diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index ec78c166..2b8a51bd 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 include buildserver/config.buildserver.py
-include buildserver/gradle
 include buildserver/provision-android-ndk
 include buildserver/provision-android-sdk
 include buildserver/provision-apt-get-install
@@ -23,6 +22,7 @@ include examples/opensc-fdroid.cfg
 include examples/public-read-only-s3-bucket-policy.json
 include examples/template.yml
 include fdroid
+include gradlew-fdroid
 include LICENSE
 include locale/bo/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
 include locale/de/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
diff --git a/buildserver/Vagrantfile b/buildserver/Vagrantfile
index 1d1859a6..111df705 100644
--- a/buildserver/Vagrantfile
+++ b/buildserver/Vagrantfile
@@ -75,7 +75,5 @@ Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
   config.vm.provision "shell", path: "provision-pip",
     args: ["compare-locales"]
   config.vm.provision "shell", path: "provision-gradle"
-  config.vm.provision "file", source: "gradle",
-    destination: "/opt/gradle/bin/gradle"
 
 end
diff --git a/buildserver/config.buildserver.py b/buildserver/config.buildserver.py
index d2d8cd40..496f83fa 100644
--- a/buildserver/config.buildserver.py
+++ b/buildserver/config.buildserver.py
@@ -12,3 +12,4 @@ ndk_paths = {
 java_paths = {
     '8': "/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64",
 }
+gradle_version_dir = "/opt/gradle/versions"
diff --git a/buildserver/gradle b/buildserver/gradle
deleted file mode 100755
index 3920528e..00000000
--- a/buildserver/gradle
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,98 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-bindir="$(dirname $0)"
-basedir="$(dirname $bindir)"
-verdir="${basedir}/versions"
-args=("$@")
-
-run_gradle() {
-	"${verdir}/${v_found}/bin/gradle" "${args[@]}"
-	exit $?
-}
-
-contains() {
-	local e
-	for e in $2; do
-		[[ $e == $1 ]] && return 0;
-	done
-	return 1
-}
-
-# key-value pairs of what gradle version (value) each gradle plugin version
-# (key) should accept. plugin versions are actually prefixes and catch sub-
-# versions as well. Pairs are taken from:
-# https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/gradle-plugin.html#updating-gradle
-d_plugin_k=(3.1 3.0 2.3    2.2  2.1.3  2.1  2.0 1.5 1.3 1.2   1.1   1.0 0.14 0.13 0.12 0.11 0.10  0.9  0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2)
-d_plugin_v=(4.4 4.1 3.3 2.14.1 2.14.1 2.12 2.12 2.4 2.4 2.3 2.2.1 2.2.1  2.1  2.1 1.12 1.12 1.12 1.11 1.10 1.9 1.8 1.6 1.6 1.4 1.4)
-
-# All gradle versions we know about
-plugin_v=(4.8.1 4.8 4.7 4.6 4.5.1 4.5 4.4.1 4.4 4.3.1 4.3 4.2.1 4.2 4.1 4.0.2 4.0.1 4.0 3.5.1 3.5 3.4.1 3.4 3.3 3.2.1 3.2 3.1 3.0 2.14.1 2.14 2.13 2.12 2.11 2.10 2.9 2.8 2.7 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.3 2.2.1 2.2 2.1 1.12 1.11 1.10 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.4)
-
-v_all=${plugin_v[@]}
-echo "Available gradle versions: ${v_all[@]}"
-
-# Earliest takes priority
-for f in {.,..}/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties; do
-	[[ -f $f ]] || continue
-	while read l; do
-		if [[ $l == 'distributionUrl='* ]]; then
-			wrapper_ver=$(echo -n "$l" | sed "s/.*gradle-\\([0-9\\.\\+]\\+\\).*/\\1/")
-		fi
-	done < $f
-done
-
-if [[ -n $wrapper_ver ]]; then
-	v_found=$wrapper_ver
-	echo "Found $v_found via distributionUrl"
-	run_gradle
-fi
-
-# Earliest takes priority
-for f in {.,..}/build.gradle; do
-	[[ -f $f ]] || continue
-	while read l; do
-		if [[ -z "$plugin_pver" && $l == *'com.android.tools.build:gradle:'* ]]; then
-			plugin_pver=$(echo -n "$l" | sed "s/.*com.android.tools.build:gradle:\\([0-9\\.\\+]\\+\\).*/\\1/")
-		elif [[ -z "$wrapper_ver" && $l == *'gradleVersion = '* ]]; then
-			wrapper_ver=$(echo -n "$l" | sed "s/.*gradleVersion *=* *[\"']\\([0-9\\.]\\+\\)[\"'].*/\\1/")
-		fi
-	done < $f
-done
-
-if [[ -n $wrapper_ver ]]; then
-	v_found=$wrapper_ver
-	echo "Found $v_found via gradleVersion"
-	run_gradle
-fi
-
-if [[ -n $plugin_pver ]]; then
-	i=0
-	match=false
-	for k in ${d_plugin_k[@]}; do
-		if [[ $plugin_pver == ${k}* ]]; then
-			plugin_ver=${d_plugin_v[$i]}
-			match=true
-			break
-		fi
-		let i++
-	done
-	if $match; then
-		v_found=$plugin_ver
-		echo "Found $v_found via gradle plugin version $k"
-	fi
-fi
-
-# Find the highest version available
-for v in ${plugin_v[*]}; do
-	if contains $v "${v_all[*]}"; then
-		v_def=$v
-		break
-	fi
-done
-
-if [[ -z $v_found ]]; then
-	echo "No suitable gradle version found - defaulting to $v_def"
-	v_found=$v_def
-fi
-
-run_gradle
diff --git a/buildserver/provision-gradle b/buildserver/provision-gradle
index 124b99aa..e385fffe 100644
--- a/buildserver/provision-gradle
+++ b/buildserver/provision-gradle
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-set -e
+set -ex
 
 test -e /opt/gradle/versions || mkdir -p /opt/gradle/versions
 cd /opt/gradle/versions
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ done
 chmod -R a+rX /opt/gradle
 
 test -e /opt/gradle/bin || mkdir -p /opt/gradle/bin
-touch /opt/gradle/bin/gradle
-chown vagrant.vagrant /opt/gradle/bin/gradle
-chmod 0755 /opt/gradle/bin/gradle
+ln -fs /home/vagrant/fdroidserver/gradlew-fdroid /opt/gradle/bin/gradle
+chown -h vagrant.vagrant /opt/gradle/bin/gradle
+chown vagrant.vagrant /opt/gradle/versions
+chmod 0755 /opt/gradle/versions
diff --git a/examples/config.py b/examples/config.py
index b0395fa0..2fd46956 100644
--- a/examples/config.py
+++ b/examples/config.py
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@
 #     'r17b': None,
 # }
 
+# Directory to store downloaded tools in (i.e. gradle versions)
+# By default, these are stored in ~/.cache/fdroidserver
+# cachedir = cache
+
 # java_paths = {
 #     '8': "/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk",
 # }
@@ -39,6 +43,7 @@
 # mvn3 = "mvn"
 
 # Command or path to binary for running Gradle
+# Defaults to using an internal gradle wrapper (gradlew-fdroid).
 # gradle = "gradle"
 
 # Set the maximum age (in days) of an index that a client should accept from
diff --git a/fdroidserver/build.py b/fdroidserver/build.py
index 9970a2dd..6fbe925a 100644
--- a/fdroidserver/build.py
+++ b/fdroidserver/build.py
@@ -125,7 +125,9 @@ def build_server(app, build, vcs, build_dir, output_dir, log_dir, force):
         ftp.mkdir('fdroidserver')
         ftp.chdir('fdroidserver')
         ftp.put(os.path.join(serverpath, '..', 'fdroid'), 'fdroid')
+        ftp.put(os.path.join(serverpath, '..', 'gradlew-fdroid'), 'gradlew-fdroid')
         ftp.chmod('fdroid', 0o755)
+        ftp.chmod('gradlew-fdroid', 0o755)
         send_dir(os.path.join(serverpath))
         ftp.chdir(homedir)
 
@@ -496,8 +498,7 @@ def build_local(app, build, vcs, build_dir, output_dir, log_dir, srclib_dir, ext
             cmd += ['-P' + kv for kv in build.gradleprops]
 
         cmd += ['clean']
-
-        p = FDroidPopen(cmd, cwd=root_dir)
+        p = FDroidPopen(cmd, cwd=root_dir, envs={"GRADLE_VERSION_DIR": config['gradle_version_dir'], "CACHEDIR": config['cachedir']})
 
     elif bmethod == 'buildozer':
         pass
@@ -720,7 +721,7 @@ def build_local(app, build, vcs, build_dir, output_dir, log_dir, srclib_dir, ext
 
         cmd += gradletasks
 
-        p = FDroidPopen(cmd, cwd=root_dir)
+        p = FDroidPopen(cmd, cwd=root_dir, envs={"GRADLE_VERSION_DIR": config['gradle_version_dir'], "CACHEDIR": config['cachedir']})
 
     elif bmethod == 'ant':
         logging.info("Building Ant project...")
diff --git a/fdroidserver/common.py b/fdroidserver/common.py
index e3cd165d..1212afca 100644
--- a/fdroidserver/common.py
+++ b/fdroidserver/common.py
@@ -57,6 +57,9 @@ from fdroidserver.exception import FDroidException, VCSException, NoSubmodulesEx
     BuildException, VerificationException
 from .asynchronousfilereader import AsynchronousFileReader
 
+# The path to this fdroidserver distribution
+FDROID_PATH = os.path.realpath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..'))
+
 # this is the build-tools version, aapt has a separate version that
 # has to be manually set in test_aapt_version()
 MINIMUM_AAPT_VERSION = '26.0.0'
@@ -87,12 +90,14 @@ default_config = {
         'r15c': None,
         'r16b': None,
     },
+    'cachedir': os.path.join(os.getenv('HOME'), '.cache', 'fdroidserver'),
     'build_tools': MINIMUM_AAPT_VERSION,
     'force_build_tools': False,
     'java_paths': None,
     'ant': "ant",
     'mvn3': "mvn",
-    'gradle': 'gradle',
+    'gradle': os.path.join(FDROID_PATH, 'gradlew-fdroid'),
+    'gradle_version_dir': os.path.join(os.path.join(os.getenv('HOME'), '.cache', 'fdroidserver'), 'gradle'),
     'accepted_formats': ['txt', 'yml'],
     'sync_from_local_copy_dir': False,
     'allow_disabled_algorithms': False,
diff --git a/gradlew-fdroid b/gradlew-fdroid
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..7f38222e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gradlew-fdroid
@@ -0,0 +1,195 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+bindir="$(dirname $0)"
+basedir="$(dirname $bindir)"
+# Check if GRADLE_VERSION_DIR/CACHEDIR is set from environment
+if [ -z "$GRADLE_VERSION_DIR" ]; then
+    gradle_version_dir="${basedir}/versions"
+else
+    gradle_version_dir="$GRADLE_VERSION_DIR"
+fi
+if [ -n "$CACHEDIR" ]; then
+    cachedir="$CACHEDIR"
+fi
+args=("$@")
+
+run_gradle() {
+    if [ ! -d "${gradle_version_dir}/${v_found}" ]; then
+        download_gradle ${v_found}
+    fi
+	"${gradle_version_dir}/${v_found}/bin/gradle" "${args[@]}"
+	exit $?
+}
+
+download_gradle() {
+    URL="https://downloads.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-${1}-bin.zip"
+    shasum=$(get_sha $1)
+    if [ $? != 0 ]; then
+        echo "No hash for gradle version $1! Exiting..."
+        exit 1
+    fi
+    if [ -n "${cachedir}" ] && [ -e "${cachedir}/gradle-$1-bin.zip" ]; then
+        echo "Using cached ${cachedir}/gradle-$1-bin.zip ..."
+        gradle_zip="${cachedir}/gradle-$1-bin.zip"
+    else
+        echo "Downloading missing gradle version $1"
+        if [ -n "${cachedir}" ]; then
+            tmpdir="${cachedir}"
+        else
+            tmpdir=$(mktemp -d)
+        fi
+        curl -o "${tmpdir}/gradle.zip" --silent --fail --show-error --location "${URL}"
+        gradle_zip="${tmpdir}/gradle.zip"
+    fi
+    echo "${shasum} ${gradle_zip}" | sha256sum -c -
+    if [ $? != 0 ]; then
+        echo "gradle download checksum mismatch! Exiting..."
+        exit 1
+    fi
+    mkdir -p "${gradle_version_dir}/"
+    unzip -q -d "${gradle_version_dir}" "${gradle_zip}"
+    mv "${gradle_version_dir}/gradle-$1" "${gradle_version_dir}/${v_found}"
+}
+
+get_sha() {
+    declare -A gradle_hashes
+    gradle_hashes=( ["1.4"]="cd99e85fbcd0ae8b99e81c9992a2f10cceb7b5f009c3720ef3a0078f4f92e94e" \
+                    ["1.6"]="de3e89d2113923dcc2e0def62d69be0947ceac910abd38b75ec333230183fac4" \
+                    ["1.7"]="360c97d51621b5a1ecf66748c718594e5f790ae4fbc1499543e0c006033c9d30" \
+                    ["1.8"]="a342bbfa15fd18e2482287da4959588f45a41b60910970a16e6d97959aea5703" \
+                    ["1.9"]="097ddc2bcbc9da2bb08cbf6bf8079585e35ad088bafd42e8716bc96405db98e9" \
+                    ["1.10"]="6e6db4fc595f27ceda059d23693b6f6848583950606112b37dfd0e97a0a0a4fe" \
+                    ["1.11"]="07e235df824964f0e19e73ea2327ce345c44bcd06d44a0123d29ab287fc34091" \
+                    ["1.12"]="8734b13a401f4311ee418173ed6ca8662d2b0a535be8ff2a43ecb1c13cd406ea" \
+                    ["2.1"]="3eee4f9ea2ab0221b89f8e4747a96d4554d00ae46d8d633f11cfda60988bf878" \
+                    ["2.2"]="91e5655fe11ef414449f218c4fa2985b3a49b7903c57556da109c84fa26e1dfb" \
+                    ["2.2.1"]="420aa50738299327b611c10b8304b749e8d3a579407ee9e755b15921d95ff418" \
+                    ["2.3"]="010dd9f31849abc3d5644e282943b1c1c355f8e2635c5789833979ce590a3774" \
+                    ["2.4"]="c4eaecc621a81f567ded1aede4a5ddb281cc02a03a6a87c4f5502add8fc2f16f" \
+                    ["2.5"]="3f953e0cb14bb3f9ebbe11946e84071547bf5dfd575d90cfe9cc4e788da38555" \
+                    ["2.6"]="18a98c560af231dfa0d3f8e0802c20103ae986f12428bb0a6f5396e8f14e9c83" \
+                    ["2.7"]="cde43b90945b5304c43ee36e58aab4cc6fb3a3d5f9bd9449bb1709a68371cb06" \
+                    ["2.8"]="a88db9c2f104defdaa8011c58cf6cda6c114298ae3695ecfb8beb30da3a903cb" \
+                    ["2.9"]="c9159ec4362284c0a38d73237e224deae6139cbde0db4f0f44e1c7691dd3de2f" \
+                    ["2.10"]="66406247f745fc6f05ab382d3f8d3e120c339f34ef54b86f6dc5f6efc18fbb13" \
+                    ["2.11"]="8d7437082356c9fd6309a4479c8db307673965546daea445c6c72759cd6b1ed6" \
+                    ["2.12"]="e77064981906cd0476ff1e0de3e6fef747bd18e140960f1915cca8ff6c33ab5c" \
+                    ["2.13"]="0f665ec6a5a67865faf7ba0d825afb19c26705ea0597cec80dd191b0f2cbb664" \
+                    ["2.14"]="993b4f33b652c689e9721917d8e021cab6bbd3eae81b39ab2fd46fdb19a928d5" \
+                    ["2.14.1"]="cfc61eda71f2d12a572822644ce13d2919407595c2aec3e3566d2aab6f97ef39" \
+                    ["3.0"]="39c906941a474444afbddc38144ed44166825acb0a57b0551dddb04bbf157f80" \
+                    ["3.1"]="c7de3442432253525902f7e8d7eac8b5fd6ce1623f96d76916af6d0e383010fc" \
+                    ["3.2"]="5321b36837226dc0377047a328f12010f42c7bf88ee4a3b1cee0c11040082935" \
+                    ["3.2.1"]="9843a3654d3e57dce54db06d05f18b664b95c22bf90c6becccb61fc63ce60689" \
+                    ["3.3"]="c58650c278d8cf0696cab65108ae3c8d95eea9c1938e0eb8b997095d5ca9a292" \
+                    ["3.4"]="72d0cd4dcdd5e3be165eb7cd7bbd25cf8968baf400323d9ab1bba622c3f72205" \
+                    ["3.4.1"]="db1db193d479cc1202be843f17e4526660cfb0b21b57d62f3a87f88c878af9b2" \
+                    ["3.5"]="0b7450798c190ff76b9f9a3d02e18b33d94553f708ebc08ebe09bdf99111d110" \
+                    ["3.5.1"]="8dce35f52d4c7b4a4946df73aa2830e76ba7148850753d8b5e94c5dc325ceef8" \
+                    ["4.0"]="56bd2dde29ba2a93903c557da1745cafd72cdd8b6b0b83c05a40ed7896b79dfe" \
+                    ["4.0.1"]="d717e46200d1359893f891dab047fdab98784143ac76861b53c50dbd03b44fd4" \
+                    ["4.0.2"]="79ac421342bd11f6a4f404e0988baa9c1f5fabf07e3c6fa65b0c15c1c31dda22" \
+                    ["4.1"]="d55dfa9cfb5a3da86a1c9e75bb0b9507f9a8c8c100793ccec7beb6e259f9ed43" \
+                    ["4.2"]="515dd63d32e55a9c05667809c5e40a947529de3054444ad274b3b75af5582eae" \
+                    ["4.2.1"]="b551cc04f2ca51c78dd14edb060621f0e5439bdfafa6fd167032a09ac708fbc0" \
+                    ["4.3"]="8dcbf44eef92575b475dcb1ce12b5f19d38dc79e84c662670248dc8b8247654c" \
+                    ["4.3.1"]="15ebe098ce0392a2d06d252bff24143cc88c4e963346582c8d88814758d93ac7" \
+                    ["4.4"]="fa4873ae2c7f5e8c02ec6948ba95848cedced6134772a0169718eadcb39e0a2f" \
+                    ["4.4.1"]="e7cf7d1853dfc30c1c44f571d3919eeeedef002823b66b6a988d27e919686389" \
+                    ["4.5"]="03f2a43a314ff0fb843a85ef68078e06d181c4549c1e5fb983f289382b59b5e3" \
+                    ["4.5.1"]="3e2ea0d8b96605b7c528768f646e0975bd9822f06df1f04a64fd279b1a17805e" \
+                    ["4.6"]="98bd5fd2b30e070517e03c51cbb32beee3e2ee1a84003a5a5d748996d4b1b915" \
+                    ["4.7"]="fca5087dc8b50c64655c000989635664a73b11b9bd3703c7d6cabd31b7dcdb04" \
+                    ["4.8"]="f3e29692a8faa94eb0b02ebf36fa263a642b3ae8694ef806c45c345b8683f1ba" \
+                    ["4.8.1"]="af334d994b5e69e439ab55b5d2b7d086da5ea6763d78054f49f147b06370ed71" \
+                    )
+    [ ! ${gradle_hashes[$1]+abc} ] && exit 1
+    echo "${gradle_hashes["$1"]}"
+}
+
+contains() {
+	local e
+	for e in $2; do
+		[[ $e == $1 ]] && return 0;
+	done
+	return 1
+}
+
+# key-value pairs of what gradle version (value) each gradle plugin version
+# (key) should accept. plugin versions are actually prefixes and catch sub-
+# versions as well. Pairs are taken from:
+# https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/gradle-plugin.html#updating-gradle
+d_plugin_k=(3.1 3.0 2.3    2.2  2.1.3  2.1  2.0 1.5 1.3 1.2   1.1   1.0 0.14 0.13 0.12 0.11 0.10  0.9  0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2)
+d_plugin_v=(4.4 4.1 3.3 2.14.1 2.14.1 2.12 2.12 2.4 2.4 2.3 2.2.1 2.2.1  2.1  2.1 1.12 1.12 1.12 1.11 1.10 1.9 1.8 1.6 1.6 1.4 1.4)
+
+# All gradle versions we know about
+plugin_v=(4.8.1 4.8 4.7 4.6 4.5.1 4.5 4.4.1 4.4 4.3.1 4.3 4.2.1 4.2 4.1 4.0.2 4.0.1 4.0 3.5.1 3.5 3.4.1 3.4 3.3 3.2.1 3.2 3.1 3.0 2.14.1 2.14 2.13 2.12 2.11 2.10 2.9 2.8 2.7 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.3 2.2.1 2.2 2.1 1.12 1.11 1.10 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.4)
+
+v_all=${plugin_v[@]}
+echo "Available gradle versions: ${v_all[@]}"
+
+# Earliest takes priority
+for f in {.,..}/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties; do
+	[[ -f $f ]] || continue
+	while read l; do
+		if [[ $l == 'distributionUrl='* ]]; then
+			wrapper_ver=$(echo -n "$l" | sed "s/.*gradle-\\([0-9\\.\\+]\\+\\).*/\\1/")
+		fi
+	done < $f
+done
+
+if [[ -n $wrapper_ver ]]; then
+	v_found=$wrapper_ver
+	echo "Found $v_found via distributionUrl"
+	run_gradle
+fi
+
+# Earliest takes priority
+for f in {.,..}/build.gradle; do
+	[[ -f $f ]] || continue
+	while read l; do
+		if [[ -z "$plugin_pver" && $l == *'com.android.tools.build:gradle:'* ]]; then
+			plugin_pver=$(echo -n "$l" | sed "s/.*com.android.tools.build:gradle:\\([0-9\\.\\+]\\+\\).*/\\1/")
+		elif [[ -z "$wrapper_ver" && $l == *'gradleVersion = '* ]]; then
+			wrapper_ver=$(echo -n "$l" | sed "s/.*gradleVersion *=* *[\"']\\([0-9\\.]\\+\\)[\"'].*/\\1/")
+		fi
+	done < $f
+done
+
+if [[ -n $wrapper_ver ]]; then
+	v_found=$wrapper_ver
+	echo "Found $v_found via gradleVersion"
+	run_gradle
+fi
+
+if [[ -n $plugin_pver ]]; then
+	i=0
+	match=false
+	for k in ${d_plugin_k[@]}; do
+		if [[ $plugin_pver == ${k}* ]]; then
+			plugin_ver=${d_plugin_v[$i]}
+			match=true
+			break
+		fi
+		let i++
+	done
+	if $match; then
+		v_found=$plugin_ver
+		echo "Found $v_found via gradle plugin version $k"
+	fi
+fi
+
+# Find the highest version available
+for v in ${plugin_v[*]}; do
+	if contains $v "${v_all[*]}"; then
+		v_def=$v
+		break
+	fi
+done
+
+if [[ -z $v_found ]]; then
+	echo "No suitable gradle version found - defaulting to $v_def"
+	v_found=$v_def
+fi
+
+run_gradle