Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

SystemJS VS rollup.js

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

SystemJS logo SystemJS

Configurable module loader enabling dynamic ES module workflows in browsers and NodeJS.

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.
  • SystemJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-11-06
  • rollup.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-09

SystemJS features and specs

  • Universal Module Loader
    SystemJS supports loading modules in various formats, such as AMD, CommonJS, and ES modules, providing versatility in deploying applications with different module specifications.
  • Dynamic Imports
    SystemJS enables dynamic loading of modules, which allows for lazy loading of parts of applications. This can lead to performance improvements by asynchronously loading only the necessary parts of your application.
  • Compatibility
    SystemJS provides compatibility across different JavaScript environments, making it a suitable choice for projects that require running code on both browsers and Node.js.
  • Extensibility
    With a plugin system that lets developers extend its capabilities, SystemJS can be customized to handle specific loading scenarios or integrate more seamlessly with different build processes or frameworks.

Possible disadvantages of SystemJS

  • Complexity
    The flexibility and extensive feature set of SystemJS can introduce complexity in configurations and require a learning curve for new developers, particularly with its extensive plugin ecosystem.
  • Performance Overhead
    Because SystemJS is a global loader, it introduces additional runtime overhead compared to using native ES modules or simpler bundling solutions, which might impact performance.
  • Reduced Relevance with ES Modules
    With the native support for ES modules in modern browsers, the need for SystemJS has decreased, as developers can often achieve the desired module functionality with built-in browser capabilities.
  • Complex Debugging
    SystemJS's dynamic loading and transformations can make debugging more challenging, as developers may struggle with source mapping or understanding how modules are resolved.

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.

SystemJS videos

Javascript Tutorial - SystemJS intro

More videos:

  • Review - Learn Angular 2 in 21 Days: Day 2 Layout, SystemJS and Components

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 SystemJS and rollup.js)
Web Application Bundler
14 14%
86% 86
JS Build Tools
15 15%
85% 85
Front End Package Manager
Module Bundler
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 SystemJS and rollup.js

SystemJS 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 SystemJS. While we know about 60 links to rollup.js, we've tracked only 4 mentions of SystemJS. 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.

SystemJS mentions (4)

  • Integrate Web Component/MFE with plain static HTML
    Using the SystemJS library, we can seamlessly integrate a web component or MFE, or even import any module at runtime. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Rails upgrade to angular 2
    I would like to upgrade my existing Rails and Angular 1.x application. I'm following the ng-upgrade documentation and seeing that there are many dependencies including systemjs, typescript, tsd and a few other javascript libraries. Ideally there would be a angular-2 gem that would have all the dependencies but I'm not able to find that. Next I looked for gem's for each dependency but there isn't one for tsd. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Modern SPAs without bundlers, CDNs, or Node.js
    There's also https://github.com/systemjs/systemjs if you want more of a ponyfill approach. FWIW bundlers also don't use the browser's functionality to load modules... - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • JS Modules
    A module loader interprets and loads a module written in a certain module format at runtime. Popular examples are RequireJS and SystemJS. - Source: dev.to / almost 4 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 1 month 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 SystemJS and rollup.js, you can also consider the following products

RequireJS - RequireJS is a JavaScript file and module loader.

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.

Qoopido.demand - Browser only, promise like and extremely lightweight module loader using XHR/XDR requests and localStorage caching to dynamically load JavaScript modules, JSON, HTML, CSS, text and Bundles (single script containing multiple concatenated modules) wit…

Parcel - Blazing fast, zero configuration web application bundler

stealjs - Futuristic JavaScript dependency loader and builder. Speeds up application load times. Works with ES6, CommonJS, AMD, CSS, LESS and more. Simplifies modular workflows.

npm - npm is a package manager for Node.