Build

JVM Build & Dependency Management Tools

A modern JVM project is built by one of a small set of tools: Maven and Gradle dominate, with sbt and Bazel in specific niches. All of them orchestrate compilation, testing, packaging and dependency resolution against repositories such as Maven Central.

Beyond the build orchestrators, the JDK itself ships packaging and modularization tools — jlink for custom runtimes, jpackage for native installers, jmod for module files — that have grown far more important since the modularization of Java 9. The growth of single-file Java (java Source.java, JBang) has also changed what 'a build tool' has to be for small projects and prototypes.

What you'll find here: Maven vs Gradle: how to choose for a project · jlink & jpackage for small, distributable runtimes · JBang and source-file mode for scripts and prototypes · Dependency repositories and consistency: Maven Central, lockfiles

Build tools

Apache Maven
The longest-standing dominant build tool: convention-driven lifecycle, XML POMs, and a massive ecosystem of plugins; the default in most enterprises.
open-sourceApache-2.0
Gradle
The flexible, fast, Groovy/Kotlin-DSL build tool famous for incremental builds and the de-facto choice for Android; supports both Maven and Gradle-based dependencies.
open-sourceApache-2.0
JBang
Runs single-file Java and JVM-language source files directly, resolving dependencies from Maven Central automatically — the modern way to script Java.
open-sourceMIT
jpackage
The JDK tool that packages a modular app into a platform-native installer (dmg, msi, deb, rpm) containing a private runtime.
bundled-jdkOracle Free Use
sbt
The interactive Scala build tool; incremental compilers and a REPL-first workflow make it the standard for Scala projects.
open-sourceApache-2.0
Bazel
Google's multi-language build system with remote caching and hermetic builds; chosen when build performance at very large scale matters.
open-sourceApache-2.0

In-depth guides in this category

Maven vs Gradle
Maven vs Gradle compared: XML vs Groovy/Kotlin DSL, convention vs flexibility, incremental builds, dependency caching, and which to pick for your project.

JVM Build & Dependency Management Tools

Build tools

Apache Maven

Gradle

JBang

jpackage

sbt

Bazel

In-depth guides in this category

Maven vs Gradle