head to head · open source
webpack vs please
webpack has 65,945 GitHub stars, 9,545 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped yesterday. please has 2,612 stars, 221 forks, 120 open issues and last shipped yesterday. webpack leads on adoption by 2,425% (65,945 vs 2,612 stars). webpack is written in JavaScript under MIT; please is written in Go under Apache-2.0. webpack has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, please 8%. 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 | please | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.5K | ⑂ 221 |
| 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 please if
- You want the please 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 please 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 please
Please is an open source, cross language build system for reproducible multi language builds. It belongs to the developer tools and build and deployment ecosystem, and its topics place it alongside Bazel, Buck, and Pants as a monorepo build tool. The project is written in Go, licensed under Apache 2.0, and actively supported on Linux, macOS, and FreeBSD.
read the full please overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is webpack or please more popular?
webpack has 65,945 GitHub stars and please has 2,612. webpack has the larger community by that measure.
Are webpack and please free?
Both are open source. webpack is licensed under MIT and please under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between webpack and please?
webpack is written in JavaScript and please 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 please?
Choose webpack if you want the larger community (65,945 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose please if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.