head to head · open source
esbuild vs extension.js
esbuild has 40,063 GitHub stars, 1,346 forks, 622 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. extension.js has 5,164 stars, 139 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped today. esbuild leads on adoption by 676% (40,063 vs 5,164 stars). esbuild is written in Go under MIT; extension.js is written in TypeScript under MIT. esbuild has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, extension.js 3%. extension.js 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 | extension.js | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 5.2K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-08-09 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 139 |
| 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 extension.js if
- You want the extension.js feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and extension.js 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 extension.js
extension.js is an open source cross browser extension framework written in TypeScript under the MIT license. It targets Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari, and it lets developers build extensions without a separate build configuration for each browser.
read the full extension.js overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is esbuild or extension.js more popular?
esbuild has 40,063 GitHub stars and extension.js has 5,164. esbuild has the larger community by that measure.
Are esbuild and extension.js free?
Both are open source. esbuild is licensed under MIT and extension.js under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between esbuild and extension.js?
esbuild is written in Go and extension.js 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 extension.js?
Choose esbuild if you want the larger community (40,063 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose extension.js if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.