head to head · open source
parcel vs middy
parcel has 44,008 GitHub stars, 2,425 forks, 606 open issues and last shipped yesterday. middy has 3,905 stars, 398 forks, 9 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. parcel leads on adoption by 1,027% (44,008 vs 3,905 stars). parcel is written in JavaScript under MIT; middy is written in JavaScript under MIT. parcel has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, middy 10%. parcel 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 | middy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 3.9K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 398 |
| 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 middy if
- You want the middy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and middy 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 middy
The stylish Node.js middleware engine for AWS Lambda Full documentation: · LLM friendly: llms.txt / llms full.txt What is Middy Middy is a middleware engine for AWS Lambda on Node.js. It lets you keep your handler focused on business logic while attaching reusable steps for parsing, validation, auth, observability, error handling, and AWS service integration. 52 official packages covering API Gateway, SQS, S3, DynamoDB, SNS, EventBridge, Kinesis, Kafka, WebSockets, and more Built in TypeScript types, Node.js = 22, ESM Tiny core (only @middy/util , plus an optional peer dependency for durable functions)…
read the full middy overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is parcel or middy more popular?
parcel has 44,008 GitHub stars and middy has 3,905. parcel has the larger community by that measure.
Are parcel and middy free?
Both are open source. parcel is licensed under MIT and middy under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between parcel and middy?
parcel is written in JavaScript and middy in JavaScript. 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 middy?
Choose parcel if you want the larger community (44,008 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose middy if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.