head to head · open source
parcel vs NHost
parcel has 44,024 GitHub stars, 2,284 forks, 606 open issues and last shipped 14 days ago. NHost has 9,296 stars, 623 forks, 164 open issues and last shipped today. parcel leads on adoption by 374% (44,024 vs 9,296 stars). parcel is written in JavaScript under MIT; NHost is written in Go under MIT. parcel has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, NHost 7%. NHost was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (javascript), 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 | NHost | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 9.3K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-06 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 623 |
| 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 NHost if
- You want the NHost feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and NHost 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 NHost
Nhost is an open source backend as a service platform for modern application development, and the project describes itself as a Firebase alternative with GraphQL. It is built around PostgreSQL for data, Hasura for an instant GraphQL API, authentication, storage, and serverless functions written in Node.js with JavaScript or TypeScript. The project is distributed under the MIT license and is positioned in the developer tools category for build and deployment.
read the full NHost overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is parcel or NHost more popular?
parcel has 44,024 GitHub stars and NHost has 9,296. parcel has the larger community by that measure.
Are parcel and NHost free?
Both are open source. parcel is licensed under MIT and NHost under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between parcel and NHost?
parcel is written in JavaScript and NHost in Go. 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 NHost?
Choose parcel if you want the larger community (44,024 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose NHost if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.