head to head · open source
esbuild vs ultra-runner
esbuild has 40,120 GitHub stars, 1,368 forks, 622 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. ultra-runner has 1,248 stars, 39 forks, 60 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. esbuild leads on adoption by 3,115% (40,120 vs 1,248 stars). esbuild is written in Go under MIT; ultra-runner is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. esbuild has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, ultra-runner 3%. ultra-runner 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 | ultra-runner | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-08-09 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 39 |
| 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 ultra-runner if
- You want the ultra-runner feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and ultra-runner 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 ultra-runner
:runner: :mountain: Ultra Runner Ultra fast monorepo script runner and build tool. :sparkles: Features zero config : works out of the box with your existing monorepo non intrusive : no need to make any changes to your packages.json files workspaces : detects packages in existing lerna , yarn , npm@7 and pnpm workspaces, or recursively searches them ultra fast builds : ultra keeps track of file changes in your repo and only actually build a package when needed parallel builds : ultra builds your packages concurrently by default workspace dependencies : workspace dependencies are automatically resolved and used…
read the full ultra-runner overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is esbuild or ultra-runner more popular?
esbuild has 40,120 GitHub stars and ultra-runner has 1,248. esbuild has the larger community by that measure.
Are esbuild and ultra-runner free?
Both are open source. esbuild is licensed under MIT and ultra-runner under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between esbuild and ultra-runner?
esbuild is written in Go and ultra-runner 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 ultra-runner?
Choose esbuild if you want the larger community (40,120 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose ultra-runner if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.