SWC vs Vite
SWC
swc.rs
Vite
vite.devSide by side
| Figure | SWC | Vite |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · JavaScript Build Tools | 8.3 (#4) | 7.4 (#19) |
| Community support | The site invites users to join GitHub discussions and Discord. | Vite directs users who need help to its Discord community and GitHub Discussions. |
| Features | SWC supports compilation, minification, WebAssembly transforms, custom plugins, and integrations for webpack, Rspack, and Jest. | Vite supports TypeScript, JSX, CSS, web workers, and WebAssembly, with additional features available through plugins. |
| Purpose | SWC is an extensible Rust-based platform for fast developer tools that can compile and bundle JavaScript and TypeScript. | Vite is a build tool for faster, leaner development of modern web projects. |
Plans
In their own words
SWC
SWC is a free, extensible Rust-based platform for tools that compile and bundle JavaScript and TypeScript. It transforms modern JavaScript and TypeScript into code intended for major browsers, and supports minification, WebAssembly transforms, and custom plugins. Its core API parses ECMAScript, TypeScript, and Flow syntax; the documentation describes that API as mainly useful to build-tool authors. Integrations include webpack, Rspack, and Jest, while Next.js, Parcel, and Deno are among the tools named as users. A WebAssembly module can transform code synchronously inside a browser. SWC can be installed as prebuilt binaries or built from source, with packages documented for npm, Yarn, pnpm, Bun, and Deno. The site states that it is 20x faster than Babel on one thread and 70x faster on four cores. The bundling documentation says that feature will be dropped in v2 and recommends SWC-based bundlers instead. It also warns that its polyfill usage mode is less efficient than Babel for certain dynamically computed property expressions.
Vite
Vite is a free build tool for modern web projects. Its development server serves source files on demand using native ES modules and supports Hot Module Replacement. For production, the `vite build` command bundles application assets for static hosting. Vite supports TypeScript, JSX, CSS, web workers, and WebAssembly; plugins can extend the tool, including its development server and SSR functionality. Its plugin interface builds on Rollup's. Documented framework integrations include Vue, React, Preact, Svelte, Solid, Qwik, Nuxt, SvelteKit, Astro, and React Router. Developers can try Vite in a browser through StackBlitz using supported framework templates. It runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, and the web, and is MIT licensed and free and open source. Vite requires Node.js 20.19+ or 22.12+, though some templates may need a higher version. It transpiles TypeScript but does not type-check it; type checking needs to be handled separately. Legacy browser support can be added with the official `@vitejs/plugin-legacy`.