head to head · open source
webpack vs devbox
webpack has 65,945 GitHub stars, 9,545 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped yesterday. devbox has 12,362 stars, 357 forks, 466 open issues and last shipped yesterday. webpack leads on adoption by 433% (65,945 vs 12,362 stars). webpack is written in JavaScript under MIT; devbox is written in Go under Apache-2.0. webpack has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, devbox 3%. 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 | devbox | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 12K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.5K | ⑂ 357 |
| 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 devbox if
- You want the devbox feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and devbox 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 devbox
Devbox is an open source, Apache 2.0 licensed command line tool written in Go that creates isolated, reproducible development shells from a single declaration file, and it is aimed at individual developers and teams who need identical toolchain versions on every machine and in every environment.
read the full devbox overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is webpack or devbox more popular?
webpack has 65,945 GitHub stars and devbox has 12,362. webpack has the larger community by that measure.
Are webpack and devbox free?
Both are open source. webpack is licensed under MIT and devbox under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between webpack and devbox?
webpack is written in JavaScript and devbox in Go. 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 devbox?
Choose webpack if you want the larger community (65,945 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose devbox if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.