head to head · open source
esbuild vs rslib
esbuild has 40,120 GitHub stars, 1,368 forks, 622 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. rslib has 1,043 stars, 67 forks, 30 open issues and last shipped today. esbuild leads on adoption by 3,747% (40,120 vs 1,043 stars). esbuild is written in Go under MIT; rslib is written in TypeScript under MIT. esbuild has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, rslib 6%. rslib was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (bundler, javascript, typescript), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | rslib | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 1.0K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-08-09 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 67 |
| 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 rslib if
- You want the rslib feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and rslib 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 rslib
Rslib English 简体中文 Rslib is a library development tool based on Rsbuild. It gives developers a simple way to create JavaScript libraries and UI component libraries, and provides tool integrations and best practices for building, debugging, documentation, and testing throughout library development. 🔥 Features Rslib has the following features: Easy to configure : Out of the box tooling enables developers to build libraries with zero configuration. Rslib also provides a set of semantic build configurations that can be extended as project needs grow. Performance focused : Powered by Rspack, it integrates high…
read the full rslib 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 rslib more popular?
esbuild has 40,120 GitHub stars and rslib has 1,043. esbuild has the larger community by that measure.
Are esbuild and rslib free?
Both are open source. esbuild is licensed under MIT and rslib under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between esbuild and rslib?
esbuild is written in Go and rslib 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 rslib?
Choose esbuild if you want the larger community (40,120 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose rslib if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.