head to head · open source
parcel vs xmake
parcel has 44,025 GitHub stars, 2,284 forks, 606 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. xmake has 12,220 stars, 954 forks, 255 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. parcel leads on adoption by 260% (44,025 vs 12,220 stars). parcel is written in JavaScript under MIT; xmake is written in Lua under Apache-2.0. parcel has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, xmake 8%. xmake 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 | xmake | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 12K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Lua |
| Last push | 2026-09-06 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 954 |
| 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 xmake if
- You want the xmake feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Lua
- You evaluated both and xmake 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 xmake
Xmake is a cross platform build utility and package manager, written in Lua and licensed under Apache 2.0, that takes a single xmake.lua project file and turns it into builds for desktop, mobile, BSD, Wasm and other targets — it is aimed at C, C++, Objective C and mixed toolchain developers who want Make/Ninja style building, CMake/Meson style project generation, and Vcpkg/Conan style dependency handling from one tool.
read the full xmake overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is parcel or xmake more popular?
parcel has 44,025 GitHub stars and xmake has 12,220. parcel has the larger community by that measure.
Are parcel and xmake free?
Both are open source. parcel is licensed under MIT and xmake under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between parcel and xmake?
parcel is written in JavaScript and xmake in Lua. 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 xmake?
Choose parcel if you want the larger community (44,025 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose xmake if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.