electron-builder vs electron-packager

electron-packager packs source code and generates executable file.

electron-builder can generate installer with “auto update” support in electron.

http://electron.atom.io/docs/api/auto-updater/

Update August 2019

I've been using electron-builder for more than a year now, packaging my app for macOS, Windows 10, and Ubuntu Desktop. The maintainer, develar, added a great docs site earlier this year, and has been staying on top of gatekeeper changes to macOS to ensure installers and updaters still work.

Update November 2018

The primary developer of electron-builder has continued to put substantial work into the project, including support for Electron 3, new artifact publishing destinations, and releases regularly with bug fixes. The prior maintainer stepped down from electron-packager, and they still don't have a windows maintainer, and still doesn't have support for signed windows binaries. For reference:

electron-packager ( 72 releases,  17 open issues,   639 closed)
electron-builder  (651 releases, 399 open issues, 2,603 closed)

Update December 2017

Electron-builder has been robustly worked on over the past year, pushing out new versions with features and bugfixes weekly. The documentation at https://www.electron.build/ is excellent, and following the "Quick Setup Guide" (on the first page, several sections down) includes a boilerplate project and step-by-step instructions.

Update June 2017

electron-builder does both the packaging step (like what electron-packager does), and builds platform-specific installers (like pkg or Mac AppStore for Mac, NSIS or Windows Store for windows, and AppImage for linux).

For my existing project, electron-forge failed with a "missing dependency" that was present in my package.json and node_modules).

It's not well documented, but electron-builder switched from Squirrel.windows to NSIS earlier this year as the default windows installer. NSIS makes substantially smaller installer packages (30mb down from 90mb, in my project's case).

Original post

As of March 2017, in large part, they've got feature parity. I've found the following:

• They are both in the "electron-userland" org, so they're both "legit."
• electron-packager doesn't have a windows maintainer
• electron-builder has more contributors, and many more closed issues, so there may have been more bugs, or more users. electron-packager has more stars.
• electron-builder supports substantially more target formats than electron-packager
• electron-forge is based on electron-packager, so that might be an easier "out of the box" experience.

electron-packager was (update: changed in this commit: "refactor: merge electron-packager") used by electron-builder. This article states

If you really want to go to town, take a look at electron-builder which takes the packages produced by electron-packager and creates automated installers.

• electron-builder example

• electron-builder React boilerplate project

• electron-packager React boilerplate project, although there is a GitHub issue to use electron-builder.

Ok, I know this thread is old but I would like to suggest that anyone / everyone uses electron-forge, it will make your lives better and I think you will feel more intelligent by using it. I personally had waking nightmares confronting packaging woes. It has a dead-simple cli, install it globally and your dreams may come true.

I sure hope it helps! Don't worry, I didn't make it but it helps me make desktop apps.