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  1. Stackups
  2. DevOps
  3. Build Automation
  4. Javascript Build Tools
  5. Grunt vs gulp

Grunt vs gulp

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

gulp
gulp
Stacks15.3K
Followers9.1K
Votes1.7K
GitHub Stars33.0K
Forks4.2K
Grunt
Grunt
Stacks8.8K
Followers5.6K
Votes697
GitHub Stars12.3K
Forks1.5K

Grunt vs gulp: What are the differences?

Developers describe Grunt as "The JavaScript Task Runner". The less work you have to do when performing repetitive tasks like minification, compilation, unit testing, linting, etc, the easier your job becomes. After you've configured it, a task runner can do most of that mundane work for you—and your team—with basically zero effort. On the other hand, gulp is detailed as "The streaming build system". Build system automating tasks: minification and copying of all JavaScript files, static images. More capable of watching files to automatically rerun the task when a file changes.

Grunt and gulp belong to "JS Build Tools / JS Task Runners" category of the tech stack.

"Configuration ", "Open source" and "Automation of minification and live reload" are the key factors why developers consider Grunt; whereas "Build speed", "Readable" and "Code-over-configuration" are the primary reasons why gulp is favored.

Grunt and gulp are both open source tools. It seems that gulp with 31.3K GitHub stars and 4.41K forks on GitHub has more adoption than Grunt with 11.9K GitHub stars and 1.55K GitHub forks.

According to the StackShare community, gulp has a broader approval, being mentioned in 1163 company stacks & 705 developers stacks; compared to Grunt, which is listed in 796 company stacks and 429 developer stacks.

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Advice on gulp, Grunt

victor-gitahi
victor-gitahi

Jun 24, 2022

Needs adviceongulpgulpParcelParcelWebpackWebpack

Hi, I am at a point when I discovered I need starter templates to kick off my web projects quickly and easily. I want to set-up my template code with the best or rather a packaging tool that is fast in compiling my Sass code and JS. Should I use gulp or Parcel or Webpack.

I need help please, A.S.A.P

192k views192k
Comments
António
António

Apr 13, 2021

Decided

Very simple to use and a great way to optimize repetitive tasks, like optimize PNG images, convert to WebP, create sprite images with CSS.

I didn't choose Grunt because of the fact it uses files and Gulp uses memory, making it faster for my use case since I need to work with 3000+ small images. And the fact Gulp has 32k+ stars on GitHub.

38.5k views38.5k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

gulp
gulp
Grunt
Grunt

Build system automating tasks: minification and copying of all JavaScript files, static images. More capable of watching files to automatically rerun the task when a file changes.

The less work you have to do when performing repetitive tasks like minification, compilation, unit testing, linting, etc, the easier your job becomes. After you've configured it, a task runner can do most of that mundane work for you—and your team—with basically zero effort.

By preferring code over configuration, gulp keeps simple things simple and makes complex tasks manageable.;By harnessing the power of node's streams you get fast builds that don't write intermediary files to disk.;gulp's strict plugin guidelines assure plugins stay simple and work the way you expect.;With a minimal API surface, you can pick up gulp in no time. Your build works just like you envision it: a series of streaming pipes.
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Statistics
GitHub Stars
33.0K
GitHub Stars
12.3K
GitHub Forks
4.2K
GitHub Forks
1.5K
Stacks
15.3K
Stacks
8.8K
Followers
9.1K
Followers
5.6K
Votes
1.7K
Votes
697
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 451
    Build speed
  • 277
    Readable
  • 244
    Code-over-configuration
  • 210
    Open source
  • 175
    Node streams
Pros
  • 288
    Configuration
  • 176
    Open source
  • 166
    Automation of minification and live reload
  • 60
    Great community
  • 7
    SASS compilation
Cons
  • 1
    Poor mindshare/community support

What are some alternatives to gulp, Grunt?

Webpack

Webpack

A bundler for javascript and friends. Packs many modules into a few bundled assets. Code Splitting allows to load parts for the application on demand. Through "loaders" modules can be CommonJs, AMD, ES6 modules, CSS, Images, JSON, Coffeescript, LESS, ... and your custom stuff.

Brunch

Brunch

Brunch is an assembler for HTML5 applications. It's agnostic to frameworks, libraries, programming, stylesheet & templating languages and backend technology.

Parcel

Parcel

Parcel is a web application bundler, differentiated by its developer experience. It offers blazing fast performance utilizing multicore processing, and requires zero configuration.

rollup

rollup

It is a module bundler for JavaScript which compiles small pieces of code into something larger and more complex, such as a library or application. It uses the new standardized format for code modules included in the ES6 revision of JavaScript, instead of previous idiosyncratic solutions such as CommonJS and AMD.

Backpack

Backpack

Backpack is minimalistic build system for Node.js. Inspired by Facebook's create-react-app, Zeit's Next.js, and Remy's Nodemon, Backpack lets you create modern Node.js apps and services with zero configuration. Backpack handles all the file-watching, live-reloading, transpiling, and bundling, so you don't have to.

Vite

Vite

It is an opinionated web dev build tool that serves your code via native ES Module imports during dev and bundles it with Rollup for production.

Pingy CLI

Pingy CLI

Gulp and Grunt and other heavyweight build tools are great for complicated build workflows. Sometimes you want something simpler that doesn't take lots of configuration to get up and running. That's Pingy CLI.

Microbundle

Microbundle

Zero-configuration bundler for tiny modules, powered by Rollup.

System.js

System.js

It is a Universal Module Loader for JavaScript. If you've used RequireJs or a CommonJs bundler in the past, you have probably created modules.Configurable module loader enabling dynamic ES module workflows in browsers and NodeJS.

Esbuild

Esbuild

It is an extremely fast JavaScript and CSS bundler and minifier. Current build tools for the web are 10-100x slower than they could be. The main goal of this project is to bring about a new era of build tool performance, and create an easy-to-use modern bundler along the way.

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