Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Parcel VS Google Hosted Libraries

Compare Parcel VS Google Hosted Libraries and see what are their differences

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Parcel logo Parcel

Blazing fast, zero configuration web application bundler

Google Hosted Libraries logo Google Hosted Libraries

A stable, reliable, high-speed, globally available content distribution network for the most popular open-source JavaScript libraries.
  • Parcel Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-12-13
  • Google Hosted Libraries Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-24

Parcel features and specs

  • Zero Configuration
    Parcel requires minimal to no configuration to get started, making it extremely user-friendly, especially for beginners or small projects.
  • Fast Bundling
    Parcel uses worker threads to parallelize tasks, which significantly speeds up the bundling process compared to other bundlers that do not use this approach.
  • Out-of-the-box support for many file types
    Parcel supports many file types (e.g., JavaScript, CSS, HTML, images) right out-of-the-box without needing additional plugins or configurations.
  • Hot Module Replacement (HMR)
    Parcel offers built-in HMR, allowing developers to see changes in real-time without needing to refresh the browser, leading to a faster development cycle.
  • Tree Shaking
    Parcel automatically performs tree shaking, removing unused code from the production build to reduce file sizes, which can improve loading times.
  • Code Splitting
    Parcel has automatic code splitting capabilities which help to improve performance by loading only the necessary assets.
  • Extensible via Plugins
    Parcel’s plugin system allows developers to extend its functionality easily if custom or additional features are needed.

Possible disadvantages of Parcel

  • Community and Ecosystem
    The community and ecosystem around Parcel are smaller compared to other bundlers like Webpack, so finding solutions and third-party plugins might be more challenging.
  • Limited Customization
    While the zero-config aspect is beneficial, it also means there are fewer customization options out-of-the-box, which might be limiting for complex projects needing specific configurations.
  • Performance with Large Projects
    For very large projects, Parcel's performance can become a bottleneck, particularly when it comes to initial build times.
  • Documentation
    The documentation, while improving, is not as comprehensive as some other tools, making it harder for developers to find detailed information when they encounter issues.
  • Dependency Bloat
    Parcel can sometimes include more dependencies than necessary in the final bundle, potentially increasing the final bundle size.

Google Hosted Libraries features and specs

  • Improved Load Speed
    Google Hosted Libraries are distributed via Google's global Content Delivery Network (CDN), which can deliver assets to users with minimal latency by caching them at data centers worldwide. This often results in faster load times compared to hosting libraries on your own server.
  • Better Caching
    Using a common source like Google Hosted Libraries means that users are more likely to have cached copies of these libraries from visiting other sites, reducing load time for returning users who have already downloaded the files.
  • Reliability
    Google's infrastructure is reliable and highly available, reducing the risk of downtime and ensuring that libraries are served to end-users efficiently and consistently.
  • Version Management
    Developers can include specific version numbers in the URLs, ensuring that their applications can easily upgrade or downgrade a library version if needed, allowing for better version control management.
  • Reduced Server Load
    Offloading the delivery of these libraries to Google reduces the bandwidth and load on your own servers, potentially lowering hosting costs and improving your site's overall performance.

Possible disadvantages of Google Hosted Libraries

  • Dependency on Third Party
    Relying on Google for serving these libraries means your application's uptime is partially dependent on a third party, which may introduce risks if Google's services experience issues.
  • Privacy Concerns
    Using Google Hosted Libraries means that user data may be shared with Google whenever these resources are fetched, which could raise privacy concerns depending on your user base and regulatory environment.
  • Limited Customization
    Because these libraries are hosted externally, there is limited opportunity to customize or modify them to fit specific project needs without hosting your own version.
  • Internet Requirement
    If a user is offline or if Google's servers are unreachable for some reason, your application may fail to load these libraries unless you have local fallbacks or entire offline support.

Analysis of Parcel

Overall verdict

  • Parcel is a good choice for developers looking for a hassle-free, efficient, and beginner-friendly bundler. Its minimal configuration approach and speed make it ideal for small to medium-sized projects. However, for highly complex projects that require intricate and highly customized build processes, other bundlers might be more suitable due to their advanced configuration capabilities.

Why this product is good

  • Parcel is a web application bundler that is appreciated for its simplicity and zero-config philosophy. It automatically detects the files needed for a project without requiring a complex configuration file. Its fast performance is attributed to parallelization and efficient caching. Additionally, Parcel offers out-of-the-box support for JavaScript, CSS, HTML, asset management, and various types of file transformations, making it a versatile tool for web developers.

Recommended for

  • Developers new to module bundlers or looking for an easy-to-setup tool.
  • Projects that value speed and simplicity in their build processes.
  • Developers who need a bundler capable of handling multiple asset types with minimal configuration.
  • Teams that prefer convention over configuration and want to get started quickly without diving deep into complex bundler settings.

Parcel videos

Danby Parcel Guard Smart Mailbox blogger Review

More videos:

  • Review - PARCEL MOVIE REVIEW | SASWATA CHATTERJEE | RITUPARNA SENGUPTA | RUPAM'S REVIEW
  • Review - Le Parcel Box review

Google Hosted Libraries videos

Why you should use Google Hosted libraries!

More videos:

  • Review - Google Hosted Libraries

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Parcel and Google Hosted Libraries)
Web Application Bundler
100 100%
0% 0
CDN
0 0%
100% 100
JS Build Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Cloud Computing
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Parcel and Google Hosted Libraries

Parcel Reviews

Rollup v. Webpack v. Parcel
Parcel's caching feature sees dramatically decreases in time consumption after the initial run. For frequent, small changes, in smaller projects **Parcel*8 is a great choice.
Source: x-team.com
If you’ve ever configured Webpack, Parcel will blow your mind!
document.body.className = document.body.className.replace(/(^|\s)is-noJs(\s|$)/, "$1is-js$2")HomepageHomepageJavascriptBecome a memberSign inGet startedIf you’ve ever configured Webpack, Parcel will blow your mind!And how to hit the ground running with Parcel.Ibrahim ButtBlockedUnblockFollowFollowingMar 16, 2018Click here to share this article on LinkedIn »Zero...
Source: medium.com
First impressions with Parcel JS
The big selling point of Parcel though is that it offers a zero configuration experience. This means all the features are available out of the box! It also boasts blazing fast bundle times 👟 You won’t be configuring how Parcel works or having to draft in various plugins to get started. If you do need something, Parcel magically detects this and will pull in stuff for you on...
Source: codeburst.io
Parcel vs webpack - Jakob Lind
Parcel has made their own benchmarks of Parcel and other bundlers. Parcel has been criticized because they have not made the benchmarks open source. People cannot verify that the benchmarks are true when they are not open source.

Google Hosted Libraries Reviews

We have no reviews of Google Hosted Libraries yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Parcel seems to be a lot more popular than Google Hosted Libraries. While we know about 113 links to Parcel, we've tracked only 7 mentions of Google Hosted Libraries. 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.

Parcel mentions (113)

  • Migrating a JavaScript Project from Prettier and ESLint to BiomeJS
    Https://parceljs.org/ is another. It even supports languages like `` out of the box which is pretty cool. IIRC it downloads necessarily plugins on the fly. - Source: Hacker News / 25 days ago
  • Create React App is Deprecated – What’s Next ?
    Parcel is another alternative that requires zero configuration and is super fast. If you want a simple React setup without any hassle, Parcel is a great choice. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Bun 1.2 Is Released
    From its documentation [1] it looks a lot like a parceljs replacement [2], i.e. a zero config bundler which processes and bundles the dependencies in .html pages. So great for simple websites, not for replacing an entire Vite stack. [1] https://bun.sh/docs/bundler/fullstack [2] https://parceljs.org. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • What is Evan You doing by creating VoidZero, and what are the issues with JS toolchains?
    Packagers are the ones we most frequently come into contact with, such as Webpack Vite and Parcel. The latter may not be commonly used, but it is also a well-established tool. - Source: dev.to / 6 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 / 6 months ago
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Google Hosted Libraries mentions (7)

  • Unpkg CDN down causing dependent website outages
    I'd imagine for many developers, the probability of something like Google's Hosted Libraries (https://developers.google.com/speed/libraries) going down or being hacked is far, far lower than the probability of their own site hosting having a problem. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • A list of SaaS, PaaS and IaaS offerings that have free tiers of interest to devops and infradev
    Developers.google.com — The Google Hosted Libraries is a content distribution network for the most popular Open Source JavaScript libraries. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Closure Compiler, JSDOC, Polymer, Lit and apps script
    To make things worse, I can't even find about Polymer or Lit on this list: Https://developers.google.com/speed/libraries. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Apps Script Observable
    I am looking in the hosted libraries: https://developers.google.com/speed/libraries And found that they have Indefinite Observable, the thing is, as far I know Promisses don't work with apps script web app. But Observables work? Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Public CDN's aren't useful anymore
    Public CDN’s were supposed to help page speed, but things have changed in 2019. Services like Google Fonts, Cloudflare’s cdnjs, jsDelivr and Google Hosted Libraries may not help make sites load faster anymore. - Source: dev.to / about 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Parcel and Google Hosted Libraries, 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.

cdnjs - An open source community driven JS/CSS CDN.

rollup.js - Rollup is a module bundler for JavaScript which compiles small pieces of code into a larger piece such as application.

Yandex CDN - Разработчики сайтов могут загружать различные JavaScript-фреймворки и библиотеки с открытым исходным кодом с серверов Яндекса по постоянным ссылкам.

esbuild - An extremely fast JavaScript bundler and minifier

jsDelivr - A free, fast, and reliable Open Source CDN for npm and GitHub with the largest network and best performance from all OSS CDNs. Serving 100 billion requests per month.