Bamboo vs GNU Make comparison

Atlassian and GNU are both solutions in the Build Automation category. Atlassian is ranked #7 with an average rating of 7.4, while GNU is ranked #17 with an average rating of 9.0. Atlassian holds a 6.0% mindshare in BA, compared to GNU’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 77% of Atlassian users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of GNU users who would recommend it.

Bamboo

Read 22 Bamboo reviews

2,050 Views
1,968 Comparison Views

77% willing to recommend

GNU Make

Read 6 GNU Make reviews

250 Views
250 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

Bamboo

GNU Make

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

GNU Make and Bamboo are products competing in build automation and continuous integration. GNU Make holds an edge in simplicity and cost-effectiveness, while Bamboo stands out for its comprehensive features making it suitable for larger projects.

Features: GNU Make is efficient in automating build processes with its rule-based build paradigm and dependency management, making it ideal for smaller projects. It supports third-party integrations and nested makefile usage. Bamboo, meanwhile, offers continuous integration, delivery, and deployment capabilities with support for multiple platforms. It integrates well with the Atlassian ecosystem, providing numerous tools for modern software development.

Room for Improvement: GNU Make could benefit from an enhanced graphical user interface and broader support for non-standard makefile names. Additional features for improved integration with third-party tools would enhance its appeal. Bamboo might improve by reducing its complexity to simplify ease of use, enhancing integration with non-Atlassian products, and offering more competitive pricing options to broaden its market base.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GNU Make offers straightforward deployment with its open-source model but relies on user expertise and self-service support. Bamboo provides a comprehensive deployment experience with dedicated professional support, valuable for environments needing integrated services and fast troubleshooting.

Pricing and ROI: GNU Make provides a low-cost entry as a free open-source tool, ideal for small to medium projects. Bamboo's higher initial setup and subscription costs are justified by its extensive features and better long-term ROI for enterprise use, enhancing productivity for larger teams.

To learn more, read our detailed Bamboo vs. GNU Make Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Bamboo vs. GNU Make

July 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 865,164 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

Bamboo

Ranking in Build Automation

7th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

GNU Make

Ranking in Build Automation

17th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

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 Bamboo is 6.0%, down from 8.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GNU Make is 0.7%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Build Automation

Featured Reviews

Cuneyt-Gurses

Director of Cloud Solution Group at DTech Cloud Corporation

Useful for continuous deployment, but the stability must be improved

The setup is moderately difficult. It is not highly complicated, but it is not easy. We must go through some steps to complete the implementation. Once the product is implemented, it will be stable. We face some challenges since the tool is deployed on-premise. The capabilities are adequate for our needs, though.

Read full review

reviewer2561757

Software at a computer software company with 201-500 employees

Enhances productivity with efficient dependency handling and a straightforward setup

GNU Make is used as a build system tool. Most people don't use GNU Make directly but utilize other systems like CMake to generate Make files, which are then run by GNU Make. This is common for tasks like compiling C++ code. In the industry, AI developers, for example, use GNU Make in their work…

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

"In Bamboo, build and deployment have been segregated. The build plan and deployment plan are different. When comparing Bamboo to other solutions, the native feature you will not find in another tool, such as Jenkins. They have segregated the build and deployment plan. This means, building the application and deploying it are two separate parts in Bamboo, they have segregated it apart from the UI. This makes the tool a bit better compared to other tools."

"One of the significant benefits of Bamboo is its built-in support for numerous clients and the ability to tailor its capabilities to your specific requirements. This high level of customization enables you to create pipelines that are ideally suited to your needs, making it an invaluable tool for conducting advanced testing."

"The platform helps us with automated and timely backup. It provides data replication as well."

"One of the big things that made us choose Bamboo, is it seamlessly integrates its APIs into NetSuite, which is our main ELP system."

"Bamboo was used extensively in our organization for PCA compliance."

"The most useful feature of Bamboo is its integration with other solutions such as Jira and BitBucket, also offered by Atlassian. It is easier to use tools all provided by one vendor."

"We use Bamboo to automate all our test builds and deployments. It integrates with tools like the ReportPortal to help us check and evaluate processes. When we initiate commands, it automatically checks for scaling issues or failures related to new code. Based on these evaluations, it provides reports in the ReportPortal, helping us decide whether to implement changes."

"The most valuable features are compiling and deployment."

More Bamboo pros

"Setup is extremely straightforward."

"I have not encountered any scalability issues with GNU Make. It is as scalable as the project's structure is, and then some."

"Full-featured syntax allows building strategies as simple or as complex as one wishes, and declarative approach fits the task really well. Wide adoption also means that everybody knows what GNU Make is and how to use it."

"Makefiles are extremely easy to work with using any preferred editor. GNU Make can be run directly from the terminal, not requiring any time wasted on clicking."

"GNU Make is such an essential tool that it is almost impossible to imagine working without it. Not having it, developers would probably have to resort to doing everything manually or via shell scripts."

"The initial setup of GNU Make is straightforward."

Cons

"It's a little outdated. It's three years old."

"Bamboo is a bit complicated to use compared to other solutions, such as GitLab. You have to integrate different actions that are difficult that could be made easier."

"Bamboo can improve by providing more with scripting, such as they have with Jenkins. Bamboo is more UI-driven at this time, Jenkins is going in that direction too."

"The solution needs to support more customization in the training. What's offered is pretty generic. They need better training and should offer more guidance."

"One area that could be enhanced is the governance process, particularly with regard to building approvals and transitions between stages. In comparison to other solutions, such as Jira, which features a workflow that supports approval processes, this capability is not natively available in Bamboo. To implement this functionality, integration with other solutions, such as GSM may be necessary. Although some add-ons, such as Adaptavist ScriptRunner, are available in the market to circumvent this limitation, they may not offer the exact functionality needed. Therefore, there is certainly room for improvement in this area."

"The performance around the deployment feature could be improved."

"Bamboo could improve by having compatibility with GitLab. It would be better to have this platform for deploying code and storing container registries. Bamboo does not have a container registry. Additionally, there could be more features added."

"The tool is not capable of using YAML efficiently."

More Bamboo cons

"GNU Make does not provide traditional customer support."

"GNU Make requires using the Tab symbol as the first symbol of command line for execution. In some text editors this can be problematic, as they automatically insert spaces instead of tabs."

"Vanilla GNU Make does not support any kind of colored output. A wrapper named colormake exists to work around this, but native (opt-in) support would be welcome."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the product’s pricing a five out of ten."

"The server products for small teams used to offer excellent pricing. However, Atlassian has since changed the offering and the pricing is more expensive. I do still think the solution offers good value for money."

"There is a subscription required to use Bamboo."

"If Bamboo could provide more flexibility on pricing, that would help. On the agent side, if you want to increase the number of agents it should be less expensive. If they can provide some better pricing model, it will help, whether we are going to use it or are already using it."

"I rate the solution's pricing a three out of five."

"The price of Bamboo is reasonable."

"GNU Make is free and open source software."

"There is no price for this product. No licensing. It’s open-source."

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

865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Comparison Review

it_user217035

Senior iOS Developer at a media company with 5,001-10,000 employees

May 27, 2015

Bamboo vs. Jenkins

A biased and subjective comparison of Bamboo and Jenkins as CI servers for mobile development, based on practical experience with both. Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (Delivery, Distribution) has been around for quite a while. But surprisingly enough on a global scale it pretty…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

11%

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 Bamboo?

Bamboo's integration with the rest of Atlassian's tech tools, like Jira, helps manage the end-to-end development and release process.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Bamboo?

I rate the solution's pricing a three out of five.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Bamboo?

Integrating workflows with other platforms can be challenging. The capabilities of these platforms sometimes fall short compared to others. Initially, it was difficult for us because the plugins we...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GNU Make?

GNU Make is a free solution that comes with Linux, which positively impacts operational costs by eliminating licensing fees.

See all answers

What needs improvement with GNU Make?

I am not familiar enough with it to suggest any specific new features or areas for improvement. It occupies its niche well.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for GNU Make?

See all answers

Comparisons

GitLab vs Bamboo

Compared 28% of the time

GitHub Actions vs Bamboo

Compared 24% of the time

Jenkins vs Bamboo

Compared 12% of the time

Tekton vs Bamboo

Compared 11% of the time

Harness vs Bamboo

Compared 10% of the time

More Bamboo Competitors

Jenkins vs GNU Make

Compared 68% of the time

Bazel vs GNU Make

Compared 32% of the time

More GNU Make Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Bamboo

August 2025

Download Bamboo product report

Buyer's Guide

Build Automation

July 2025

Download GNU Make product report

Overview

Bamboo is a continuous integration and delivery tool that ties automated builds, tests and releases together in a single workflow. It works great alongside JIRA and Stash providing a fully traceable deployment pipeline.

Atlassian

Make is a tool which controls the generation of executables and other non-source files of a program from the program's source files.

GNU

Sample Customers

Neocleus, MuleSoft, Interspire

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Bamboo vs. GNU Make

July 2025

Free Report: Bamboo vs. GNU Make

Find out what your peers are saying about Bamboo vs. GNU Make and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Bamboo vs. GNU Make 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.