head to head · open source
parcel vs please
parcel has 44,025 GitHub stars, 2,284 forks, 606 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. please has 2,612 stars, 221 forks, 120 open issues and last shipped yesterday. parcel leads on adoption by 1,585% (44,025 vs 2,612 stars). parcel is written in JavaScript under MIT; please is written in Go under Apache-2.0. parcel has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, please 8%. please 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 | please | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-06 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 221 |
| 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 please if
- You want the please feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and please 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 please
Please is an open source, cross language build system for reproducible multi language builds. It belongs to the developer tools and build and deployment ecosystem, and its topics place it alongside Bazel, Buck, and Pants as a monorepo build tool. The project is written in Go, licensed under Apache 2.0, and actively supported on Linux, macOS, and FreeBSD.
read the full please overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is parcel or please more popular?
parcel has 44,025 GitHub stars and please has 2,612. parcel has the larger community by that measure.
Are parcel and please free?
Both are open source. parcel is licensed under MIT and please under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between parcel and please?
parcel is written in JavaScript and please in Go. 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 please?
Choose parcel if you want the larger community (44,025 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose please if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.