head to head · open source
webpack vs Semaphore
webpack has 65,945 GitHub stars, 9,545 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Semaphore has 1,601 stars, 88 forks, 178 open issues and last shipped yesterday. webpack leads on adoption by 4,019% (65,945 vs 1,601 stars). webpack is written in JavaScript under MIT; Semaphore is written in Elixir under a custom or non-standard licence. webpack has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, Semaphore 5%. webpack was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | Semaphore | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | JavaScript | Elixir |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.5K | ⑂ 88 |
| 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 Semaphore if
- You want the Semaphore feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Elixir
- You evaluated both and Semaphore 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 Semaphore
Semaphore is an open source continuous integration and continuous delivery platform that product teams install on their own infrastructure, or use as a hosted service, to build, test, and deploy software from a YAML based configuration.
read the full Semaphore overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is webpack or Semaphore more popular?
webpack has 65,945 GitHub stars and Semaphore has 1,601. webpack has the larger community by that measure.
Are webpack and Semaphore free?
Both are open source. webpack is licensed under MIT, and Semaphore has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between webpack and Semaphore?
webpack is written in JavaScript and Semaphore in Elixir. 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 Semaphore?
Choose webpack if you want the larger community (65,945 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Semaphore if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.