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SWC vs esbuild: catalog facts
SWC	esbuild
Best for: JavaScript and TypeScript developers who want faster builds than Babel	Best for: Web developers who want fast bundling and minification
Free Free and open source under the Apache 2.0 licence.	Free Free and open source.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Web, Command line	Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line
Much faster transpilation than Babel by the project's benchmarks Handles compilation, minification and bundling All 4 strengths for SWC Much faster transpilation than Babel by the project's benchmarks Handles compilation, minification and bundling Prebuilt binaries for many platforms Used by widely adopted tools such as Next.js and Deno	Very fast builds without a cache TypeScript, JSX and CSS supported without plugins All 4 strengths for esbuild Very fast builds without a cache TypeScript, JSX and CSS supported without plugins Tree shaking, minification and source maps CLI, JavaScript and Go APIs
Most people use it through another build tool rather than directly Plugins via WebAssembly add complexity compared with Babel plugins	Plugin ecosystem is smaller than webpack's Does not type-check TypeScript
Downloadable app, Web application	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: Apache-2.0	License: MIT
No account needed	No account needed
Offline features available	Offline features available
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for SWC swc.rs Catalog checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for esbuild esbuild.github.io Catalog checked September 23, 2026

“Not stated” means we have not confirmed it. Features can vary by device and plan.