head to head · open source
webpack vs trunk
webpack has 65,978 GitHub stars, 9,619 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped yesterday. trunk has 4,421 stars, 324 forks, 136 open issues and last shipped yesterday. webpack leads on adoption by 1,392% (65,978 vs 4,421 stars). webpack is written in JavaScript under MIT; trunk is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. webpack has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, trunk 7%. 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, compiler), 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 | trunk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 4.4K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.6K | ⑂ 324 |
| 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 trunk if
- You want the trunk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and trunk 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 trunk
Trunk Build, bundle & ship your Rust WASM application to the web. ”Pack your things, we’re going on an adventure!” Ferris Trunk is a WASM web application bundler for Rust. Trunk uses a simple, optional config pattern for building & bundling WASM, JS snippets & other assets (images, css, scss) via a source HTML file. 📦 Dev server Trunk ships with a built in server for rapid development workflows, as well as support for HTTP & WebSocket proxies. 🏗 Change detection Trunk watches your application for changes and triggers builds for you, including automatic browser reloading. Getting Started Head on over to the…
read the full trunk overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is webpack or trunk more popular?
webpack has 65,978 GitHub stars and trunk has 4,421. webpack has the larger community by that measure.
Are webpack and trunk free?
Both are open source. webpack is licensed under MIT and trunk under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between webpack and trunk?
webpack is written in JavaScript and trunk in Rust. 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 trunk?
Choose webpack if you want the larger community (65,978 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose trunk if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.