head to head · open source
parcel vs proguard
parcel has 44,025 GitHub stars, 2,284 forks, 606 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. proguard has 3,662 stars, 485 forks, 176 open issues and last shipped 25 days ago. parcel leads on adoption by 1,102% (44,025 vs 3,662 stars). parcel is written in JavaScript under MIT; proguard is written in Java under GPL-2.0. parcel has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, proguard 13%. parcel 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 | proguard | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 3.7K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-06 | 2026-08-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 485 |
| 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 proguard if
- You want the proguard feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and proguard 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 proguard
ProGuard is a free Java bytecode tool that shrinks, optimizes, obfuscates, and preverifies compiled Java applications and libraries. It lives in the Java and Android build ecosystem as a post compiler step, not as a source compiler or runtime dependency. The problem it solves is that Java bytecode often contains classes, fields, methods, attributes, and instructions that a specific application does not need. ProGuard removes unused parts, renames remaining program elements with short meaningless names, and applies optimizations such as method inlining, constant propagation, unused parameter removal, and identifie…
read the full proguard overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is parcel or proguard more popular?
parcel has 44,025 GitHub stars and proguard has 3,662. parcel has the larger community by that measure.
Are parcel and proguard free?
Both are open source. parcel is licensed under MIT and proguard under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between parcel and proguard?
parcel is written in JavaScript and proguard in Java. 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 proguard?
Choose parcel if you want the larger community (44,025 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose proguard if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.