head to head · open source
esbuild vs erlang.mk
esbuild has 40,120 GitHub stars, 1,368 forks, 622 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. erlang.mk has 587 stars, 238 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. esbuild leads on adoption by 6,735% (40,120 vs 587 stars). esbuild is written in Go under MIT; erlang.mk is written in Makefile under ISC. esbuild has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, erlang.mk 41%. erlang.mk 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| esbuild | erlang.mk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 587 |
| License | MIT | ISC |
| Written in | Go | Makefile |
| Last push | 2026-08-09 | 2026-10-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 238 |
| 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 erlang.mk if
- You want the erlang.mk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the ISC license terms
- Your stack matches Makefile
- You evaluated both and erlang.mk fits your workflow better
About esbuild
Website Getting started Documentation Plugins FAQ Why? Our current build tools for the web are 10 100x slower than they could be: The main goal of the esbuild bundler project is to bring about a new era of build tool performance, and create an easy to use modern bundler along the way. Major features: Extreme speed without needing a cache JavaScript, CSS, TypeScript, and JSX built in A straightforward API for CLI, JS, and Go Bundles ESM and CommonJS modules Bundles CSS including CSS modules Tree shaking, minification, and source maps Local server, watch mode, and plugins Check out the getting started instructions…
read the full esbuild overview →
About erlang.mk
= Erlang.mk A build tool for Erlang that just works. guide] Embrace the power and simplicity of Makefiles. [source,make] PROJECT = webchat DEPS = cowboy dep cowboy commit = 2.8.0 include erlang.mk started] Tested and supported on FreeBSD, OSX] and Get help! server].
read the full erlang.mk overview →
More in Developer Tools
Related comparisons
More Build & Deployment projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Build & Deployment field.
Frequently asked questions
Is esbuild or erlang.mk more popular?
esbuild has 40,120 GitHub stars and erlang.mk has 587. esbuild has the larger community by that measure.
Are esbuild and erlang.mk free?
Both are open source. esbuild is licensed under MIT and erlang.mk under ISC. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between esbuild and erlang.mk?
esbuild is written in Go and erlang.mk in Makefile. 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 erlang.mk?
Choose esbuild if you want the larger community (40,120 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose erlang.mk if its feature set, stack or ISC licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.