Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

esbuild VS Intro.js

Compare esbuild VS Intro.js and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

esbuild logo esbuild

An extremely fast JavaScript bundler and minifier

Intro.js logo Intro.js

Simple Javascript framework for adding screen tips
  • esbuild Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-05-07
  • Intro.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-03-29

esbuild features and specs

  • Speed
    esbuild is known for its blazing-fast performance because it is written in Go and optimized for efficiency. This makes it significantly faster than many other popular build tools.
  • Simplicity
    esbuild has a minimalistic and straightforward configuration, making it easy to set up and use without needing to navigate through complex configuration files.
  • Tree Shaking
    esbuild supports tree shaking, which helps in eliminating dead code, thereby resulting in smaller bundle sizes and improved performance.
  • TypeScript Support
    esbuild has built-in support for TypeScript, allowing developers to seamlessly integrate TypeScript into their build process without needing additional configuration.
  • CommonJS and ES Module Support
    esbuild supports both CommonJS and ES modules, providing flexibility in how modules are imported and exported.
  • Bundling
    esbuild can bundle multiple JavaScript files, resolving dependencies and optimizing the output, which is beneficial for production-ready applications.

Possible disadvantages of esbuild

  • Limited Plugin Ecosystem
    Compared to more mature tools like Webpack or Rollup, esbuild has a relatively smaller ecosystem of plugins, which might limit some advanced customization and integration capabilities.
  • Less Mature
    As a newer tool, esbuild might have less extensive community support and fewer resources such as tutorials and documentation compared to older and more established build tools.
  • Feature Parity
    While esbuild covers many essential features, it may lack some advanced features found in other build tools, potentially requiring additional tools or workarounds for complex scenarios.
  • Non-Configurable Output
    esbuild's approach to simplicity sometimes means less configurability compared to other tools. This might be restrictive for projects that require highly customized or specific build outputs.
  • Source Map Support
    While esbuild does support source maps, its support might be less comprehensive compared to some other build tools, potentially causing issues during debugging.

Intro.js features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Intro.js provides an intuitive and easy-to-use interface for creating guided tours on websites, making it accessible for users with varying technical skills.
  • Customizable
    Intro.js is highly customizable, allowing developers to tailor the look and feel of the tour to match the existing design of their website.
  • Lightweight
    The library is lightweight, ensuring that adding it to a website does not significantly increase load times or affect performance.
  • Cross-Browser Support
    Intro.js supports all major browsers, ensuring a consistent experience for users regardless of their browser choice.
  • Rich API
    It offers a rich API, enabling developers to integrate the tool into their applications seamlessly and extend its functionality as needed.

Possible disadvantages of Intro.js

  • Limited Interactivity
    While Intro.js provides basic guided tours, it lacks advanced interactive features that might be needed for more complex walkthroughs.
  • Dependency on JavaScript
    As a JavaScript library, Intro.js requires users to have JavaScript enabled in their browsers, which might not be the case for all users.
  • Potential for User Overload
    Overusing or poorly implementing Intro.js guides can overwhelm users, leading to reduced engagement or missed information.
  • Limited Free Version
    The free version of Intro.js offers limited features compared to the paid plans, which may restrict use for developers not willing to pay for premium features.
  • Learning Curve
    While it is user-friendly, new users may encounter a learning curve when trying to implement advanced customizations or complex tours.

Analysis of esbuild

Overall verdict

  • Esbuild is considered a great tool for developers looking for a fast and efficient bundling solution. Its performance and feature set make it a preferred choice for projects where build speed is a critical factor.

Why this product is good

  • Esbuild is highly regarded due to its impressive speed and performance. It is built in Go, which allows it to be significantly faster than other JavaScript bundlers written in JavaScript. Esbuild is designed to handle large codebases quickly, making it a great tool for developers who prioritize build speed. Additionally, it supports modern JavaScript features and offers features like tree shaking, minification, and support for various module formats.

Recommended for

    Esbuild is recommended for developers who work on large projects and need a bundler that can significantly reduce build times. It is ideal for those who prefer using cutting-edge tools and technologies in their workflow. Additionally, it's suitable for developers who need to support modern JavaScript features and are looking for a straightforward configuration process.

esbuild videos

ESBuild and SWC: Worth your time?

More videos:

  • Review - Let's talk about esbuild
  • Tutorial - Introduction to ESBuild tutorial for React / JavaScript and Typescript bundling. Bye bye Webpack

Intro.js videos

Intro.js: Onboard New Users with a Quick Wizard

More videos:

  • Review - Add a Step-by-Step guide to your Website with intro.js

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to esbuild and Intro.js)
JS Build Tools
100 100%
0% 0
User Engagement
0 0%
100% 100
Developer Tools
92 92%
8% 8
User Onboarding And Engagement

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare esbuild and Intro.js

esbuild Reviews

We have no reviews of esbuild yet.
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Intro.js Reviews

15 best user onboarding software you need to try in 2023
The free version offers tooltips and screen portion highlights, which might suffice if your app is relatively straightforward. However, Intro.js is designed to be cut and pasted into your app’s code to create onboarding functions it wouldn’t otherwise have. Therefore, you’ll still need to have built a basic onboarding workflow ready.
8 Best Usetiful Alternatives and Competitors That Are More Professional
The onboarding elements are very limited, so any user onboarding designed with Intro.js will not be likely to satisfy every need of a user.
Source: userguiding.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, esbuild should be more popular than Intro.js. It has been mentiond 143 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

esbuild mentions (143)

  • ⚔️ Vite vs. Turbopack in 2025: Which One to Choose?
    Vite (pronounced veet) was created by Evan You (Vue's creator) and launched in 2020. It uses native ES modules in the browser and esbuild for lightning-fast dev servers and Rollup for optimized production builds. - Source: dev.to / 16 days ago
  • Understanding how Vite deals with your node_modules
    Pre-bundle all the dependencies on the "optimization boundary" list into node_modules/.vite/deps/ folder. This step is done by esbuild. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Show HN: Nue – Apps lighter than a React button
    5. Show me metrics: https://esbuild.github.io/ nailed this one. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Extensible WASM Applications with Go
    ESBuild is a bundler. The subtitle on the website is literally “An extremely fast bundler for the web”. To bundle, pass —-bundle flag. https://esbuild.github.io/. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • How I Built a SpeedtestTracker with Raspberry PI and AWS Lambda
    Esbuild for bunding both the client and server separately. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
View more

Intro.js mentions (15)

  • 7 best product tour JavaScript libraries for frontend apps
    Intro.js is an open source JavaScript library that provides an easy way to create simple and effective product tours. It has an approximate file size of 12.5 KB, so it’s a lightweight library that makes building simple walkthroughs easy: One of the key features of Intro.js is its customizability. It allows you to tailor your tours to align with your application's branding by offering various themes and... - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • Guided Tours Solution for Your Web Application
    Intro.js like the others offers a rich set of features such as customizable steps and tooltips, keyboard navigation, theming, progress indicators and more. Like others, this library also has extensive documentation. Intro.js has open source licence under AGPL v3 and a commercial licence with different price plans. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Need Help With Website Guide
    Intro.js might be what you’re looking for. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Button pop up with Java and CSS
    Everything in the browser works with just CSS, JavaScript and HTML. There are JavaScript libraries for things like you are describing, if you are able to customize your site with JS - you should be able to use some of them. For example this one: https://introjs.com/. Source: over 2 years ago
  • How come 1 cookie expires and the other one is not?
    For context, I'm using introjs to make a small tour in my website in 2 different pages. I'm making a cookie wheather a user has visited the page so I can only show the tour only once. My issue is that one cookie sets up with an expiration of 400 days as its supposed to be and the other one stays Session only but both are made from the exact same function with the exacth same parameters. Source: over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing esbuild and Intro.js, you can also consider the following products

Vite - Next Generation Frontend Tooling

ShepherdJS - Guide your users through a tour of your app.

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.

UserGuiding - Create in-app experiences with the most straightforward product adoption platform — quick implementation, lasting user engagement.

rollup.js - Rollup is a module bundler for JavaScript which compiles small pieces of code into a larger piece such as application.

Appcues - Improve user onboarding, feature activation & more — no code required! Stop waiting on dev and start increasing customer engagement today. Try it for free.