head to head · open source
esbuild vs Capgo
esbuild has 40,063 GitHub stars, 1,346 forks, 622 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. Capgo has 206 stars, 135 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped yesterday. esbuild leads on adoption by 19,348% (40,063 vs 206 stars). esbuild is written in Go under MIT; Capgo is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. esbuild has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, Capgo 66%. Capgo was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| esbuild | Capgo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 206 |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-08-09 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 135 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick esbuild if
- You weight community size — 40K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Capgo if
- You want the Capgo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Capgo fits your workflow better
About esbuild
esbuild is an MIT licensed, Go based bundler for the web that compiles JavaScript, CSS, TypeScript, and JSX in one tool, aimed at front end developers and teams whose current web build pipelines are slower than they need to be.
read the full esbuild overview →
About Capgo
Capgo is an open source console and updater for shipping over the air bundle updates to Capacitor apps on Android and iOS, built for mobile teams that need to release fixes without waiting on app store review.
read the full Capgo overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is esbuild or Capgo more popular?
esbuild has 40,063 GitHub stars and Capgo has 206. esbuild has the larger community by that measure.
Are esbuild and Capgo free?
Both are open source. esbuild is licensed under MIT and Capgo under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between esbuild and Capgo?
esbuild is written in Go and Capgo in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, esbuild or Capgo?
Choose esbuild if you want the larger community (40,063 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Capgo if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.