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

Microbundle vs gulp

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

gulp
gulp
Stacks15.3K
Followers9.1K
Votes1.7K
GitHub Stars33.0K
Forks4.2K
Microbundle
Microbundle
Stacks30
Followers36
Votes2
GitHub Stars8.1K
Forks361

Microbundle vs gulp: What are the differences?

  1. Development Focus: Microbundle is specifically designed for bundling modern JavaScript libraries, while Gulp is a more general-purpose task runner that can handle a variety of tasks including bundling, minification, and image optimization.
  2. Configuration: Microbundle requires minimal configuration and is based on conventions, making it easy to get started quickly, while Gulp is more flexible and customizable but may require more setup and maintenance.
  3. Plugins Ecosystem: Gulp has a large ecosystem of plugins available for various tasks, allowing for greater extensibility and customization, whereas Microbundle is more focused on providing a streamlined bundling solution without as many additional plugins.
  4. File Watching: Gulp has built-in file-watching capabilities for automatically running tasks when files change, while Microbundle does not provide this feature by default and would require additional setup.
  5. Community Support: Gulp has a larger and more established community with extensive documentation and resources available, making it easier to find help and solutions to common problems, whereas Microbundle may have a smaller community and fewer resources.
  6. Performance: Microbundle is optimized for faster bundling of JavaScript files, providing better performance in terms of build times compared to Gulp, which may be slower when handling larger projects or complex tasks.

In Summary, Microbundle is a specialized tool for modern JavaScript library bundling with minimal configuration and faster build times, while Gulp is a more flexible task runner with a larger ecosystem of plugins and community support, but may require more setup and maintenance.

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Advice on gulp, Microbundle

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
Microbundle
Microbundle

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.

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

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.
Bundles your library using nothing but a package.json; Support for ESnext & async/await; Supports multiple entry modules; Creates multiple output formats for each entry; Build-in Uglify compression & gzipped bundle size tracking
Statistics
GitHub Stars
33.0K
GitHub Stars
8.1K
GitHub Forks
4.2K
GitHub Forks
361
Stacks
15.3K
Stacks
30
Followers
9.1K
Followers
36
Votes
1.7K
Votes
2
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 451
    Build speed
  • 277
    Readable
  • 244
    Code-over-configuration
  • 210
    Open source
  • 175
    Node streams
Pros
  • 1
    All the best Terser and Rollup settings already set
  • 1
    Works well with TypeScript
Integrations
No integrations available
JavaScript
JavaScript
npm
npm

What are some alternatives to gulp, Microbundle?

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.

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.

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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