head to head · open source
webpack vs retire.js
webpack has 65,945 GitHub stars, 9,545 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped yesterday. retire.js has 4,173 stars, 440 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. webpack leads on adoption by 1,480% (65,945 vs 4,173 stars). webpack is written in JavaScript under MIT; retire.js is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. webpack has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, retire.js 11%. webpack was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (build-tool, javascript), 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 | retire.js | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.5K | ⑂ 440 |
| 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 retire.js if
- You want the retire.js feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and retire.js 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 retire.js
Retire.js is an open source JavaScript security scanner for web and Node.js projects. It lives in the JavaScript software composition analysis ecosystem and is distributed under the Apache 2.0 license. The project detects JavaScript libraries and Node.js modules with known vulnerabilities, including libraries downloaded into source control rather than listed in a package manifest.
read the full retire.js overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is webpack or retire.js more popular?
webpack has 65,945 GitHub stars and retire.js has 4,173. webpack has the larger community by that measure.
Are webpack and retire.js free?
Both are open source. webpack is licensed under MIT and retire.js under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between webpack and retire.js?
webpack is written in JavaScript and retire.js in JavaScript. 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 retire.js?
Choose webpack if you want the larger community (65,945 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose retire.js if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.