head to head · open source
parcel vs gradle
parcel has 44,025 GitHub stars, 2,284 forks, 606 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. gradle has 18,845 stars, 5,334 forks, 3,494 open issues and last shipped yesterday. parcel leads on adoption by 134% (44,025 vs 18,845 stars). parcel is written in JavaScript under MIT; gradle is written in Groovy under Apache-2.0. parcel has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, gradle 28%. gradle was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (build-tool), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| parcel | gradle | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 19K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Groovy |
| Last push | 2026-09-06 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 5.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick parcel if
- You weight community size — 44K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick gradle if
- You want the gradle feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Groovy
- You evaluated both and gradle fits your workflow better
About parcel
Parcel is a zero configuration build tool for the web, distributed as the parcel package on npm and licensed under MIT. It lives in the JavaScript ecosystem and is written primarily in JavaScript, with its JavaScript compiler implemented in Rust for native performance. The project has been developed for roughly nine years, carries more than 44,000 stars and over 2,200 forks on GitHub, and its documentation is hosted at parceljs.org.
read the full parcel overview →
About gradle
Gradle is an open source build automation tool distributed under the Apache 2.0 license, hosted at gradle.org and developed in the Groovy language. It is described as a highly scalable build automation tool designed to handle everything from large, multi project enterprise builds to quick development tasks across various languages. Its modular, performance oriented architecture integrates with development environments, and the project has grown over roughly seventeen years to a repository with 18,841 stars, 5,335 forks, and 3,494 open issues. It lives in the JVM tooling ecosystem, with topics covering build tool,…
read the full gradle overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is parcel or gradle more popular?
parcel has 44,025 GitHub stars and gradle has 18,845. parcel has the larger community by that measure.
Are parcel and gradle free?
Both are open source. parcel is licensed under MIT and gradle under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between parcel and gradle?
parcel is written in JavaScript and gradle in Groovy. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, parcel or gradle?
Choose parcel if you want the larger community (44,025 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose gradle if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.