head to head · open source
vite vs modern.js
vite has 82,861 GitHub stars, 8,745 forks, 767 open issues and last shipped yesterday. modern.js has 5,042 stars, 420 forks, 66 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vite leads on adoption by 1,543% (82,861 vs 5,042 stars). vite is written in TypeScript under MIT; modern.js is written in TypeScript under MIT. vite has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, modern.js 8%. modern.js 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
| vite | modern.js | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 83K | ★ 5.0K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.7K | ⑂ 420 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick vite if
- You weight community size — 83K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick modern.js if
- You want the modern.js feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and modern.js fits your workflow better
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.
About modern.js
Modern.js is a progressive web framework built on React, written in TypeScript and released under the MIT license. It is developed by ByteDance, where it is used to build upper level frameworks that have supported the development of thousands of web applications. The project lives in the JavaScript and React ecosystem, and it is closely tied to the web infra dev family of tools, which includes Rspack, Rsbuild, Rspress and Rslib. The repository has been active for roughly five years, carries about 5,042 stars and 420 forks, and shows 66 open issues.
read the full modern.js overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is vite or modern.js more popular?
vite has 82,861 GitHub stars and modern.js has 5,042. vite has the larger community by that measure.
Are vite and modern.js free?
Both are open source. vite is licensed under MIT and modern.js under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vite and modern.js?
vite is written in TypeScript and modern.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 modern.js?
Choose vite if you want the larger community (82,861 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose modern.js if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.