compare
release-it vs release-please
The same facts for both, read from GitHub every night, and the relation a person reviewed.
| Fact | release-it | release-please |
|---|---|---|
| Language | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Stars | 9.1k | 7.6k |
| Latest | 21.1.0 | v17.11.2 |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-10-05 |
| Release cadence | about 7 days between releases | about 10 days between releases |
| Active contributors | 9 commit authors on the default branch in the last 90 days | 6 commit authors on the default branch in the last 90 days |
| Flags | none | none |
How they relate
Both replace semantic-release. Alternatives to semantic-release →
Partialrelease-itBumps, tags and publishes to npm and GitHub, interactively or in CI; versions from commits need a plugin.
Full replacementrelease-pleaseOpens a release pull request instead of releasing on every merge.
release-it
release-please
- v17.11.22026-08-24bump @google-automations/git-file-utils to ^3.2.0 (f082e5c)
- v17.11.12026-07-31deps: upgrade brace-expansion version to 5.0.8 (6159d83)
- v17.11.02026-07-30add PHPLibrarian strategy (#2862) (9aa4fc0)
- v17.10.42026-07-21dynamically replace changelog reference keyword with 'refs' (5b31578)
- v17.10.32026-07-09src/updaters: add google-cloud-pom-parent to specialArtifacts in librarian-yaml (#2841) (6846245)
release-it
unsigned The latest release, 21.1.0, carries no signature GitHub could verify.
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release-please
✓ signed The latest release, v17.11.2, carries a signature GitHub verified.
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