Webpack defined the JavaScript module-bundler era from 2014 through roughly 2020. Most production frontend builds in that period used Webpack as the bundler and a long config file as the way to express plugin pipelines. The 5.x release added persistent caching and module federation but did not solve the fundamental issue: dev-server cold starts taking tens of seconds on medium projects.
For new green-field projects in 2026, Vite (development) and esbuild / Rspack / Turbopack (build) are the defaults. Webpack courses are still relevant for engineers maintaining large existing Webpack-based monorepos, particularly the ones using module federation for micro-frontends.