Build Tools Comparison

Benchmark comparing JavaScript bundlers and build tools (Rspack, Rsbuild, webpack, Vite, rolldown-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/15484991136

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 1.3.15	2346ms	1835ms	511ms	230ms	167ms	1584ms
Rspack CLI (Lazy) 1.3.15	764ms	657ms	106ms	165ms	136ms	1543ms
Rsbuild 1.4.0-beta.2	1443ms	1060ms	383ms	192ms	156ms	1240ms
Rsbuild (Lazy) 1.4.0-beta.2	567ms	456ms	110ms	346ms	138ms	1341ms
Vite (SWC) 6.3.5	8627ms	348ms	8278ms	90ms	103ms	3862ms
Vite (Rolldown) 6.3.18	9584ms	325ms	9259ms	160ms	147ms	1307ms
webpack (SWC) 5.99.9	6796ms	5632ms	1164ms	674ms	486ms	6194ms

Bundle size

Name	Total size	Gzipped size
Rspack CLI 1.3.15	922.0kB	233.8kB
Rspack CLI (Lazy) 1.3.15	922.0kB	233.8kB
Rsbuild 1.4.0-beta.2	910.9kB	214.1kB
Rsbuild (Lazy) 1.4.0-beta.2	910.9kB	214.1kB
Vite (SWC) 6.3.5	837.9kB	216.9kB
Vite (Rolldown) 6.3.18	915.3kB	246.4kB
webpack (SWC) 5.99.9	918.5kB	237.8kB

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 1.3.15	2444ms	2060ms	384ms	273ms	220ms	2233ms
Rspack CLI (Lazy) 1.3.15	796ms	721ms	74ms	86ms	87ms	2411ms
Rsbuild 1.4.0-beta.2	2009ms	1733ms	276ms	282ms	220ms	2095ms
Rsbuild (Lazy) 1.4.0-beta.2	657ms	411ms	246ms	84ms	73ms	2088ms
Vite (SWC) 6.3.5	5399ms	236ms	5163ms	124ms	102ms	7278ms
Vite (Rolldown) 6.3.18	4512ms	311ms	4201ms	121ms	67ms	2042ms
webpack (SWC) 5.99.9	10643ms	9697ms	946ms	1890ms	1201ms	9794ms

Bundle size

Name	Total size	Gzipped size
Rspack CLI 1.3.15	2893.1kB	692.2kB
Rspack CLI (Lazy) 1.3.15	2893.1kB	692.2kB
Rsbuild 1.4.0-beta.2	2881.2kB	679.9kB
Rsbuild (Lazy) 1.4.0-beta.2	2881.2kB	679.9kB
Vite (SWC) 6.3.5	2579.4kB	688.7kB
Vite (Rolldown) 6.3.18	2722.1kB	754.1kB
webpack (SWC) 5.99.9	2871.0kB	711.3kB

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 1.3.15	3044ms	2655ms	388ms	363ms	287ms	2975ms
Rspack CLI (Lazy) 1.3.15	475ms	422ms	52ms	95ms	103ms	2743ms
Rsbuild 1.4.0-beta.2	2773ms	2527ms	246ms	406ms	316ms	2963ms
Rsbuild (Lazy) 1.4.0-beta.2	256ms	208ms	47ms	112ms	101ms	2987ms
Vite (SWC) 6.3.5	5502ms	182ms	5320ms	168ms	143ms	9918ms
Vite (Rolldown) 6.3.18	4799ms	165ms	4634ms	169ms	139ms	2868ms
webpack (SWC) 5.99.9	13639ms	12693ms	946ms	3528ms	2531ms	11443ms

Bundle size

Name	Total size	Gzipped size
Rspack CLI 1.3.15	6043.0kB	1381.9kB
Rspack CLI (Lazy) 1.3.15	6043.0kB	1381.9kB
Rsbuild 1.4.0-beta.2	6058.4kB	1368.6kB
Rsbuild (Lazy) 1.4.0-beta.2	6058.4kB	1368.6kB
Vite (SWC) 6.3.5	5369.2kB	1409.3kB
Vite (Rolldown) 6.3.18	5679.8kB	1549.1kB
webpack (SWC) 5.99.9	5993.3kB	1464.5kB

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!