head to head · open source
parcel vs cloud-in-a-bottle
parcel has 44,025 GitHub stars, 2,284 forks, 606 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. cloud-in-a-bottle has 1,166 stars, 75 forks, 17 open issues and last shipped yesterday. parcel leads on adoption by 3,676% (44,025 vs 1,166 stars). parcel is written in JavaScript under MIT; cloud-in-a-bottle is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. parcel has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, cloud-in-a-bottle 6%. cloud-in-a-bottle was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | cloud-in-a-bottle | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-06 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 75 |
| 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 cloud-in-a-bottle if
- You want the cloud-in-a-bottle feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and cloud-in-a-bottle 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 cloud-in-a-bottle
Cloud in a Bottle is an AGPL 3.0, Python based platform that deploys, runs, and shares web apps on a server you control, so your apps, data, and infrastructure stay yours.
read the full cloud-in-a-bottle overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is parcel or cloud-in-a-bottle more popular?
parcel has 44,025 GitHub stars and cloud-in-a-bottle has 1,166. parcel has the larger community by that measure.
Are parcel and cloud-in-a-bottle free?
Both are open source. parcel is licensed under MIT and cloud-in-a-bottle under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between parcel and cloud-in-a-bottle?
parcel is written in JavaScript and cloud-in-a-bottle in Python. 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 cloud-in-a-bottle?
Choose parcel if you want the larger community (44,025 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose cloud-in-a-bottle if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.