head to head · open source
nx vs xmake
nx has 29,443 GitHub stars, 2,973 forks, 490 open issues and last shipped yesterday. xmake has 12,286 stars, 965 forks, 255 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. nx leads on adoption by 140% (29,443 vs 12,286 stars). nx is written in TypeScript under MIT; xmake is written in Lua under Apache-2.0. nx has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, xmake 8%. nx was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (build, 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
| nx | xmake | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 12K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Lua |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 965 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick nx if
- You weight community size — 29K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick xmake if
- You want the xmake feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Lua
- You evaluated both and xmake fits your workflow better
About nx
Smart Monorepos · Fast Builds Docs • Changelog • Blog • Courses • YouTube Nx is a monorepo solution for TypeScript and polyglot codebases. Built with Rust for performance, extensible via TypeScript. Caches what didn't change, runs only what's affected, and comes with an integrated CI solution. Start simple, scale as you grow. Quick Start Visit the Nx quickstart docs to get started. Why Nx? Incremental by design Run npx nx init in any npm/pnpm/yarn workspace. Nx picks up your existing package.json scripts, caches their outputs, and runs only what's affected. No changes to your setup required…
About xmake
xmake A cross platform build utility based on Lua Modern C/C++ build tool: Simple, Fast, Powerful dependency package integration Support this project Support this project by becoming a sponsor. Your logo will show up here with a link to your website. 🙏 Introduction (中文) What is Xmake? 1. Xmake is a cross platform build utility based on the Lua scripting language. 2. Xmake is very lightweight and has no dependencies outside of the standard library. 3. Uses the xmake.lua file to maintain project builds with a simple and readable syntax. Xmake can be used to directly build source code (like with Make or Ninja), or…
read the full xmake overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nx or xmake more popular?
nx has 29,443 GitHub stars and xmake has 12,286. nx has the larger community by that measure.
Are nx and xmake free?
Both are open source. nx is licensed under MIT and xmake under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nx and xmake?
nx is written in TypeScript and xmake in Lua. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, nx or xmake?
Choose nx if you want the larger community (29,443 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose xmake if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.