Nx vs Turborepo
Which should you use? A side-by-side look at what each one does, who it suits, what it costs, how hard it is to set up, and where each falls short.
Open source · MIT
A build tool for monorepos that caches unchanged work and runs only what's affected.
Open source · MIT
A build system that speeds up JavaScript and TypeScript monorepos, written in Rust.
The short answer
Choose Nx if you need…
- Teams with several related JavaScript or TypeScript projects in one repository
- Developers who want to speed up existing package.json scripts without rewriting their setup
- Projects that use tools such as Vite, Jest, Vitest, or ESLint and want plugin-based configuration
- Teams looking to split CI work across machines
Choose Turborepo if you need…
- Teams maintaining a JavaScript or TypeScript monorepo with several apps or packages
- Developers who want a build tool that is more focused on speed in a monorepo setup
- Projects already using the npm package named turbo
Side-by-side
| Nx | Turborepo | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Dev tool | Dev tool |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 29.4k | 31.3k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Intermediate |
| How you get it | Install with a package manager | Install with a package manager |
| Main language | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last code update | 4 days ago | 5 days ago |
What each one is
Nx
Nx is a tool for managing a monorepo, a single repository holding many related projects. It speeds up builds and tests by caching results for code that hasn't changed and running only the tasks affected by a change. It works with existing npm, pnpm, or yarn workspaces and can connect to CI providers for remote caching and task distribution.
Turborepo
Turborepo is a build tool for projects that keep several JavaScript or TypeScript packages in one repository, called a monorepo. It runs build, test and lint tasks across those packages and aims to make repeated builds faster. The core is written in Rust, and the project is published under the MIT license by Vercel.
Best for
Nx
- Teams with several related JavaScript or TypeScript projects in one repository
- Developers who want to speed up existing package.json scripts without rewriting their setup
- Projects that use tools such as Vite, Jest, Vitest, or ESLint and want plugin-based configuration
- Teams looking to split CI work across machines
Turborepo
- Teams maintaining a JavaScript or TypeScript monorepo with several apps or packages
- Developers who want a build tool that is more focused on speed in a monorepo setup
- Projects already using the npm package named turbo
Strengths
Nx
- Works on top of existing package.json scripts without requiring a rewrite, according to the README
- Supports TypeScript plus other ecosystems through plugins, including Gradle, Maven, .NET, and Go
- Released under the MIT license with a large community (about 29k GitHub stars)
Turborepo
- Has a large user base, with about 31,000 GitHub stars at the time of this snapshot
- Released under the permissive MIT license
- Backed by an active project with recent releases and a public discussion forum
Not ideal for
Nx
- Single-project repositories, where the caching and affected-only features add little value (the README's benefits center on multi-project setups)
- Teams unwilling to learn a new workspace configuration model
- Projects needing a fully hosted CI service, since the README describes CI integration with existing providers such as GitHub Actions or GitLab
Turborepo
- Single-package projects, where the monorepo features add little value
- Non-JavaScript projects, since the description targets JavaScript and TypeScript
- People who need a fully documented install guide here, since the README only links to the website
Trade-offs
Nx
- Several headline features (self-healing CI, remote caching) are described in terms of the separate Nx Cloud service, so the free and paid boundaries are not clear from this README
- The README's AI-agent and self-healing claims are broad and are not detailed here, so their real-world behavior is hard to judge from this text alone
- Advanced configuration and plugin behavior are only summarized here and need the full docs
Turborepo
- The README is brief and points to the website for setup details, so this entry relies on limited information
- Its focus on JavaScript and TypeScript limits its use for other languages
- Being tied to a company-backed project means its direction depends on Vercel's priorities
Getting started
Turborepo
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/vercel/turborepoFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between Nx and Turborepo?
Nx: A build tool for monorepos that caches unchanged work and runs only what's affected. Turborepo: A build system that speeds up JavaScript and TypeScript monorepos, written in Rust. Nx suits teams with several related javascript or typescript projects in one repository, while Turborepo suits teams maintaining a javascript or typescript monorepo with several apps or packages.
Are Nx and Turborepo free?
Nx: Free and open source. Turborepo: Free and open source.
Is Nx or Turborepo more popular?
Turborepo has more GitHub stars (31.3k) than Nx (29.4k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to Nx and Turborepo?
Other options people compare them with include Lerna, Storybook, Mitosis, GraphQL Code Generator, Cypress.
Keep comparing
Built from our catalogue entries for both products: open-source details come from each project's README (AI-assisted, refreshed weekly) and GitHub data; AI-tool details are editorial. Spotted something wrong? Let us know from either product's page.