head to head · open source
parcel vs modern.js
parcel has 44,025 GitHub stars, 2,284 forks, 606 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. modern.js has 5,042 stars, 420 forks, 66 open issues and last shipped yesterday. parcel leads on adoption by 773% (44,025 vs 5,042 stars). parcel is written in JavaScript under MIT; modern.js is written in TypeScript under MIT. parcel has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, modern.js 8%. modern.js was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (build-tool, web), 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| parcel | modern.js | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 5.0K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-06 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 420 |
| 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 modern.js if
- You want the modern.js feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and modern.js 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 modern.js
Modern.js is a progressive web framework built on React, written in TypeScript and released under the MIT license. It is developed by ByteDance, where it is used to build upper level frameworks that have supported the development of thousands of web applications. The project lives in the JavaScript and React ecosystem, and it is closely tied to the web infra dev family of tools, which includes Rspack, Rsbuild, Rspress and Rslib. The repository has been active for roughly five years, carries about 5,042 stars and 420 forks, and shows 66 open issues.
read the full modern.js overview →
More in Developer Tools
Related comparisons
More Build & Deployment projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Build & Deployment field.
Frequently asked questions
Is parcel or modern.js more popular?
parcel has 44,025 GitHub stars and modern.js has 5,042. parcel has the larger community by that measure.
Are parcel and modern.js free?
Both are open source. parcel is licensed under MIT and modern.js under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between parcel and modern.js?
parcel is written in JavaScript and modern.js 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 modern.js?
Choose parcel if you want the larger community (44,025 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose modern.js if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.