Vite vs Webpack: Complete Comparison Guide
Compare Vite and Webpack on speed, configuration, plugin ecosystem, and developer experience. Discover which bundler best fits your development workflow.
Vite
A next-generation build tool built on native ES modules for blazing-fast development server startup times. Vite was created by Evan You (creator of Vue) and uses esbuild for pre-bundling and Rollup for production builds. It is the default build tool for Vue, Svelte, and increasingly React projects.
Webpack
The most mature and widely used JavaScript bundler with over ten years of development. Webpack offers a massive plugin ecosystem, advanced code splitting, and deep configuration capabilities. It is used by millions of projects and is the default bundler in Create React App and older Angular versions.
Comparison table
| Feature | Vite | Webpack |
|---|---|---|
| Dev server startup | Milliseconds — thanks to native ESM, no bundling needed | Seconds to minutes — must bundle the full dependency graph |
| Hot Module Replacement | Instant — independent of project size thanks to ESM | Gets slower as the project grows |
| Configuration | Minimal — works out of the box with sensible defaults | Complex — requires extensive configuration for advanced setups |
| Plugin ecosystem | Growing ecosystem, compatible with Rollup plugins | The largest ecosystem — thousands of plugins available |
| Production builds | Rollup-based — optimized output with tree-shaking | Powerful — advanced optimizations and code splitting |
| Legacy browser support | Via @vitejs/plugin-legacy with automatic polyfills | Extensive — fine-grained control over browser targets |
Verdict
Vite has fundamentally changed the frontend build landscape. The blazing-fast development server and minimal configuration make it the superior choice for new projects. Webpack remains relevant for existing codebases with complex configurations and for edge cases that Vite does not yet cover. The trend is clear: most frameworks are adopting Vite as their default build tool. For new projects, there is little reason to choose Webpack unless specific Webpack plugins are indispensable.
Our recommendation
At MG Software, we use Vite as our default build tool for all new projects. The speed of the development server and simple configuration significantly improve our productivity. While Next.js has its own compiler (Turbopack), we choose Vite for standalone React projects, Vue projects, and library development. We actively migrate existing Webpack projects to Vite when the opportunity arises, as the developer experience is unmatched.
Frequently asked questions
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