Maven builds the code and manages dependencies on the fly. Also due to its ability for SUPPORTING deployments Maven is used wide-spread. Maven makes a lot of post-development tasks easy. There are a bunch of other tools you can use instead of Maven.

• Ant - Ant (Another Neat Tool) is a command-line tool written in Java and uses XML to build modules, define TARGETS and specify dependencies.
• IVY - IVY is a build tool from Apache and is an EXTENSION to Ant. IVY helps in managing the external dependencies during development. IVY provides a way of adding dependencies to the classpath and packaging them with the APPLICATION. IVY is a lightweight alternative to Maven.
• Gradle - Gradle an open-source build tool automates the build PROCESS taking over Ant and Maven tools. Gradel uses domain-specific language instead of XML templates for defining the project configuration. The groovy syntax is followed in a domain-specific language.

Gradel suggests a polyglot build system that integrates the project with different technologies and programming languages. Gradle makes version management easier than Maven with the help of dynamic versioning.