# Xmake

11 Hacker News commenters recommended Xmake and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free Lua-scripted C/C++ build tool that people find simpler than CMake and vcpkg. Critics find the Lua pitch unconvincing and say it is slow and niche.

## Why people recommend it

- Far easier than CMake and vcpkg (2 comments): "the experience was night and day compared to cmake + vcpkg" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46808600)) "The least painful C/C++ build tool I've used is xmake" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47706326))
- Works well in new projects (2 comments): "xmake seems very well-thought-out, and supports the most modern use-cases" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47706384)) "Personally I use them in new projects using XMake and it just works." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47566643))

## What people warn about

- Lua as selling point unconvincing (2 comments): "the homepage presents Lua as the main selling point, and the AI button makes me not want to interact with it at all" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46815920)) "Basically the only reason states for why I should use this is lua, and that’s not inherently compelling to me for build tooling." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46806595))
- Reported as slow (2 comments): "it seems to be rather slow, very niche and tbh I can't see a reason to use it over CMake." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47708059)) "My work uses this and it's slooooooow. Would not recommend." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46806919))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Bazel](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bazel.md): 79 recommend
- [GNU Make](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gnu-make.md): 76 recommend
- [CMake](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cmake.md): 58 recommend
- [Apache Maven](https://hackerapproved.com/p/maven.md): 44 recommend
- [Ninja build system](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ninja.md): 37 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Xmake", https://hackerapproved.com/p/xmake/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).