head to head · open source
webpack vs gradle
webpack has 65,945 GitHub stars, 9,545 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped yesterday. gradle has 18,845 stars, 5,334 forks, 3,494 open issues and last shipped yesterday. webpack leads on adoption by 250% (65,945 vs 18,845 stars). webpack is written in JavaScript under MIT; gradle is written in Groovy under Apache-2.0. webpack has attracted 14% 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 | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.5K | ⑂ 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
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 gradle
Gradle is an open source build automation tool distributed under the Apache 2.0 license, hosted at gradle.org and developed in the Groovy language. It is described as a highly scalable build automation tool designed to handle everything from large, multi project enterprise builds to quick development tasks across various languages. Its modular, performance oriented architecture integrates with development environments, and the project has grown over roughly seventeen years to a repository with 18,841 stars, 5,335 forks, and 3,494 open issues. It lives in the JVM tooling ecosystem, with topics covering build tool,…
read the full gradle overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is webpack or gradle more popular?
webpack has 65,945 GitHub stars and gradle has 18,845. 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 (65,945 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose gradle if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.