the tasks I have to do. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ##### Pricing Pricing details for this product isn’t currently available. Visit the vendor’s website to learn more. 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