head to head · open source
webpack vs rsbuild
webpack has 65,945 GitHub stars, 9,545 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rsbuild has 3,379 stars, 281 forks, 22 open issues and last shipped yesterday. webpack leads on adoption by 1,852% (65,945 vs 3,379 stars). webpack is written in JavaScript under MIT; rsbuild is written in TypeScript under MIT. webpack has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, rsbuild 8%. 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 | rsbuild | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 3.4K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.5K | ⑂ 281 |
| 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 rsbuild if
- You want the rsbuild feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and rsbuild 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 rsbuild
Rsbuild is a build tool for web applications. It lives in the JavaScript and TypeScript frontend ecosystem. It is in the Developer Tools / Build & Deployment category. The repository lists TypeScript and an MIT license. It is part of Rstack, a unified JavaScript toolchain. It is powered by Rspack, and it uses Rust based tools such as SWC and Lightning CSS.
read the full rsbuild overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is webpack or rsbuild more popular?
webpack has 65,945 GitHub stars and rsbuild has 3,379. webpack has the larger community by that measure.
Are webpack and rsbuild free?
Both are open source. webpack is licensed under MIT and rsbuild under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between webpack and rsbuild?
webpack is written in JavaScript and rsbuild in TypeScript. 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 rsbuild?
Choose webpack if you want the larger community (65,945 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose rsbuild if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.