head to head · open source
parcel vs gradle
parcel has 44,009 GitHub stars, 2,424 forks, 606 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. gradle has 18,909 stars, 5,264 forks, 3,494 open issues and last shipped yesterday. parcel leads on adoption by 133% (44,009 vs 18,909 stars). parcel is written in JavaScript under MIT; gradle is written in Groovy under Apache-2.0. parcel has attracted 6% 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 | 2026-10-31 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 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. It combines a great out of the box development experience with a scalable architecture that can take your project from just getting started to massive production application. Features 😍 Zero config – Parcel supports many languages and file types out of the box, from web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, to assets like images, fonts, videos, and more. It has a built in dev server with hot reloading, beautiful error diagnostics, and much more. No configuration needed! ⚡️ Lightning fast – Parcel's JavaScript compiler is written in Rust for native…
read the full parcel overview →
About gradle
🐘 Gradle Build Tool Gradle is a highly scalable build automation tool designed to handle everything from large, multi project enterprise builds to quick development tasks across various languages. Gradle’s modular, performance oriented architecture seamlessly integrates with development environments, making it a go to solution for building, testing, and deploying applications on Java , Kotlin , Scala , Android , Groovy , C++ , and Swift . For a comprehensive overview, please visit the official Gradle project homepage. 🚀 Getting Started Starting with Gradle is easy with these essential resources. Follow these…
read the full gradle overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is parcel or gradle more popular?
parcel has 44,009 GitHub stars and gradle has 18,909. 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 (44,009 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose gradle if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.