head to head · open source
webpack vs cargo-make
webpack has 65,945 GitHub stars, 9,545 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped yesterday. cargo-make has 2,952 stars, 144 forks, 89 open issues and last shipped 8 months ago. webpack leads on adoption by 2,134% (65,945 vs 2,952 stars). webpack is written in JavaScript under MIT; cargo-make is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. webpack has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, cargo-make 5%. 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 | cargo-make | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 3.0K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-02-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.5K | ⑂ 144 |
| 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 cargo-make if
- You want the cargo-make feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and cargo-make fits your workflow better
About webpack
webpack is an open source module bundler for JavaScript and related assets, distributed under the MIT license and published to npm. It lives in the JavaScript ecosystem, where the README describes its main purpose as bundling JavaScript files for use in a browser, while also being capable of transforming, bundling, or packaging just about any resource or asset. Loaders let modules arrive in many forms — CommonJS, AMD, ES6 modules, CSS, images, JSON, CoffeeScript, LESS, or custom formats — and the plugin system extends what the build can do.
read the full webpack overview →
About cargo-make
cargo make is a Rust task runner and build tool. It lives in the Rust and Cargo ecosystem, and it is distributed as a cargo subcommand.
read the full cargo-make overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is webpack or cargo-make more popular?
webpack has 65,945 GitHub stars and cargo-make has 2,952. webpack has the larger community by that measure.
Are webpack and cargo-make free?
Both are open source. webpack is licensed under MIT and cargo-make under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between webpack and cargo-make?
webpack is written in JavaScript and cargo-make 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 cargo-make?
Choose webpack if you want the larger community (65,945 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose cargo-make if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.