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  1. Stackups
  2. DevOps
  3. Build Automation
  4. Javascript Build Tools
  5. Babel vs Brunch

Babel vs Brunch

OverviewComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Brunch
Brunch
Stacks106
Followers127
Votes40
GitHub Stars6.8K
Forks431
Babel
Babel
Stacks27.3K
Followers11.0K
Votes391
GitHub Stars43.8K
Forks5.8K

Babel vs Brunch: What are the differences?

Babel: Use next generation JavaScript, today. Babel will turn your ES6+ code into ES5 friendly code, so you can start using it right now without waiting for browser support; Brunch: Ultra-fast HTML5 build tool. Brunch is an assembler for HTML5 applications. It's agnostic to frameworks, libraries, programming, stylesheet & templating languages and backend technology.

Babel and Brunch are primarily classified as "JavaScript Compilers" and "JS Build Tools / JS Task Runners" tools respectively.

Some of the features offered by Babel are:

  • Array comprehensions
  • Arrow functions
  • Async functions

On the other hand, Brunch provides the following key features:

  • compiles your scripts, templates, styleslints them
  • wraps the scripts and templates in common.js / AMD modules.concatenates scripts and styles
  • generates source maps for concatenated filescopies assets and static files

"Modern Javascript works with all browsers" is the top reason why over 160 developers like Babel, while over 12 developers mention "Easy and awesome" as the leading cause for choosing Brunch.

Babel and Brunch are both open source tools. Babel with 33.8K GitHub stars and 3.6K forks on GitHub appears to be more popular than Brunch with 6.58K GitHub stars and 461 GitHub forks.

According to the StackShare community, Babel has a broader approval, being mentioned in 901 company stacks & 687 developers stacks; compared to Brunch, which is listed in 14 company stacks and 9 developer stacks.

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Detailed Comparison

Brunch
Brunch
Babel
Babel

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

Babel will turn your ES6+ code into ES5 friendly code, so you can start using it right now without waiting for browser support.

compiles your scripts, templates, styleslints them;wraps the scripts and templates in common.js / AMD modules.concatenates scripts and styles;generates source maps for concatenated filescopies assets and static files;shrinks the output by minifying code and optimizing imageswatches your files for changes;notifies you about errors via console and system notifications
Array comprehensions; Arrow functions; Async functions; Async generator functions; Classes; Class properties; Computed property names; Constants; Decorators; Default parameters; Destructuring; Exponentiation operator; For-of; Generators; Generator comprehensions; Let scoping; Modules; Module export extensions; Object rest/spread; Property method assignment; Property name shorthand; Rest parameters; React; Spread; Tail call optimisation; Template literals; Type annotations; Unicode regex; JSX; React; Flow; Node.js; Meteor; Rails; Broccoli; Browserify; Require.js; Brunch; Duo; Gobble; Grunt; Gulp; Make; Webpack; Connect; Jade; Jest; Karma; Mocha; Nodemon
Statistics
GitHub Stars
6.8K
GitHub Stars
43.8K
GitHub Forks
431
GitHub Forks
5.8K
Stacks
106
Stacks
27.3K
Followers
127
Followers
11.0K
Votes
40
Votes
391
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 13
    Easy and awesome
  • 9
    Ultra Fast
  • 9
    Light Configuration
  • 4
    Built-in dev server with live reload
  • 3
    Simple to use
Pros
  • 165
    Modern Javascript works with all browsers
  • 77
    Open source
  • 60
    Integration with lots of tools
  • 56
    Easy setup
  • 26
    Very active on github
Integrations
No integrations available
Grunt
Grunt
Broccoli
Broccoli
Browserify
Browserify
Duo
Duo
gulp
gulp
RequireJS
RequireJS

What are some alternatives to Brunch, Babel?

gulp

gulp

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.

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.

Grunt

Grunt

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.

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.

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