AWS CodeBuild vs IBM Rational Build Forge comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and IBM are both solutions in the Build Automation category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.2, while IBM is ranked #24. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 1.5% mindshare in BA, compared to IBM’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of IBM users who would recommend it.

AWS CodeBuild

Read 12 AWS CodeBuild reviews

548 Views
548 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

IBM Rational Build Forge

Read 2 IBM Rational Build Forge reviews

379 Views
379 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

AWS CodeBuild

IBM Rational Build Forge

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

IBM Rational Build Forge and AWS CodeBuild are products competing in build automation and continuous integration. AWS CodeBuild seems to have the upper hand with its robust features and cloud-native flexibility.

Features: IBM Rational Build Forge offers customizable dashboards, extensive reporting, and a structured build automation environment. AWS CodeBuild integrates seamlessly with AWS services, offers cloud-native architecture, and provides scalable automated build processes.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Rational Build Forge requires a traditional on-premises deployment with comprehensive vendor support, often involving significant initial setup. AWS CodeBuild provides cloud-based deployment, facilitating easier scaling and integration with AWS infrastructure, accompanied by readily available support.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Rational Build Forge involves higher initial costs due to on-premises deployment but offers long-term cost benefits if extensively used. AWS CodeBuild operates on a pay-as-you-go model, optimizing costs based on usage, potentially yielding quicker ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed AWS CodeBuild vs. IBM Rational Build Forge Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

AWS CodeBuild vs. IBM Rational Build Forge

July 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 865,384 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

AWS CodeBuild

Ranking in Build Automation

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IBM Rational Build Forge

Ranking in Build Automation

24th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Build Automation category, the mindshare of AWS CodeBuild is 1.5%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Rational Build Forge is 0.8%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Build Automation

Featured Reviews

Mahadev Metre

DevOps Engineer at Paydoh

Integration with diverse environments boosts productivity and automation

AWS CodeBuild's support for a wide range of programming languages and build environments benefits development teams significantly in terms of productivity and ease of use. There are extensive libraries of code structures available, making it a universal pipeline. All programming languages I have worked with are supported in AWS CodeBuild, eliminating the need for alternative deployment services. The service supports iOS builds, Kotlin, Java, NodeJS, and ReactJS. AWS has made it accessible to all languages, allowing developers to simply open the console and trigger builds. AWS manages all the background server operations for building or deploying code. For standard builds such as ReactJS or Java, a Linux or Ubuntu server suffices. AWS provides its own operating system for these purposes. For builds requiring physical servers, such as Apple macOS server, AWS rents Mac minis specifically for iOS and SwiftUI builds. While this incurs higher charges, it demonstrates AWS's commitment to providing comprehensive solutions for all use cases.

Read full review

it_user1330545

CRM Program Release Manager at Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center

Great reporting features and very functional

The solution could be more user friendly. Trying to train somebody on it can be difficult. If you're in this field, you kind of learn the tools, but trying to show a PM how to find report sheets to pull data was difficult. I had to show them how to write the queries and pull the data that they needed. It's not a layman's solution. If you're working with a programmer or with an architect, you won't have issues trying to relay how to utilize the tool. It was for those who cut the checks where there were problems enabling them to pull the data they required. I guess the answer is DevOps, but it depends on your environment. Just being able to sign into dashboards and get accurate results was my biggest thing with my PMs on my projects. They like charts and pie graphs, the ability to see things at a glance data where they could make decisions on the fly.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"One of the main features I value in CodeBuild compared to previous experiences, like using Jenkins, is its ability to handle tasks automatically with AWS, requiring only proper setup of the check file."

"CodeBuild supports various platforms and coding."

"It works seamlessly with AWS Elastic Container Registry (ECR)."

"The integration with other AWS services has streamlined our workflow."

"The initial setup of CodeBuild is easy."

"The integration is a good feature."

"A valuable feature is the support for third-party repositories such as Bitbucket, GitLab, or GitHub."

"AWS CodeBuild reduces wait time and optimizes workflows."

More AWS CodeBuild pros

"All features are useful. Our customer doesn't have any complaints about the tool. It works pretty well for what they want and what they need to do."

"Very good reporting features."

Cons

"The deployment fails sometimes."

"The front-end interface and the management are somewhat challenging, and there's a lot of space for improvement."

"They can further improve the integration of the Bitbucket for CodeBuild."

"There have been times when CodeBuild has shown some instability, like bugs or breakdowns."

"One of the main challenges is that if the environment is not set up properly, it will result in issues such as image errors."

"We had integration issues with a tool called Octopus Deploy while using CodeBuild. AWS support helped us resolve it, however, it could be better."

"There is no persistent storage or preservation of workspace between the builds."

"While working on building images for multiple applications within a single script, I encountered an issue where looping functionality was not supported as expected."

More AWS CodeBuild cons

"Its logging can be improved. When something goes wrong, it is not always very easy to find the problem. It is hard to identify whether the problem is because of low memory in the server or some configuration in Rational Build Forge. The error logs are not very detailed, and they should provide more information. It should also have more integration with third-party tools. It would be great to have more integration with third-party tools."

"Not user friendly for the layman."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Despite the cost, it is worth the investment."

"We pay a monthly licensing fee."

"AWS CodeBuild is free. We only pay for our code's compute resources during the build process. For example, if our code takes ten minutes to build, we only pay for those ten minutes of computing time. CodeDeploy and CodePipeline are free because they're serverless and don't require computing resources. CodeCommit has minimal costs for storing code."

Information not available

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Build Automation solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Media Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AWS CodeBuild?

It works seamlessly with AWS Elastic Container Registry (ECR).

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS CodeBuild?

The cost structure is affordable for most builds except macOS servers. Standard builds can utilize AWS EC2 servers for background operations. However, macOS or iOS builds require physical servers m...

See all answers

What needs improvement with AWS CodeBuild?

The servers used for macOS and iOS builds are limited in availability, operating only in US East 1 and East 2, and US West 1 and West 2. This geographical limitation causes latency issues and exten...

See all answers

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

Comparisons

GitHub Actions vs AWS CodeBuild

Compared 37% of the time

AWS CodePipeline vs AWS CodeBuild

Compared 23% of the time

GitLab vs AWS CodeBuild

Compared 22% of the time

Jenkins vs AWS CodeBuild

Compared 18% of the time

More AWS CodeBuild Competitors

Jenkins vs IBM Rational Build Forge

Compared 100% of the time

More IBM Rational Build Forge Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AWS CodeBuild

August 2025

Download AWS CodeBuild product report

Buyer's Guide

Build Automation

July 2025

Download IBM Rational Build Forge product report

Also Known As

CodeBuild

Rational Build Forge

Overview

AWS CodeBuild is a fully managed continuous integration service that compiles source code, runs tests, and produces software packages that are ready to deploy. With CodeBuild, you don’t need to provision, manage, and scale your own build servers. CodeBuild scales continuously and processes multiple builds concurrently, so your builds are not left waiting in a queue. You can get started quickly by using prepackaged build environments, or you can create custom build environments that use your own build tools. With CodeBuild, you are charged by the minute for the compute resources you use.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

IBM Rational Build Forge is an adaptive execution framework that helps automate and standardize the software assembly process. Rational Build Forge helps teams standardize repetitive tasks, improve software quality and manage compliance mandates. This software scales to 25 seats. Rational Build Forge delivers:
Flexibility - gives developers self-service access to preconfigured build processes from within their integrated development environment (IDE). You can add IBM Rational software products to further enhance automation, reporting and integration.
Productivity - accelerates build and release cycles through iterative development, parallel processes and efficient use of hardware.
Compliance - simplifies compliance management with self-documenting audit trails and role-based security.
Compatibility - increases team efficiency with centralized build and release management using the tools you have today.

IBM

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers

Cars.com

Buyer's Guide

AWS CodeBuild vs. IBM Rational Build Forge

July 2025

Free Report: AWS CodeBuild vs. IBM Rational Build Forge

Find out what your peers are saying about AWS CodeBuild vs. IBM Rational Build Forge and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our AWS CodeBuild vs. IBM Rational Build Forge report.

See our list of best Build Automation vendors.

We monitor all Build Automation reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.