head to head · open source
vite vs retire.js
vite has 83,676 GitHub stars, 9,089 forks, 767 open issues and last shipped yesterday. retire.js has 4,199 stars, 441 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. vite leads on adoption by 1,893% (83,676 vs 4,199 stars). vite is written in TypeScript under MIT; retire.js is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. vite has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, retire.js 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 (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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| vite | retire.js | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 84K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.1K | ⑂ 441 |
| 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 retire.js if
- You want the retire.js feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and retire.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 retire.js
Retire.js What you require you must also retire There is a vast ecosystem of JavaScript libraries available for both web and Node.js applications. While these libraries significantly accelerate development, they also require ongoing maintenance to ensure security vulnerabilities are addressed promptly. In 2013, “Using Components with Known Vulnerabilities” was added to the OWASP Top 10 list of critical security risks, highlighting the serious threat that outdated or insecure dependencies can pose to web applications. Retire.js was created to help developers identify JavaScript library versions with known…
read the full retire.js overview →
More in Developer Tools
Related comparisons
More Build & Deployment projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Build & Deployment field.
Frequently asked questions
Is vite or retire.js more popular?
vite has 83,676 GitHub stars and retire.js has 4,199. vite has the larger community by that measure.
Are vite and retire.js free?
Both are open source. vite is licensed under MIT and retire.js under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vite and retire.js?
vite is written in TypeScript and retire.js in JavaScript. 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 retire.js?
Choose vite if you want the larger community (83,676 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose retire.js if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.