head to head · open source
vite vs extension.js
vite has 83,676 GitHub stars, 9,089 forks, 767 open issues and last shipped yesterday. extension.js has 5,206 stars, 144 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vite leads on adoption by 1,507% (83,676 vs 5,206 stars). vite is written in TypeScript under MIT; extension.js is written in TypeScript under MIT. vite has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, extension.js 3%. extension.js was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (build-tool, dev-server, hmr), 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
| vite | extension.js | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 84K | ★ 5.2K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.1K | ⑂ 144 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick vite if
- You weight community size — 84K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick extension.js if
- You want the extension.js feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and extension.js fits your workflow better
About vite
Vite ⚡ Next Generation Frontend Tooling 💡 Instant Server Start ⚡️ Lightning Fast HMR 🛠️ Rich Features 📦 Optimized Build 🔩 Universal Plugin Interface 🔑 Fully Typed APIs Vite (French word for "quick", pronounced /viːt/ , like "veet") is a build tool that aims to provide a faster and leaner development experience for modern web projects. It consists of two major parts: A dev server that provides rich feature enhancements over native ES modules, for example extremely fast Hot Module Replacement (HMR). A build command that bundles your code with Rolldown, pre configured to output highly optimized static assets…
About extension.js
[npm version image]: [npm version url]: [npm downloads image]: [npm downloads url]: [action image]: [action url]: [discord image]: [discord url]: [snyk image]: [snyk url]: [scorecard image]: [scorecard url]: Extension.js [![Version][npm version image]][npm version url] [![Downloads][npm downloads image]][npm downloads url] [![CI][action image]][action url] [![Discord][discord image]][discord url] [![OpenSSF Scorecard][scorecard image]][scorecard url] The cross browser extension framework. Build for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari with no build config required. Works with npm , pnpm , yarn , bun , and deno…
read the full extension.js overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is vite or extension.js more popular?
vite has 83,676 GitHub stars and extension.js has 5,206. vite has the larger community by that measure.
Are vite and extension.js free?
Both are open source. vite is licensed under MIT and extension.js under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vite and extension.js?
vite is written in TypeScript and extension.js 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, vite or extension.js?
Choose vite if you want the larger community (83,676 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose extension.js if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.