GNU Make vs Harness comparison

GNU and Harness are both solutions in the Build Automation category. GNU is ranked #16 with an average rating of 9.0, while Harness is ranked #10 with an average rating of 7.8. GNU holds a 0.6% mindshare in BA, compared to Harness’s 7.3% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of GNU users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Harness users who would recommend it.

GNU Make

Read 6 GNU Make reviews

239 Views
135 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

Harness

Read 4 Harness reviews

2,128 Views
1,289 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

GNU Make

Harness

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

GNU Make and Harness are competitive tools in the software development space, specializing in build automation and continuous delivery, respectively. Harness often holds the upper hand due to its comprehensive functionalities and advanced automation capabilities, justifying its higher cost for many users.

Features: GNU Make is renowned for its efficient handling of complex build processes, robust automation features, and effective dependency management. Harness provides cutting-edge continuous delivery features, simplifying deployment pipelines and offering seamless integration with various CI/CD tools. This distinction highlights GNU Make in build automation and Harness in deployment automation with advanced capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GNU Make benefits from easy installation and a wealth of community-supported resources and documentation. Harness, with its more complex deployment process, provides dedicated customer service, customizing solutions to meet enterprise needs. This in-depth support differentiates Harness from GNU Make's community reliance.

Pricing and ROI: GNU Make, as an open-source tool, incurs no setup cost, making it an attractive option for maximizing returns with minimal investment. Harness requires a significant initial investment due to its premium pricing model. However, its robust features often deliver substantial ROI for businesses seeking sophisticated automation solutions. The contrast lies in GNU Make's cost-effectiveness and Harness's value-driven approach.

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

Buyer's Guide

GNU Make vs. Harness

June 2025

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Helped 857,162 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

GNU Make

Ranking in Build Automation

16th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Harness

Ranking in Build Automation

10th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (29th), Cloud Cost Management (12th)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Build Automation category, the mindshare of GNU Make is 0.6%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Harness is 7.3%, up from 4.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Build Automation

Featured Reviews

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

Linwei Yuan

Software Engineer at Citi

Streamline microservices deployment with integrated execution pipelines and comprehensive monitoring

Harness integrates all functions like execution pipelines, environment checks, and log monitoring in one place. It is very convenient since we have many microservices, so having one platform for all of them is beneficial. The dashboard allows me to monitor all core services' deployment status in one place, making it easier to find bugs and check logs.

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

"Setup is extremely straightforward."

"The initial setup of GNU Make is straightforward."

"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."

"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."

"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 features of Harness are valuable, supporting rolling deployments, basic deployments, and blue-green deployments with zero downtime."

"Harness integrates all functions like execution pipelines, environment checks, and log monitoring in one place, making it convenient."

"Harness integrates all functions like execution pipelines, environment checks, and log monitoring in one place."

"It's a highly customizable DevOps tool."

"Harness starts integrating with organizations, making everything automated without the need for manual interruption."

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."

"Even with automation, there's a requirement for manual change requests for approvals."

"I prefer the previous less compact UI version of Harness, which showed more details on the screen."

"When integrating Harness with more than twenty applications in one place, it becomes less stable, causing improvements to be necessary."

"When deploying multiple components to multiple environments, like production and BCP, failures sometimes occur. Improvements are needed when deploying one component to one environment."

"There's also room for improvement in debugging pipeline issues, which can sometimes become complex."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"GNU Make is free and open source software."

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

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Financial Services Firm

33%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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.

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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.

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What is your primary use case for GNU Make?

See all answers

What do you like most about Harness?

It's a highly customizable DevOps tool.

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What needs improvement with Harness?

When deploying multiple components to multiple environments, like production and BCP, failures sometimes occur. Improvements are needed when deploying one component to one environment.

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What is your primary use case for Harness?

Our primary use case for Harness ( /products/harness-reviews ) is as a deployment tool. Although I am not a DevOps engineer, my team uses Harness ( /products/harness-reviews ) for deployment purpos...

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Comparisons

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Compared 100% of the time

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Compared 18% of the time

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Compared 12% of the time

Tekton vs Harness

Compared 11% of the time

GitLab vs Harness

Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Build Automation

June 2025

Download GNU Make product report

Buyer's Guide

Build Automation

June 2025

Download Harness product report

Also Known As

No data available

Armory

Overview

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

Harness offers a comprehensive toolset for automating deployment processes and enhancing software update efficiency. It's lauded for its CI/CD capabilities, feature flagging, and real-time deployment monitoring. Key features include an intuitive UI, secret management, and robust rollback functionalities, all contributing to improved productivity and reduced errors in DevOps environments.

Harness

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Linedata, Openbank, Home Depot, Advanced

Buyer's Guide

GNU Make vs. Harness

June 2025

Free Report: GNU Make vs. Harness

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

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