Build Tools Comparison

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

Metrics

Name	Description	Notes
Startup	Total time from dev server start to page loaded	Equals to server start + page load
Server start	Time taken for the dev server to start	Include initial build (except for Vite)
Page load	Time to load the page after server is ready
Root HMR	Time to HMR after changing a root module
Leaf HMR	Time to HMR after changing a leaf module
Prod build	Time taken to build the production bundles
Total size	Total size of the bundle	Minified by the default minifier
Gzipped size	Gzipped size of the bundle	Represents actual network transfer size

Bench cases

Data from GitHub Actions: https://github.com/rspack-contrib/build-tools-performance/actions/runs/14692853785

Small app (2.5k modules)

1000 React components + 1500 modules in node_modules. (Most components are dynamic imported)

pnpm benchmark small

Build performance

Name	Startup	Server start	Page load	Root HMR	Leaf HMR	Prod build
Rspack CLI 1.3.6	759ms	554ms	205ms	122ms	110ms	727ms
Rspack CLI (Lazy) 1.3.6	353ms	304ms	48ms	106ms	103ms	848ms
Rsbuild 1.3.11	623ms	472ms	151ms	114ms	109ms	580ms
Rsbuild (Lazy) 1.3.11	217ms	179ms	38ms	112ms	113ms	585ms
Vite (SWC) 6.3.3	3533ms	95ms	3438ms	176ms	140ms	1925ms
webpack (SWC) 5.99.6	3176ms	2585ms	591ms	352ms	272ms	2802ms

Bundle size

Name	Total size	Gzipped size
Rspack CLI 1.3.6	913.8kB	231.3kB
Rspack CLI (Lazy) 1.3.6	913.8kB	231.3kB
Rsbuild 1.3.11	910.7kB	214.0kB
Rsbuild (Lazy) 1.3.11	910.7kB	214.0kB
Vite (SWC) 6.3.3	837.8kB	216.9kB
webpack (SWC) 5.99.6	910.4kB	234.9kB

Medium app (10k modules)

5000 React components + 5000 modules in node_modules. (Most components are dynamic imported)

pnpm benchmark medium

Build performance

Name	Startup	Server start	Page load	Root HMR	Leaf HMR	Prod build
Rspack CLI 1.3.6	1460ms	1188ms	271ms	200ms	152ms	1323ms
Rspack CLI (Lazy) 1.3.6	367ms	329ms	38ms	89ms	86ms	1305ms
Rsbuild 1.3.11	1460ms	1251ms	208ms	183ms	171ms	1389ms
Rsbuild (Lazy) 1.3.11	333ms	173ms	160ms	86ms	90ms	1306ms
Vite (SWC) 6.3.3	2983ms	138ms	2845ms	136ms	146ms	4977ms
webpack (SWC) 5.99.6	7291ms	6646ms	645ms	772ms	679ms	5773ms

Bundle size

Name	Total size	Gzipped size
Rspack CLI 1.3.6	2884.9kB	689.6kB
Rspack CLI (Lazy) 1.3.6	2884.9kB	689.6kB
Rsbuild 1.3.11	2881.0kB	679.8kB
Rsbuild (Lazy) 1.3.11	2881.0kB	679.8kB
Vite (SWC) 6.3.3	2579.3kB	688.6kB
webpack (SWC) 5.99.6	2862.9kB	708.8kB

Large app (20k modules)

10000 React components + 10000 modules in node_modules. (Most components are dynamic imported)

pnpm benchmark large

Build performance

Name	Startup	Server start	Page load	Root HMR	Leaf HMR	Prod build
Rspack CLI 1.3.6	2865ms	2417ms	447ms	319ms	271ms	2737ms
Rspack CLI (Lazy) 1.3.6	481ms	426ms	55ms	92ms	98ms	2666ms
Rsbuild 1.3.11	2883ms	2506ms	377ms	334ms	301ms	2946ms
Rsbuild (Lazy) 1.3.11	500ms	257ms	243ms	127ms	107ms	2987ms
Vite (SWC) 6.3.3	5077ms	177ms	4900ms	172ms	142ms	9653ms
webpack (SWC) 5.99.6	13344ms	12380ms	964ms	3449ms	2452ms	11438ms

Bundle size

Name	Total size	Gzipped size
Rspack CLI 1.3.6	6034.7kB	1379.4kB
Rspack CLI (Lazy) 1.3.6	6034.7kB	1379.4kB
Rsbuild 1.3.11	6058.2kB	1368.5kB
Rsbuild (Lazy) 1.3.11	6058.2kB	1368.5kB
Vite (SWC) 6.3.3	5369.1kB	1409.2kB
webpack (SWC) 5.99.6	5985.2kB	1462.0kB

Run locally

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

# Run the benchmark for the medium case
pnpm benchmark

# Run the benchmark for the small case
CASE=small pnpm benchmark

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

pnpm i # install dependencies

# Dev server
pnpm start:farm # Start Farm
pnpm start:rspack # Start Rspack
pnpm start:rsbuild # Start Rsbuild
pnpm start:vite # Start Vite
pnpm start:webpack # Start webpack

# Build
pnpm build:farm # Build Farm
pnpm build:rspack # Build Rspack
pnpm build:rsbuild # Build Rsbuild
pnpm build:vite # Build Vite
pnpm build:webpack # Build webpack

Options

Use CASE to switch the benchmark case:

CASE=small pnpm benchmark
CASE=medium 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!