Introduction
Before replacing something, it is essential to better understand exactly what it is that must be replaced. When we take a closer look at what Bintray was and how it operated, there are a few key elements to keep in mind.
As a premium software distribution system that was well-understood by developers, Bintray was a widely used tool. It was the very first platform that allowed developers to fully automate the software release and distribution process by seamlessly integrating Bintray with build and development tools and package managers. From handling the development to the deployment and distribution, it offered complete automation. It was the fastest and easiest way for developers to publish and consume software releases.
How did bintray work?
Bintray was a full-service platform for developers that allowed them to make public libraries available, surrounded by all the services required to deploy, advertise, and collaborate around it. Bintray was the link between publishers and consumers. Making a safer link, it handed complete control and visibility to the publishers. Publishers with detailed download logs and statistics could check who viewed, downloaded, and published their packages and how they were used. It also enabled the package owner to gain direct feedback and ratings from customers.
Bintray allowed users to easily find, identify, and download software by utilizing its advanced search feature, relying on community wisdom, receiving notifications about new releases, and interacting with package owners and other users. This way, users got what they were really after with the refined searches.
It also offered unlimited storage and allowed users to create their own download site with their own custom UI, using the Bintray API. This simplified deployment and software management mechanism saw developers say goodbye to the old download center to get a better, faster, and more collaborative distribution experience in Bintray.
Bintray was a software management layer for many developers out there. But now, since Bintray has closed operations and sunsetted on May 1st, 2021, it’s time for developers to head towards a better alternative that offers the same functionality.
Best Bintray alternatives
Bintray was a fast and handy tool, allowing developers to publish, consume, and manage software releases. With Bintray, developers had complete control over publishing their software and how it was being used by the world. This long-standing Artifactory product has closed down services, impacting all Bintray users and leaving a gap in the market. Filling the void, several new products have entered the market to serve the roles previously performed by Bintray, competing to be the best and DevOps choice. Here are a few mentioned competitors and alternatives of the Bintray that you can opt for.
Packagecloud: Packagecloud lets you manage all of your packages and deploy them to any environment, from one beautiful interface, on-premise or in the cloud. A user can host repositories including npm, Python, Java/Maven, yum, and RubyGem without any pre-configuration. It is a unified DevOps-friendly interface that supports all the artifacts written in any language and delivered to any infrastructure. It works just like Bintray but with better and advanced features.
Cloudsmith: Cloudsmith is the only cloud-native, universal package management solution that allows your organization to create, store, and share packages in any format and anywhere. It enables users to mix and match package formats in one repository and accelerate software delivery over the globe.
Apache Maven: Apache Maven helps in two aspects of software, namely how the software is built and how the dependencies are managed. Maven is a build automation tool, which is basically used for Java projects and otherwise can be used for projects that are written in Ruby, C#, Scala, and other languages.
JFrog Artifactory: JFrog Artifactory is a universal repository that works single-sourced for all packages, Helm charts, and container images as they move over the entire DevOps pipeline. It is termed as a universal solution for DevOps and provides end-to-end automation and management of the artifacts and binaries through the app delivery process, which improves and accelerates the development production process.
GitHub: GitHub aims to accelerate modern DevOps. It helps in bringing velocity with confidence, security with no sacrifice, and visibility to the success of DevOps. GitHub assists users to safely publish and consume packages within the organization and around the world, with the distributed version control and source code management functionality in hand.
JitPack: JitPack helps in making an easy release of your Java or Android library. It’s an easy-to-use package repository for Gradle/Sbt and Maven projects. JitPack helps to build on-demand Git projects and provides ready-to-use artifacts. However, if you already have projects on Git, JitPack makes sure the projects can be built by anyone.
When it comes to getting the most suitable alternative to Bintray, we suggest turning to packagecloud. It’s just like Bintray, but better in terms of functionality. It’s a cloud-based service used to distribute different software packages in a unified, reliable, and scalable manner. Without the requirement of the OS or programming language, you can store all packages in one single repository. Distributing the packages to the respective devices becomes effortless as you can efficiently and securely distribute packages without owning the infrastructure.
With packagecloud onboard, you never have to worry about the scalability, security, and consistency of packages again. With packagecloud, you get the safest, most reliable solution, and you will experience no latency. You can set up and update machines in no time.
Sign up for packagecloud for free to get an amazing trial.
If you wish to keep reading about what’s new in packagecloud, and how it’s better than Bintray, we have jotted down some details below. Read about the new features that are a step up from Bintray!
How packagecloud is a great alternative
Packagecloud deciphers the most difficult architectural concept of managing all of your packages and deploying them to any environment, from one beautiful interface, on-premise or in the cloud, to create easy access for developers. Its redesigned UI makes everything easier and more user-friendly than ever before. Here are a few of the benefits of packagecloud, defining why it's a better option than Bintray.
With packagecloud, the enterprise will be completely under your control as you manage and run the tool, on the currently owned infrastructure, within your security and policy control boundaries.
You can install packagecloud on your server and easily integrate with the cloud provider service currently in use, including Amazon’s AWS.
It supports all the following packages, and the best part is that all these packages can coexist in the same packagecloud repo:
- RPM
- Debian packages with their source packages (DSCs) and binary packages
- Python packages with their source distributions, eggs and wheels
- RubyGem packages
- Node.JS packages with their scoped packages, distribution tags, etc.
- JARs, WARs, and Android Java packages (APKs and AARs)
It is an extensive API that provides a unified, consistent interface to publish packages, issue credentials, and tap into analytics and statistics.
You can simply integrate it with your CI/CD system including CircleCI, Jenkins, Travis CI, Buildkite, and more.
Packagecloud supports an advanced multi-level authentication system that facilitates use cases of private repositories. The different tokens include master tokens, read tokens, and API tokens, which have different functions when used.
No new configuration systems are required, as packagecloud, by providing enterprise-grade configuration, integrates with the existing ones, including Chef and Puppet.
For signing package repositories, packagecloud helps to support custom domains, GPG key, and SSL certificates.
Packagecloud believes in creating a cloud-native and package management solution for your organization. Packagecloud is a system that helps you ship packages quickly and securely, having a single API and CLI for all package types, which are built for teams with collaboration and access control features. It just makes your work seamless and deployment easy.
Wrapping Up
Since Bintray has seen the sunset on May 1st, 2021, many platforms have tapped into the market for publishing and distributing binaries. Since Bintray was a standalone master of the market, its shutdown has left users with no other option than finding some alternative. Tapping into the same emptied market, packagecloud is here with better up-to-date features for the DevOps experts. Having made it just like Bintray but better, packagecloud is obsessed with getting things right.
When we say we are obsessed with getting it right, we mean it. Packagecloud is built for teams that work collaboratively, coming with the access control feature to segregate the members’ work. Packagecloud allows you to manage and deploy all packages to any environment from one interface—on-premises or in the cloud. This increases its flexibility and reduces the replication lag that other team members who are geographically segregated normally have to deal with. From making the upload of any supported package type possible via a single, consistent API to easy deployment, easy configuration, and token-specific reports, we did it all just to make packagecloud work for you with ease.
Take the free trial of packagecloud, and experience how incredibly it handles all your work.
