Build Tools Comparison

Benchmark comparing JavaScript bundlers and build tools (Rspack, Rsbuild, webpack, Vite, rolldown-vite, esbuild, Parcel and Farm) for dev server startup time, build performance and bundle size for applications with different module sizes.

Metrics

Name	Description
Startup (no cache)	Time from starting the dev server to page loaded
Startup (with cache)	Time from starting the dev server to page loaded with cache
HMR	Time to HMR after changing a module
Build (no cache)	Time taken to build the production bundles
Build (with cache)	Time taken to build the production bundles with cache
Memory (RSS)	Memory usage at the end of a cold start or production build
Output size	Total size of the output bundle, minified with the default minifier
Gzipped size	Gzipped size of the output bundle, represents actual network transfer size

Notes

• Build target is set to es2022 (Chrome >= 93) for all tools.
• Minification is enabled in production for all tools.
• Source map is enabled in development and disabled in production for all tools.
• Benchmarks run on GitHub Actions with variable hardware, which may cause inconsistent results.

Results

Data from GitHub Actions: https://github.com/rspack-contrib/build-tools-performance/actions/runs/19323852850 (2025-11-13)

react-1k

A React app with 1,000 components and 1,500 modules from node_modules, using dynamic imports to simulate SPA.

CASE=react-1k pnpm benchmark

Development metrics:

Name	Startup (no cache)	Startup (with cache)	HMR	Memory (RSS)
Rspack CLI 1.6.1	2130ms🥉	906ms🥉	107ms🥇	351MB🥉
Rsbuild 1.6.3	1529ms🥇	801ms🥈	114ms🥈	315MB🥇
Vite (Rolldown) 7.2.2	6408ms	5185ms	138ms	401MB
Vite (Rollup) 7.2.2	7116ms	5714ms	122ms🥉	323MB🥈
webpack (SWC) 5.102.1	5150ms	3905ms	811ms	814MB
Farm 1.7.11	2018ms🥈	733ms🥇	140ms	554MB
Parcel 2.16.1	3727ms	1054ms	151ms	1170MB

Build metrics:

Name	Build (no cache)	Build (with cache)	Memory (RSS)	Output size	Gzipped size
Rspack CLI 1.6.1	843ms🥈	893ms	285MB🥉	846.2kB	220.8kB🥉
Rsbuild 1.6.3	965ms🥉	721ms🥈	271MB🥈	877.9kB	214.5kB🥇
Vite (Rolldown) 7.2.2	628ms🥇	461ms🥇	242MB🥇	830.5kB🥈	226.1kB
Vite (Rollup) 7.2.2	2917ms	2073ms	502MB	805.0kB🥇	217.1kB🥈
webpack (SWC) 5.102.1	4704ms	1674ms	638MB	843.2kB🥉	226.4kB
Farm 1.7.11	1986ms	1059ms	384MB	1085.3kB	258.3kB
Parcel 2.16.1	3784ms	868ms🥉	1118MB	962.0kB	229.8kB

react-5k

A React app with 5,000 components and 5,000 modules from node_modules, using dynamic imports to simulate SPA.

CASE=react-5k pnpm benchmark

Development metrics:

Name	Startup (no cache)	Startup (with cache)	HMR	Memory (RSS)
Rspack CLI 1.6.1	2097ms🥉	1403ms🥉	209ms	292MB🥈
Rsbuild 1.6.3	1346ms🥇	1286ms🥈	107ms	265MB🥇
Vite (Rolldown) 7.2.2	5138ms	3454ms	103ms🥉	519MB
Vite (Rollup) 7.2.2	7294ms	5337ms	98ms🥈	302MB🥉
webpack (SWC) 5.102.1	19040ms	19575ms	2865ms	1401MB
Farm 1.7.11	1662ms🥈	901ms🥇	85ms🥇	500MB
Parcel 2.16.1	16033ms	3693ms	519ms	1833MB

Build metrics:

Name	Build (no cache)	Build (with cache)	Memory (RSS)	Output size	Gzipped size
Rspack CLI 1.6.1	5260ms🥈	2859ms	564MB🥈	2853.6kB	679.6kB🥇
Rsbuild 1.6.3	5279ms🥉	2777ms🥉	568MB🥉	2884.7kB	680.5kB🥈
Vite (Rolldown) 7.2.2	1921ms🥇	1998ms🥇	511MB🥇	2660.3kB🥈	725.4kB
Vite (Rollup) 7.2.2	8884ms	8005ms	943MB	2582.9kB🥇	689.5kB🥉
webpack (SWC) 5.102.1	18581ms	4341ms	1231MB	2832.0kB🥉	697.9kB
Farm 1.7.11	5871ms	2420ms🥈	606MB	3540.7kB	806.8kB
Parcel 2.16.1	16973ms	2925ms	1965MB	3485.4kB	765.3kB

react-10k

A React app with 10,000 components and 10,000 modules from node_modules, using dynamic imports to simulate SPA.

CASE=react-10k pnpm benchmark

Development metrics:

Name	Startup (no cache)	Startup (with cache)	HMR	Memory (RSS)
Rspack CLI 1.6.1	1852ms🥈	1833ms🥈	117ms🥉	356MB🥈
Rsbuild 1.6.3	1188ms🥇	908ms🥇	106ms🥈	315MB🥇
Vite (Rolldown) 7.2.2	11122ms	7281ms	94ms🥇	854MB
Vite (Rollup) 7.2.2	9225ms🥉	5551ms🥉	126ms	360MB🥉
webpack (SWC) 5.102.1	19251ms	21307ms	4925ms	2088MB

Build metrics:

Name	Build (no cache)	Build (with cache)	Memory (RSS)	Output size	Gzipped size
Rspack CLI 1.6.1	5604ms🥉	2589ms🥇	1014MB🥈	6003.5kB	1369.5kB🥈
Rsbuild 1.6.3	3619ms🥈	3262ms🥉	1021MB🥉	6061.8kB	1369.4kB🥇
Vite (Rolldown) 7.2.2	3283ms🥇	2987ms🥈	827MB🥇	5529.1kB🥈	1483.5kB
Vite (Rollup) 7.2.2	12025ms	14190ms	1425MB	5372.8kB🥇	1410.1kB🥉
webpack (SWC) 5.102.1	39479ms	5798ms	1854MB	5954.4kB🥉	1450.3kB

ui-components

A React app that imports UI components from several popular UI libraries.

Including @mui/material, antd, @chakra-ui/react, @fluentui/react, @headlessui/react, @mantine/core, react-bootstrap, element-plus, vant, and vuetify.

CASE=ui-components pnpm benchmark

Build metrics:

Name	Build (no cache)	Build (with cache)	Memory (RSS)	Output size	Gzipped size
Rspack CLI 1.6.1	2607ms	1678ms	605MB🥈	2056.8kB🥉	629.6kB🥈
Rsbuild 1.6.3	3655ms	2395ms	637MB🥉	2054.8kB🥇	629.1kB🥇
Vite (Rollup) 7.2.2	9055ms	9101ms	1508MB	2073.6kB	650.6kB
Vite (Rolldown) 7.2.2	1893ms🥉	1724ms	905MB	2056.6kB🥈	633.1kB
Rolldown 1.0.0-beta.47	1198ms🥇	1323ms🥈	862MB	2074.1kB	635.1kB
webpack (SWC) 5.102.1	15453ms	8506ms	1730MB	2056.9kB	630.9kB🥉
esbuild 0.27.0	1746ms🥈	1643ms🥉	N/A	2896.9kB	888.7kB
Farm 1.7.11	6571ms	1923ms	1305MB	3822.7kB	1330.7kB
Parcel 2.16.1	11718ms	981ms🥇	2028MB	2095.4kB	637.6kB

rome

A complex TypeScript Node.js project that includes multiple packages from the rome toolchain.

CASE=rome pnpm benchmark

Build metrics:

Name	Build (no cache)	Build (with cache)	Memory (RSS)	Output size	Gzipped size
Rspack CLI 1.6.1	591ms🥉	490ms🥉	260MB	1008.1kB🥉	270.9kB🥈
Rsbuild 1.6.3	616ms	522ms	245MB🥉	1008.0kB🥈	270.9kB🥉
Rolldown 1.0.0-beta.47	298ms🥈	301ms🥈	220MB🥈	1012.2kB	271.8kB
webpack (SWC) 5.102.1	3168ms	905ms	678MB	1006.2kB🥇	270.5kB🥇
esbuild 0.27.0	266ms🥇	256ms🥇	N/A	1025.3kB	276.7kB

Run locally

Run the benchmark.ts script to get the results (requires Node.js >= 22):

# Run the benchmark for the react-5k case
pnpm benchmark

# Run the benchmark for the react-10k case
CASE=react-10k pnpm benchmark

If you want to start the project with the specified tool, try:

pnpm i # install dependencies

# Cd to the case directory
cd cases/react-5k
cd cases/react-10k

# Dev server
pnpm start:rspack # Start Rspack
pnpm start:rsbuild # Start Rsbuild
pnpm start:webpack # Start webpack
pnpm start:vite # Start Vite
pnpm start:rolldown-vite # Start Vite (Rolldown)
pnpm start:farm # Start Farm

# Build
pnpm build:rspack # Build Rspack
pnpm build:rsbuild # Build Rsbuild
pnpm build:webpack # Build webpack
pnpm build:vite # Build Vite
pnpm build:rolldown-vite # Build Vite (Rolldown)
pnpm build:farm # Build Farm

Options

Use CASE to switch the benchmark case:

CASE=react-1k pnpm benchmark
CASE=react-5k pnpm benchmark
CASE=react-10k pnpm benchmark

Use TOOLS to specify the build tools or bundlers:

# Run with all tools
TOOLS=all pnpm benchmark

# Run Rspack and Rsbuild
TOOLS=rspack,rsbuild pnpm benchmark

Use RUN_TIMES to specify the number of runs (defaults to 3):

RUN_TIMES=3 pnpm benchmark

Use WARMUP_TIMES to specify the number of warmup runs (defaults to 2):

WARMUP_TIMES=2 pnpm benchmark

Use FARM=true to run Farm:

FARM=true pnpm benchmark

Credits

Forked from farm-fe/performance-compare, thanks to the Farm team!