head to head · open source
webpack vs gradle
webpack has 65,978 GitHub stars, 9,619 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped yesterday. gradle has 18,913 stars, 5,265 forks, 3,494 open issues and last shipped yesterday. webpack leads on adoption by 249% (65,978 vs 18,913 stars). webpack is written in JavaScript under MIT; gradle is written in Groovy under Apache-2.0. webpack has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, gradle 28%. webpack was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (build-tool), 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.
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Side by side
| webpack | gradle | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 19K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Groovy |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.6K | ⑂ 5.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick webpack if
- You weight community size — 66K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick gradle if
- You want the gradle feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Groovy
- You evaluated both and gradle fits your workflow better
About webpack
[![npm][npm]][npm url] [![node][node]][node url] [![builds1][builds1]][builds1 url] [![dependency review][dependency review]][dependency review url] [![coverage][cover]][cover url] [![PR's welcome][prs]][prs url] webpack Webpack is a module bundler. Its main purpose is to bundle JavaScript files for usage in a browser, yet it is also capable of transforming, bundling, or packaging just about any resource or asset. Table of Contents Install Introduction Concepts Contributing Support Current project members TSC (Technical Steering Committee) Core Collaborators Sponsoring Premium Partners Gold Sponsors Silver…
read the full webpack overview →
About gradle
🐘 Gradle Build Tool Gradle is a highly scalable build automation tool designed to handle everything from large, multi project enterprise builds to quick development tasks across various languages. Gradle’s modular, performance oriented architecture seamlessly integrates with development environments, making it a go to solution for building, testing, and deploying applications on Java , Kotlin , Scala , Android , Groovy , C++ , and Swift . For a comprehensive overview, please visit the official Gradle project homepage. 🚀 Getting Started Starting with Gradle is easy with these essential resources. Follow these…
read the full gradle overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is webpack or gradle more popular?
webpack has 65,978 GitHub stars and gradle has 18,913. webpack has the larger community by that measure.
Are webpack and gradle free?
Both are open source. webpack is licensed under MIT and gradle under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between webpack and gradle?
webpack is written in JavaScript and gradle in Groovy. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, webpack or gradle?
Choose webpack if you want the larger community (65,978 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose gradle if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.