head to head · open source
parcel vs midway
parcel has 44,025 GitHub stars, 2,284 forks, 606 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. midway has 7,742 stars, 585 forks, 118 open issues and last shipped yesterday. parcel leads on adoption by 469% (44,025 vs 7,742 stars). parcel is written in JavaScript under MIT; midway is written in TypeScript under MIT. parcel has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, midway 8%. midway 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 | midway | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 7.7K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-06 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 585 |
| 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 midway if
- You want the midway feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and midway 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 midway
Midway is an open source Node.js framework for building serverless services, traditional applications, microservices, and mini program backends. It is written in TypeScript and released under the MIT license, and it has been developed for roughly eight years, with the most recent push in September 2026. The project lives in the Node.js ecosystem and positions itself as a cloud integrated framework for front end and full stack developers, with integrations for React and Vue.
read the full midway overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is parcel or midway more popular?
parcel has 44,025 GitHub stars and midway has 7,742. parcel has the larger community by that measure.
Are parcel and midway free?
Both are open source. parcel is licensed under MIT and midway under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between parcel and midway?
parcel is written in JavaScript and midway in TypeScript. 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 midway?
Choose parcel if you want the larger community (44,025 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose midway if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.