Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Broccoli VS rollup.js

Compare Broccoli VS rollup.js and see what are their differences

Broccoli logo Broccoli

Browser compilation library, a build tool for JavaScript applications that launch in the browser.

rollup.js logo rollup.js

Rollup is a module bundler for JavaScript which compiles small pieces of code into a larger piece such as application.
  • Broccoli Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-01
  • rollup.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-09

Broccoli features and specs

  • Fast Asset Pipeline
    Broccoli's architecture is designed to handle asset compilation efficiently by minimizing file system I/O operations, which results in faster build times compared to traditional build tools.
  • Incremental Rebuilding
    Broccoli supports incremental builds, meaning that only files that have changed are rebuilt, leading to improved development performance and shorter feedback loops.
  • Easy Plugin Development
    The plugin system in Broccoli is straightforward and easy to extend, allowing developers to create custom plugins to fit their specific project needs.
  • Well-Defined Build Outputs
    Broccoli emphasizes deterministic builds with clear and well-defined outputs, which helps in maintaining consistency across different environments.

Possible disadvantages of Broccoli

  • Small Ecosystem
    Compared to more popular tools like Webpack or Gulp, Broccoli has a relatively smaller ecosystem, which may limit the availability of plugins and community support.
  • Learning Curve
    Developers familiar with other build systems may find Broccoli's unique pipeline and configuration style unfamiliar, potentially leading to a learning curve.
  • Less Documentation
    Broccoli's documentation might not be as extensive or comprehensive as some other build tools, which could present challenges for new users in understanding and implementing it effectively.
  • Niche Use Case
    Broccoli is designed with a specific focus on frontend asset building, which might not make it the best fit for projects that require more general-purpose build automation.

rollup.js features and specs

  • Tree Shaking
    Rollup.js performs treeshaking to eliminate dead code, resulting in smaller bundle sizes. It analyzes the dependency tree and includes only the parts of the code that are actually used.
  • Output Formats
    Supports multiple output formats including ES modules, CommonJS, AMD, UMD, and IIFE. This makes it versatile for different use cases.
  • Plugins
    Rollup.js has a rich ecosystem of plugins that extend its functionality, such as code transformation, minification, and support for various types of modules.
  • Code Splitting
    Supports code splitting, allowing you to break your code into smaller chunks that can be loaded on demand. This improves performance for larger projects.
  • Efficient Bundling
    Offers efficient bundling by removing duplicates and ensuring that each module gets included only once, which contributes to reduced bundle size.
  • Minimal Configuration
    Generally requires minimal configuration to get started, focusing on simplicity and ease of use.

Possible disadvantages of rollup.js

  • Learning Curve
    Although relatively simple to use, there is still a learning curve associated with understanding its configuration and the plugin system.
  • Initial Build Time
    The initial build time can be slower compared to some other bundlers, particularly for larger projects.
  • Limited Built-in Features
    Rollup.js focuses on being a minimalist tool, so it lacks some of the built-in features that other bundlers may have. Often, additional functionality needs to be added via plugins.
  • Plugin Compatibility
    Not all plugins work seamlessly with Rollup.js, and there may be occasional compatibility issues, especially with plugins originally designed for other bundlers.
  • Node.js Ecosystem
    While Rollup.js excels in bundling for browsers, it is not as commonly used for Node.js applications compared to other tools like Webpack.
  • Community Size
    The community size is smaller compared to other bundling tools like Webpack, which can sometimes make finding solutions to issues more challenging.

Broccoli videos

Rap Critic: "Broccoli" - Big Baby D.R.A.M. ft. Lil Yachty

More videos:

  • Review - Broccoli Reviews. Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom
  • Review - BROCCOLI REVIEW

rollup.js videos

No rollup.js videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Broccoli and rollup.js)
JS Build Tools
17 17%
83% 83
Web Application Bundler
13 13%
87% 87
Front End Package Manager
Frontend Development
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Broccoli and rollup.js

Broccoli Reviews

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rollup.js Reviews

Rollup v. Webpack v. Parcel
Rollup provides much simpler configuration over webpack 4 and has a host of pre-configured plugins that are a breeze to incorporate into your project. Rollup's also the fastest of the build tools period.
Source: x-team.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, rollup.js seems to be a lot more popular than Broccoli. While we know about 60 links to rollup.js, we've tracked only 2 mentions of Broccoli. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Broccoli mentions (2)

  • 16 Top NodeJS tools to make you a better developer
    BroccoliJS Broccoli is a JavaScript build management tool. It creates a distributable version of your application assets that you can run in a browser. BroccoliJS uses a modular plugin architecture to do configuration in JavaScript. - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
  • Node.js Packages and Resources
    Broccoli - Fast, reliable asset pipeline, supporting constant-time rebuilds and compact build definitions. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago

rollup.js mentions (60)

  • Valentine’s Day Breakup: React Dumps Create React App
    Vite is a modern frontend build tool used to develop fast and super efficient web applications. It serves files instantly and ensures that changes are updated immediately after they are implemented. It makes use of Rollup for optimized builds and has support for when you want to build a Javascript library (instead of a full app). - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Advanced Guide to Using Vite with React in 2025
    In 2025, mastering Vite for your React projects means leveraging powerful configurations, intelligent optimizations, and a robust plugin ecosystem. By understanding Vite’s modern architecture—native ES modules (ESM) during development and optimized Rollup bundling for production—you can significantly streamline your workflow, improve developer experience, and deliver fast, performant applications at scale. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Optimizing React Development with Vite🤩.
    6. Production-Ready Code Vite uses Rollup for production builds, which optimizes the code by bundling it efficiently, performing tree shaking, and minifying JavaScript. This results in smaller, optimized production builds that are ready for deployment. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • What is Evan You doing by creating VoidZero, and what are the issues with JS toolchains?
    Meanwhile, esbulid (developed in Go language, as introduced earlier) and rollup can also be used separately as packaging tools, and many third-party JS plugins are packaged using rollup. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Node.js: A brief history of cjs, bundlers, and esm
    Npm packages dramatically sped up the productivity of developers by being able to leverage other developers' work. However, it had a major disadvantage: cjs was not compatible with web browsers. To solve this problem, the concept of bundlers was born. Browserify was the first bundler which essentially worked by traversing an entry point and "bundling" all the require()-ed code into a single .js file compatible... - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Broccoli and rollup.js, you can also consider the following products

Webpack - Webpack is a module bundler. Its main purpose is to bundle JavaScript files for usage in a browser, yet it is also capable of transforming, bundling, or packaging just about any resource or asset.

Grunt - The Grunt ecosystem is huge and it's growing every day.

Parcel - Blazing fast, zero configuration web application bundler

Yeoman - To do so, we provide a generator ecosystem. A generator is basically a plugin that can be run with the `yo` command to scaffold complete projects or useful parts. Through our official Generators, we promote the "Yeoman workflow".

npm - npm is a package manager for Node.

Gulp.js - Automate and enhance your workflow