head to head · open source
parcel vs sbt
parcel has 44,025 GitHub stars, 2,284 forks, 606 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. sbt has 4,952 stars, 1,046 forks, 498 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. parcel leads on adoption by 789% (44,025 vs 4,952 stars). parcel is written in JavaScript under MIT; sbt is written in Scala under Apache-2.0. parcel has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, sbt 21%. sbt 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 | sbt | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 5.0K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Scala |
| Last push | 2026-09-06 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| 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 sbt if
- You want the sbt feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Scala
- You evaluated both and sbt 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 sbt
sbt is an interactive build tool for Scala, Java, and more. It lives in the Scala ecosystem and is maintained under the Apache 2.0 license at scala sbt.org. The sbt/sbt repository hosts the build tool modules, while related code is split across sbt/io and sbt/zinc. It is categorized as Developer Tools / Build & Deployment.
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Frequently asked questions
Is parcel or sbt more popular?
parcel has 44,025 GitHub stars and sbt has 4,952. parcel has the larger community by that measure.
Are parcel and sbt free?
Both are open source. parcel is licensed under MIT and sbt under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between parcel and sbt?
parcel is written in JavaScript and sbt in Scala. 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 sbt?
Choose parcel if you want the larger community (44,025 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose sbt if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.