head to head · open source
webpack vs Bear
webpack has 65,978 GitHub stars, 9,619 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Bear has 6,535 stars, 372 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. webpack leads on adoption by 910% (65,978 vs 6,535 stars). webpack is written in JavaScript under MIT; Bear is written in Rust under GPL-3.0. webpack has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Bear 6%. 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 | Bear | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 6.5K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.6K | ⑂ 372 |
| 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 Bear if
- You want the Bear feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Bear 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 Bear
ʕ·ᴥ·ʔ Build EAR =============== Bear gives you working code navigation, autocomplete, and diagnostics on any C/C++ project, whatever the build system. Prefix your build command with bear and it produces the compile commands.json file that Clang tooling (clangd, clang tidy, and friends) needs to understand your code. The [JSON compilation database][JSONCDB] describes how each translation unit is compiled. Bear captures the compiler invocations while your build runs and writes the database for you no changes to your build system required. [JSONCDB]: When to use Bear Bear is the tool of choice when the build system…
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Frequently asked questions
Is webpack or Bear more popular?
webpack has 65,978 GitHub stars and Bear has 6,535. webpack has the larger community by that measure.
Are webpack and Bear free?
Both are open source. webpack is licensed under MIT and Bear under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between webpack and Bear?
webpack is written in JavaScript and Bear in Rust. 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 Bear?
Choose webpack if you want the larger community (65,978 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Bear if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.