head to head · open source
parcel vs trunk
parcel has 44,008 GitHub stars, 2,425 forks, 606 open issues and last shipped yesterday. trunk has 4,421 stars, 324 forks, 136 open issues and last shipped yesterday. parcel leads on adoption by 895% (44,008 vs 4,421 stars). parcel is written in JavaScript under MIT; trunk is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. parcel has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, trunk 7%. trunk was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (assets, build-tool, compiler, html), 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 | trunk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 4.4K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 324 |
| 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 trunk if
- You want the trunk 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 trunk 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 trunk
Trunk Build, bundle & ship your Rust WASM application to the web. ”Pack your things, we’re going on an adventure!” Ferris Trunk is a WASM web application bundler for Rust. Trunk uses a simple, optional config pattern for building & bundling WASM, JS snippets & other assets (images, css, scss) via a source HTML file. 📦 Dev server Trunk ships with a built in server for rapid development workflows, as well as support for HTTP & WebSocket proxies. 🏗 Change detection Trunk watches your application for changes and triggers builds for you, including automatic browser reloading. Getting Started Head on over to the…
read the full trunk overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is parcel or trunk more popular?
parcel has 44,008 GitHub stars and trunk has 4,421. parcel has the larger community by that measure.
Are parcel and trunk free?
Both are open source. parcel is licensed under MIT and trunk under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between parcel and trunk?
parcel is written in JavaScript and trunk 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 trunk?
Choose parcel if you want the larger community (44,008 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose trunk if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.