head to head · open source
webpack vs mill
webpack has 65,979 GitHub stars, 9,617 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mill has 2,801 stars, 449 forks, 272 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. webpack leads on adoption by 2,256% (65,979 vs 2,801 stars). webpack is written in JavaScript under MIT; mill is written in Scala under MIT. webpack has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, mill 16%. 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 | mill | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 2.8K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Scala |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.6K | ⑂ 449 |
| 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 mill if
- You want the mill feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Scala
- You evaluated both and mill 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 mill
= image:website/docs/logo.svg[title=Mill Logo] Mill: A Better Build Tool for Java, Scala, & Kotlin :mill stable version: 1.1.9 :link github: :link current doc site: :link mill moduledefs: // customize appearance on GitHub :idprefix: :idseparator: :toc: :toc placement: preamble ifndef::env github[] :icons: font endif::[] ifdef::env github[] :caution caption: :fire: :important caption: :exclamation: :note caption: :paperclip: :tip caption: :bulb: :warning caption: :warning: endif::[] link:changelog.adoc[image: Central Version]] Mill is a build tool that improves upon the tools traditionally used in the JVM…
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Frequently asked questions
Is webpack or mill more popular?
webpack has 65,979 GitHub stars and mill has 2,801. webpack has the larger community by that measure.
Are webpack and mill free?
Both are open source. webpack is licensed under MIT and mill under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between webpack and mill?
webpack is written in JavaScript and mill in Scala. 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 mill?
Choose webpack if you want the larger community (65,979 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose mill if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.