head to head · open source
parcel vs Rivet
parcel has 44,008 GitHub stars, 2,425 forks, 606 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Rivet has 6,556 stars, 295 forks, 269 open issues and last shipped yesterday. parcel leads on adoption by 571% (44,008 vs 6,556 stars). parcel is written in JavaScript under MIT; Rivet is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. parcel has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Rivet 4%. Rivet 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 | Rivet | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 6.6K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 295 |
| 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 Rivet if
- You want the Rivet feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Rivet 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 Rivet
Rivet Actors are the primitive for stateful workloads. Built for AI agents, collaborative apps, and durable execution. Quickstart • Documentation • Changelog • Discord • X What is Rivet? Rivet Actors are long running, lightweight processes designed for stateful workloads. State lives in memory with automatic persistence. Create one per agent, per session, or per user — with built in workflows, queues, and scheduling. Backend Client (frontend or backend) Features One Actor per agent, per session, per user — state, storage, and networking included. Rivet provides: In memory state — Co located with compute for…
read the full Rivet overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is parcel or Rivet more popular?
parcel has 44,008 GitHub stars and Rivet has 6,556. parcel has the larger community by that measure.
Are parcel and Rivet free?
Both are open source. parcel is licensed under MIT and Rivet under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between parcel and Rivet?
parcel is written in JavaScript and Rivet in Rust. 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 Rivet?
Choose parcel if you want the larger community (44,008 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Rivet if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.