head to head · open source
react vs vite
react has 250,602 GitHub stars, 51,379 forks, 1,377 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. vite has 82,905 stars, 8,759 forks, 767 open issues and last shipped yesterday. react leads on adoption by 202% (250,602 vs 82,905 stars). react is written in JavaScript under MIT; vite is written in TypeScript under MIT. react has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, vite 11%. vite was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (frontend), 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
| react | vite | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 251K | ★ 83K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 51K | ⑂ 8.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick react if
- You weight community size — 251K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick vite if
- You want the vite feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and vite fits your workflow better
About react
React is a JavaScript library under the MIT licence for building user interfaces, using a declarative, component based model that renders both on the web and, through React Native, on mobile.
read the full react overview →
About vite
Vite is a build tool for modern web projects, distributed as a set of npm packages and licensed under MIT. It is written in TypeScript and lives in the JavaScript and frontend tooling ecosystem, where it sits alongside the bundlers and dev servers that compile application source into browser ready assets. The project describes itself as next generation frontend tooling and has been maintained for roughly six years, with the most recent push recorded in September 2026.
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Frequently asked questions
Is react or vite more popular?
react has 250,602 GitHub stars and vite has 82,905. react has the larger community by that measure.
Are react and vite free?
Both are open source. react is licensed under MIT and vite under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between react and vite?
react is written in JavaScript and vite in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, react or vite?
Choose react if you want the larger community (250,602 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose vite if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.