Apache developer tools: what a business owner should ask

Maven, Subversion and NetBeans matter when your business pays someone to maintain custom software; the other names mostly belong inside that developer's work. You do not need to install 43 Commons components to run a shop. You do need to know who updates the components in software you depend on.

A build tool assembles software. Version control keeps its history. An IDE is the developer's editing and debugging workspace. Buying a hosted service may remove a server to maintain, but it does not remove the need for source ownership, reproducible builds and a tested release process.

The catalog below keeps all 117 entries, including community resources and explicitly dormant components. The dated registry is a starting inventory, not a promise that every component is current. We rechecked the featured tools on October 29, 2026 and did not install them. Incubating means a project is not yet fully endorsed by the ASF.

October 30, 2026 update: added setup time and costs when an AI agent does the typing.

Every project in this group

Registry labels refer to the ASF project directory data, read October 29, 2026 at 21:00 UTC. Component, preview and file date qualifications are part of the release description.

Maven: can someone else build your application?

Maven describes and runs Java builds, including their dependencies. Its business value is a repeatable route from source code to a release. It does not host your application or certify that a downloaded dependency is safe.

For example, a nine person HVAC contractor with a custom quoting tool could ask its developer to build a release from a clean checkout. The normal day improves when a laptop failure no longer prevents a pricing fix. Our low allowance for a dedicated build host is $93/month plus $272 setup; two GitHub Team users cost $8/month before usage outside included allowances.

For example, an eighteen staff restaurant group with a custom purchasing app could have a developer run its tests before each update. The office manager would receive a checked release instead of an unexplained file. Our high host allowance is $232/month plus $817 setup, compared with $20/month for five Team seats. These are illustrations and exclude writing tests or repairing application code on both sides.

The install guide requires JDK 8 or later for Maven 3.10.0 and describes archive installation and PATH configuration. It gives no universal hardware minimum; your project determines build memory. Our 2 vCPU/4 GiB machine is an assumption for a small build, with one host in both cases. A developer must understand dependency versions, test failures and secret handling. The download page confirms 3.10.0; September 27, 2026 is the registry date.

GitHub Team lists $4/user/month and 3,000 CI/CD minutes/month. Our two to five user scenario assumes a small workload entirely inside the applicable included allowance, no paid storage add-ons and no annual discount. Check runner types and actual usage before committing. Maven can run on those hosted workers too: this compares where builds run, not different build languages.

Setup = hours × $68.09. Monthly = servers + (stored GB minus 10) × $0.00695 + administration hours × $68.09. Total = setup + 36 × monthly; savings = alternative total minus self hosted total. Calculations use unrounded values; displayed totals round to whole dollars.

The hosted allowance costs less here. Start with the official installation instructions, a clean build and a restore of the build configuration. Keep source and release instructions in business controlled accounts. Skip a dedicated build server if the hosted allowance meets the need; skip changing build tools merely because Maven has no license fee.

Setup time when Claude or ChatGPT does the typing

We keep the Maven example's one $24 server and 100 to 500 GB of backups. We apply our single server assistance assumptions to its build host budget. These paired low and high cases are assumptions, not measured installations; human review is included. Coding studies do not validate deployment savings.

With L = $68.09/hour, S/A = manual setup/monthly hours, q/r = AI shares, H = hosting plus backups, and T0/Tm = setup/monthly tools: manual total = S × L + 36 × (H + A × L); AI total = S × q × L + T0 + 36 × (H + A × r × L + Tm). Round totals after calculation.

Claude and ChatGPT each cost $20 for the selected monthly plan: one setup month, then $5/month (25%) for 36 operating months if other work uses the rest. Dedicated use adds $540 to each total. Allowances differ; check limits and budget extra usage. High cases save no admin hours; subscriptions exceed manual costs from month 29.

API billing is separate. Token cost = (ordinary input × rate + cache writes × rate + cache reads × rate + output × rate) / 1,000,000. Our cumulative budgets include retries and billed reasoning: low input is 30% ordinary, 10% short writes, 60% reads; high input is uncached. Use standard rates within context limits.

Claude Code or Codex can draft Maven build commands and backup scripts for the build host. Desktop Commander can install the JDK and Maven, edit build configuration and read failed build logs through authorized server access; we budget its free local server, excluding optional paid Remote. Claude in Chrome can inspect provider settings, Cloudflare DNS and GitHub build results; ChatGPT Work offers a separate cloud browser, not an assumed Chrome extension.

Use a new or staging server, keep secrets out of chat, and approve commands or restrict them in a sandbox. Watch dashboard actions; review changes, rebuild from a clean checkout and restore build configuration. Use subscriptions through supported supervised tools and API keys for custom automation; check applicable terms and never share account credentials. We still own backups, updates and access decisions.

Our conclusion stays the same: GitHub Team remains cheaper at $288 to $720 over 36 months within the assumed hosted allowance; Maven can run there too.

Subversion: keep the history your workflow already uses

Subversion keeps versioned files and their history in a central repository. It can suit an established workflow whose tools already use SVN. An owner rarely gains by ordering a version control migration without asking the developer how it affects releases, file locks and external collaborators.

For example, a twelve person machine shop could keep scripts for generating production reports in SVN. Three authorized contributors would review a change and recover an earlier version when needed. Our low server case costs $93/month and $272 setup; three Assembla Starter users cost $38/month rounded. This does not replace backups of business data or the machine control systems.

For example, a fifteen person farm and winery could keep its custom label generation software in an existing SVN repository. Five contributors, including contractors, would work from a known revision instead of emailing copies. Our high server case is $232/month plus $817 setup, against $63/month rounded for five Starter users. Inventory the repository and its hooks before moving it; migration labor is excluded from both comparisons.

The download page confirms 1.15.0; October 8, 2026 is the registry date. The package list points to platform packages and distinguishes their maintainers from Apache's source releases. The documentation covers administration and clients. No universal CPU/RAM floor is supplied by those pages. We assume one 2 vCPU/4 GiB host in each case, subject to repository size and workload. Your developer or provider needs permissions, repository backup and restore skills.

Assembla Starter lists managed Git and SVN hosting at $12.50/user/month with monthly billing selected, read October 29, 2026. It recommends Starter for up to five users. We assume three to five users, included storage sufficient, no support add-ons and zero separately charged subscription setup. Confirm an actual repository export and restore before treating managed hosting as an exit plan.

Setup = hours × $68.09. Monthly = servers + (stored GB minus 10) × $0.00695 + administration hours × $68.09. Total = setup + 36 × monthly; savings = alternative total minus self hosted total. Calculations use unrounded values; displayed totals round to whole dollars.

The hosted plan is cheaper at both ends. Start with official packages and administration docs; test checkout, commit, permission denial and recovery on a sample repository. Back up repository data, configuration and hooks together. Skip a new SVN server when the team already works well in a supported hosted repository. Keep a functioning SVN workflow when migration has no clear business benefit.

NetBeans: a free IDE can save license money

NetBeans is a developer's desktop workspace for editing, building and debugging. It is not an owner application or a hosted support contract. The right question is whether the developer can maintain your code effectively with it.

For example, a seven person print shop employing one developer could use NetBeans for a custom estimating application. The developer would debug and test pricing changes in the same project each day. Under our low assumptions below, operations and backups cost $69/month plus $272 setup on an existing workstation. Avoiding one commercial IDE license saves $2,157 over three years, if the work remains equally effective.

For example, a twenty person ecommerce brand with three developers could standardize a working project setup in NetBeans. A new contributor would open the same project and follow the same build instructions. The high allowance is $208/month plus $817 setup across that small team, with a three year license difference of $6,471. Those hours are our team total assumption, not per developer. No productivity improvement is claimed.

The NetBeans 31 download page dates the release August 10, 2026 and supports running on JDK 21, 25 or 26, with initial JDK 27 support. It supplies an Apache binary archive and identifies convenience installers from other providers. It publishes no universal RAM/CPU floor; the project's build and indexing workload determines workstation needs. We assume existing adequate computers, with zero new hosting on both sides. A developer must check language, framework and plugin support.

IntelliJ IDEA for organizations lists $719/user/year paid annually, read October 29, 2026. This is a commercial desktop alternative, not managed hosting. We apply identical setup, administration and backup assumptions to both IDEs rather than pretending a paid desktop product needs no upkeep.

Both totals = setup hours × $68.09 + 36 × (admin hours × $68.09 + (backup GB minus 10) × $0.00695). Add developers × $719 × 3 to the commercial IDE total. Equal operating assumptions cancel; only the license difference is counted. Displayed totals round to whole dollars.

The saving is solely the avoided license. If a required feature or extra work costs more than that difference, the paid IDE can be the better purchase. Start with NetBeans' official archive and test a real project, debugger and build. Keep project settings and source backed up. Skip an IDE migration that delays work merely to reduce a small license line.

Needs your IT department or a provider

DevLake is the sole IT entry here. Its Docker Compose guide runs the service with MySQL and Grafana and requires protection of the encryption secret used for credentials. It gives no numeric hardware minimum. A single Docker host is the smallest documented starting layout, not a capacity guarantee. A twenty person ecommerce business with four developers might use it to investigate slow releases. Assume 1 to 3 monthly operating hours, plus integration and metric definition. LinearB Essentials is $29/user/month billed annually, but explicitly targets teams of 50 or more developers. Do not multiply that by four and claim a verified small team subscription. Existing repository reports may be sufficient; ask about token scope, retention and the meaning of each metric.

Your developer's toolbox

The full table is the compact toolbox reference for all 116 developer entries. They appear in builds, custom applications or vendor software; community resources are identified by their descriptions. All 43 Commons components remain visible, including the dormant ones. Commons HttpClient is end of life; it should not be selected for new work merely because it remains in a directory. Geronimo's listed version describes its legacy application server, not a newly supported server recommendation.

You may meet Groovy as scripts inside a business tool. Ask where scripts are stored, who tests them and which runtime the vendor supports. The official distribution directory lists 6.0.0; its September 22, 2026 date is a file timestamp. Do not replace a vendor's embedded runtime independently. Many other entries serialize data, parse documents or generate code. Their usefulness depends on the surrounding application, not on an owner installing them separately.

The same ownership question matters during a Log4j security event. Log4j belongs in the monitoring and logging group, so it is not duplicated in this table. Read its official advisories, ask vendors whether their products contain an affected component and obtain the supported update instructions. Keep an inventory of product versions and update owners before an incident. Replacing random library files inside a packaged application can break it and does not establish that every affected copy is fixed.

Risks, support and the license

Use the ASF project security directory and ASF security guidance to find reporting and advisory routes. Read the specific Maven security page and Subversion advisories. NetBeans directs security reports through the ASF security contact listed in that directory. Ask for a dependency inventory, reproducible build instructions and a release that can be rolled back. Keep credentials out of repositories. Compare release dates with mailing list activity and the Attic; dormant, preview and unlisted releases in the table deserve explicit vendor decisions.

Assembla, GitHub and JetBrains describe their commercial offerings on the cited pages. Their support does not automatically cover your custom code. Specify who maintains that code if the original developer leaves. The Apache License 2.0 permits business use and modification under its terms, including redistribution notices. It supplies neither a warranty nor general trademark rights. Have a qualified adviser review redistribution obligations where needed; this is not legal advice.

Download the kit

Download the developer tools kit for handoff questions, the full component inventory and editable worksheets.

Related reading

See the Apache project guide, security and access, monitoring and web applications. The safe update guide explains why a working recovery plan belongs beside an update procedure.

All amounts are USD before tax, read October 29, 2026. Shared inputs: DigitalOcean $24/month for 2 vCPU/4 GiB; B2 $6.95/TB/month after 10 GB free; BLS wages $47.66/hour divided by compensation share 0.700 gives $68.09/hour rounded. Our single machine assumptions are 4 to 12 setup hours, 1 to 3 monthly admin hours and 100 to 500 retained backup GB, with no chargeable transfer/API use. Coding, migration, training and incidents need separate quotes; outside providers charge above this employee compensation estimate.

Fact-check notes and sources

Official pages below were read October 29, 2026. Catalog rows and source entries without an individual time use the shared directory research from 21:00 to 21:27 UTC; additional IT research ran from 21:37 to 21:42 UTC. Later checks are recorded individually. Registry dates can lag; file dates identify distribution timestamps, not release announcements. We read documentation and pricing; we did not install these products.

1. Incubation Policy, read October 29, 2026, 21:37 UTC.
2. Apache Velocity, Anakia.
3. Apache Ant, Welcome.
4. Apache Ant, Apache AntUnit.
5. Apache Asyncband (Incubating).
6. Apache Avro.
7. Introduction , Axiom.
8. Apache Axis2/Java, Next Generation Web Services , Apache Axis2.
9. bRPC.
10. Welcome to the Apache BuildStream project, Apache BuildStream.
11. Apache BVal.
12. Apache Cayenne.
13. Home , Apache Commons BCEL.
14. Commons , Apache Commons BeanUtils.
15. Apache Commons BSF™, Bean Scripting Framework.
16. Commons Chain, Overview.
17. Apache Commons CLI , Apache Commons CLI.
18. Home , Apache Commons Codec.
19. Home , Apache Commons Collections.
20. Overview , Apache Commons Compress.
21. Java Configuration API , Apache Commons Configuration.
22. Apache Commons Crypto , Overview.
23. Home , Apache Commons CSV.
24. Daemon : Java based daemons or services , Apache Commons Daemon.
25. Overview , Apache Commons DBCP.
26. DbUtils , JDBC Utility Component.
27. Digester, Commons.
28. Commons Email , Home.
29. Apache Commons Exec , Apache Commons Exec.
30. Home , FileUpload.
31. Commons Functor, Overview.
32. Geometry , Commons Geometry.
33. HttpClient, HttpClient Home.
34. Commons , Apache Commons Imaging.
35. Commons IO Overview , Apache Commons IO.
36. Apache Commons JCI, Apache Commons JCI, About.
37. JCS , Java Caching System.
38. Jelly, Jelly : Executable XML.
39. Apache Commons JEXL Overview ? Apache Commons JEXL.
40. JXPath Home , Apache Commons JXPath.
41. Home , Apache Commons Lang.
42. Math , Commons Math: The Apache Commons Mathematics Library.
43. Overview , Apache Commons Net.
44. Apache Commons Numbers , Numbers.
45. OGNL, Apache Commons OGNL, Object Graph Navigation Library.
46. Overview , Apache Commons Pool.
47. Commons Proxy -.
48. Apache Commons RDF , Apache Commons RDF.
49. Commons RNG , RNG.
50. SCXML, Commons SCXML.
51. Apache Commons Statistics , Statistics.
52. Home , Apache Commons Text.
53. Commons Validator , Apache Commons Validator™.
54. Commons Virtual File System , Apache Commons VFS.
55. Commons Weaver , Apache Commons Weaver.
56. Apache Community Development, ASF Community Development, Welcome.
57. Apache Ant, Apache Compress Antlib.
58. Apache CXF -- Index.
59. Apache Ant, Apache CycloneDX Ant Library.
60. Apache Daffodil, Home.
61. Apache Deltaspike.
62. Apache DevLake, Open-Source Dev Data Platform for Productivity, Apache DevLake.
63. Apache Dubbo.
64. Apache Empire-db.
65. Apache Fory™.
66. Apache Geronimo.
67. The Apache Groovy® programming language, Contribute.
68. Apache Gump™.
69. Apache HttpComponents , HttpClient Overview.
70. Apache HttpComponents , HttpCore Overview.
71. Home, Apache Ivy ™.
72. About Apache JDO.
73. Apache Jena, Home.
74. Apache JMeter, Apache JMeter™.
75. Apache Johnzon , Apache Johnzon.
76. Apache Juneau.
77. Welcome to Apache Maven , Maven.
78. Introduction , Maven.
79. Apache MINA , Apache MINA.
80. Apache Neethi, WS-Policy Framework , Neethi.
81. Welcome to Apache NetBeans.
82. Apache NullAway Project Incubation Status, Apache Incubator.
83. One Layer, All Storage, Apache OpenDAL™.
84. Apache OpenJPA -- Index.
85. Apache OpenWebBeans.
86. Apache Pekko™.
87. Welcome! , The Apache Portable Runtime Project.
88. Apache Ant, Apache Props Antlib.
89. A Release Audit Tool , Apache RAT™, A Release Audit Tool.
90. Apache Ratis.
91. Build. Sign. Send., Apache Reqsign™.
92. Sandesha2, Welcome to Sandesha2 home page.
93. Apache Seata.
94. Apache Serf.
95. Apache ServiceComb.
96. Apache SIS, The Apache SIS™ library.
97. SSHD Overview , Apache MINA.
98. Tools for community elections, Apache STeVe.
99. Apache Subversion.
100. Introduction , Apache Tentacles™.
101. Apache Velocity, Texen.
102. Apache Thrift, Home.
103. Graph Computing Framework, Apache TinkerPop.
104. db.apache.org, torque.
105. Apache Training™, Apache Training™.
106. velocity.apache.org, devel.
107. Apache Whimsy.
108. Introducing Apache Whisker , Apache Whisker™.
109. Xalan-C++ Documentation, xalan-c.
110. ASF: Xalan-Java.
111. Xerces-C++ XML Parser.
112. Xerces2 Java XML Parser Readme.
113. Welcome to XML::Xerces.
114. External Components.
115. Resolver overview.
116. Welcome to Apache XMLBeans™.
117. Apache XmlSchema.
118. Apache Yetus.
119. projects.apache.org, projects.json, read 2026-10-29T21:00:00Z, shared directory snapshot.
120. Installation , Maven, read October 29, 2026, 21:38 UTC.
121. Download Apache Maven , Maven, read October 29, 2026, 21:53 UTC.
122. GitHub plans and pricing · GitHub, read October 29, 2026, 21:53 UTC.
123. Download Apache Subversion Sources, read October 29, 2026, 21:53 UTC.
124. Apache Subversion Binary Packages, read October 29, 2026, 21:38 UTC.
125. Subversion Documentation, read October 29, 2026, 21:38 UTC.
126. Assembla Cloud Pricing: Managed Git & SVN Hosting Plans, read October 29, 2026, 21:53 UTC.
127. Apache NetBeans Releases, read October 29, 2026, 21:38 UTC.
128. Downloading Apache NetBeans 31, read October 29, 2026, 21:53 UTC.
129. Buy IntelliJ IDEA, read October 29, 2026, 21:48 UTC.
130. Install via Docker Compose, Apache DevLake, Open-Source Dev Data Platform for Productivity.
131. LinearB Pricing.
132. Index of /groovy.
133. Security :: Apache Logging Services, read October 29, 2026, 21:38 UTC.
134. Apache Project Security Information, read October 29, 2026, 21:47 UTC.
135. ASF Security Team, Apache Software Foundation, read October 29, 2026, 21:37 UTC.
136. Security Reports , Maven, read October 29, 2026, 22:06 UTC.
137. Apache Subversion Security, read October 29, 2026, 22:06 UTC.
138. The Apache Attic, The Apache Attic was created in November 2008 to provide process and, read October 29, 2026, 21:47 UTC.
139. apache.org, LICENSE 2.0, read October 29, 2026, 21:37 UTC.
140. Droplet Pricing, DigitalOcean.
141. B2 Cloud Storage Pricing, Backblaze.
142. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics Profiles.
143. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data.
144. Claude plan pricing, read 2026-10-29T23:31:08.854Z; supplied AI setup research.
145. Desktop Commander pricing, read 2026-10-29T23:31:08.785Z; supplied AI setup research.
146. Desktop Commander setup and permissions, read 2026-10-29T23:31:41.305Z; supplied AI setup research.
147. Claude in Chrome setup, read 2026-10-29T23:31:11.010Z; supplied AI setup research.
148. Claude in Chrome permissions, read 2026-10-29T23:31:09.885Z; supplied AI setup research.
149. Anthropic Consumer Terms, read 2026-10-29T23:31:08.765Z; supplied AI setup research.
150. METR study of experienced developers, read 2026-10-29T23:30:58.118Z; supplied AI setup research.
151. OpenAI prompt caching, read 2026-10-29T23:32:00.479Z; supplied AI setup research.
152. OpenAI API pricing, read 2026-10-29T23:31:13.960Z; supplied AI setup research.
153. Codex CLI, read 2026-10-29T23:32:01.197Z; supplied AI setup research.
154. Codex with a ChatGPT plan, read 2026-10-29T23:31:16.001Z; supplied AI setup research.
155. ChatGPT Work cloud browser, read 2026-10-29T23:32:01.431Z; supplied AI setup research.
156. Anthropic API pricing, read 2026-10-29T23:31:14.425Z; supplied AI setup research.
157. ChatGPT plan pricing, read 2026-10-29 about 23:27 UTC; supplied AI setup research.
158. OpenAI Terms of Use, read 2026-10-29 about 23:27 UTC; supplied AI setup research.

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