GNU Make vs GitHub Actions comparison

GitHub and GNU are both solutions in the Build Automation category. GitHub is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.4, while GNU is ranked #18 with an average rating of 9.0. GitHub holds a 10.0% mindshare in BA, compared to GNU’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of GitHub users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of GNU users who would recommend it.

GitHub Actions

Read 22 GitHub Actions reviews

2,938 Views
2,938 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

GNU Make

Read 6 GNU Make reviews

304 Views
304 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

GitHub Actions

GNU Make

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

GNU Make and GitHub Actions compete in automating build processes. GitHub Actions appears to have the upper hand due to its integrated CI/CD capabilities.

Features: GNU Make offers build dependencies management, task automation, dependency avoidance in building targets. GitHub Actions provides CI/CD pipelines, parallel workflow support, integrates with GitHub repositories.

Room for Improvement: GNU Make could improve integration options, user interface, cloud capabilities. GitHub Actions might enhance its setup simplicity outside GitHub, offer more third-party integrations, provide extended offline support.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GitHub Actions benefits from seamless deployment within GitHub and extensive community support. GNU Make requires manual setup, relying on file-based configurations without an integrated support ecosystem.

Pricing and ROI: GNU Make is free and has no setup costs, attractive for budget-focused projects. GitHub Actions, free for public repositories, may incur costs for private usage but offers a favorable ROI by improving workflow efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed GNU Make vs. GitHub Actions Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

GNU Make vs. GitHub Actions

September 2025

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Helped 869,566 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

GitHub Actions

Ranking in Build Automation

3rd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

GNU Make

Ranking in Build Automation

18th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Build Automation category, the mindshare of GitHub Actions is 10.0%, up from 9.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GNU Make is 1.0%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Build Automation Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
GitHub Actions	10.0%
GNU Make	1.0%
Other	89.0%

Build Automation

Featured Reviews

MuhammadAzhar Khan

Senior DevOps Engineer at Alibaba Group

Integration with various environments and cloud providers enhances automation

I use GitHub Actions for CI/CD pipelines. I automate infrastructure, deployment, and all processes. Most companies use CI/CD pipelines, and GitHub Actions is one of the tools available for this purpose The most valuable feature of GitHub Actions is that it is completely free. It can be integrated…

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

"GitHub Actions helps automate the deployment process, eliminating manual copying and testing, which saves time and minimizes errors."

"GitHub Actions can be easily configured, especially for environment variables and secrets. The UI is understandable and user-friendly for setting up CI/CD pipelines. I prefer tools like GitLab, where the pipeline starts quickly and is accessible near the commits for easy access. However, many CI/CD tools are interchangeable due to similar features of GitHub Actions and other similar tools."

"It is easy to use, especially if you are accustomed to using GitHub."

"It is user-friendly, with clear and organized processes, making it easy to navigate and work with."

"I have optimized job execution time by running test scripts in parallel and creating multiple pipelines; we've significantly reduced execution times. What could take 50 minutes can be cut down to just 8 to 10 minutes through these optimizations."

"I find the automation feature of GitHub Actions most valuable for our building processes. It integrates seamlessly with GitHub, so there's no extra configuration needed, making the building process easy and efficient. GitHub Actions handles scalability well, automatically managing execution infrastructure without requiring additional configurations. We haven't yet explored GitHub Actions' support for AI projects, as we haven't used its AI capabilities."

"It improves efficiency as it involves no downtime and is managed by GitHub."

"The product's most beneficial feature is the ability to create workflows within the solution."

More GitHub Actions pros

"The initial setup of GNU Make is straightforward."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

Cons

"The main challenge I've experienced is with integration, particularly uploading to OneDrive, which was more complex compared to Google Drive or AWS S3 bucket."

"GitHub sometimes makes it difficult to debug actions."

"GitHub Actions lacks a feature for automating the build process for mobile applications."

"There is a part that detects outdated libraries. If that feature could be more intuitive and informative, that would be nice."

"Sometimes incremental steps should be taken during deployment instead of trying to execute all tasks simultaneously, particularly when dealing with AWS EKS clusters and Helm charts."

"In our company, procedures or rules need to be completed, which is not a problem with GitHub Actions but with our process."

"The primary area for improvement I see is in artifact management, especially for saving screenshots or videos from failed tests or data-driven actions. Currently, the configuration for saving these artifacts is complex."

"The solution's integration capabilities and UI are areas of concern where improvement is required to make the product more user-friendly."

More GitHub Actions cons

"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."

"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."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Price-wise, GitHub Actions is okay. If I want to use the product's advanced features, then I need to pay the licensing charges for the solution."

"It is free and open platform, so I would rate it 1 out of 10."

"Regarding cost, as an enterprise, we negotiate our license and expenses, so I can't provide a specific rating for that."

"The tool's price is okay and reasonable."

"For our basic usage, we didn't have to pay."

"It's low-priced. Not high, but definitely low."

"The product is slightly more expensive than some alternatives."

"The cost for GitHub Actions may be around $45 dollars per user."

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

"GNU Make is free and open source software."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	11

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about GitHub Actions?

I have optimized job execution time by running test scripts in parallel and creating multiple pipelines; we've significantly reduced execution times. What could take 50 minutes can be cut down to j...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GitHub Actions?

I would rate pricing a seven, which leans toward the expensive side. However, there is still value for money, and that's why we continue using it.

See all answers

What needs improvement with GitHub Actions?

Frankly, I cannot imagine something that could be improved in GitHub Actions; there's a lot of capabilities, and the feature set is more advanced than we use. The pricing is high for the advanced s...

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

Tekton vs GitHub Actions

Compared 28% of the time

Harness vs GitHub Actions

Compared 14% of the time

TeamCity vs GitHub Actions

Compared 10% of the time

Bamboo vs GitHub Actions

Compared 10% of the time

Buildkite vs GitHub Actions

Compared 6% of the time

More GitHub Actions Competitors

Jenkins vs GNU Make

Compared 63% of the time

Bazel vs GNU Make

Compared 37% of the time

More GNU Make Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

GitHub Actions

September 2025

Download GitHub Actions product report

Buyer's Guide

Build Automation

September 2025

Download GNU Make product report

Overview

GitHub Actions streamlines CI/CD processes with an intuitive YAML workflow and robust automation, enhancing efficiency and integration with third-party tools and cloud providers.

GitHub Actions automates development pipelines, supports scalable public and private runners, and manages secure secrets. This tool integrates seamlessly with platforms like AWS, Kubernetes, Google Cloud, and Databricks. It enhances DevOps workflows with reliable task automation. Users note areas for UI and deployment tool improvements, artifact management simplification, and additional programming language support. Debugging complexity and hosting agent transitions pose challenges, along with integration enhancements for tools like OneDrive.

What are GitHub Actions' key features?

YAML Workflow Creation: Simplifies configuration with intuitive YAML.
CI/CD Integration: Provides seamless integration within DevOps pipelines.
Automation Capabilities: Automates tasks with minimal manual intervention.
Third-Party Tool Compatibility: Works well with diverse tools and platforms.
Secure Secrets Management: Protects sensitive information effectively.

What benefits do users find in GitHub Actions?

Enhanced Performance: Boosts task execution speed and reliability.
Scalability: Supports growth with flexible runner options.
Improved Release Cycles: Ensures consistent updates and deployments.
Workflow Efficiency: Reduces manual tasks, increasing operational efficiency.

Companies in tech and software development frequently utilize GitHub Actions for integrating, deploying, and versioning projects. It is often employed for deploying applications to cloud environments like AWS and Kubernetes, managing extensive CI/CD workflows, and automating test and security operations, thereby streamlining production cycles across industries.

GitHub

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

Buyer's Guide

GNU Make vs. GitHub Actions

September 2025

Free Report: GNU Make vs. GitHub Actions

Find out what your peers are saying about GNU Make vs. GitHub Actions and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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