parcel
This technology is used by 0.28% of websites in the Miscellaneous category. The most popular industry vertical is Business and Finance, with Business being the top subcategory.
What is Parcel?
Parcel is a zero-configuration web application bundler that aims to make bundling simple. It automatically detects your project's needs and configures itself accordingly, handling JavaScript, CSS, HTML, images, and other assets without any configuration files.
Created by Devon Govett in 2017, Parcel introduced a "just works" philosophy to JavaScript bundling at a time when webpack configuration had become notoriously complex. Parcel 2 was rebuilt from scratch with a plugin system, worker threads for parallel processing, and support for modern features like JSX, TypeScript, and CSS Modules out of the box.
Industry Vertical Distribution
Technologies Frequently Used with parcel
| Technology | Co-usage Rate | Website |
|---|---|---|
| jQuery | 80.54% | https://jquery.com |
| Google Analytics | 71.61% | http://google.com/analytics |
| PHP | 69.48% | http://php.net |
| Google Tag Manager | 69.16% | http://www.google.com/tagmanager |
| WordPress | 68.25% | https://wordpress.org |
| MySQL | 68.2% | http://mysql.com |
| jQuery Migrate | 61.12% | https://github.com/jquery/jquery-migrate |
| Google Font API | 59.52% | http://google.com/fonts |
| Font Awesome | 44.22% | https://fontawesome.com/ |
| WooCommerce | 39.55% | https://woocommerce.com |
Key Features
Zero Configuration
- Auto Detection: Detects project requirements
- Default Transforms: Babel, PostCSS, TypeScript
- No Setup: Works immediately
- Sensible Defaults: Production-ready output
Performance
- Worker Threads: Parallel compilation
- File System Cache: Faster rebuilds
- Lazy Dev Server: Compiles on demand
- Tree Shaking: Dead code elimination
Asset Handling
- HTML Entry: Start from HTML files
- CSS Modules: Scoped styles
- Image Optimization: Resizing and formats
- Importing: Any file type
Development
- Hot Module Replacement
- HTTPS development server
- Error overlay
- Source maps
AI-Powered Technology Recommendations
Our AI recommender engine, trained on 100 million data points, suggests these technologies for websites using parcel:
| Technology | AI Score | Website |
|---|---|---|
| SWC | 0.18 | https://swc.rs |
| Rust | 0.18 | https://www.rust-lang.org |
| SkyVerge | 0.15 | https://www.skyverge.com |
| Day.js | 0.09 | https://github.com/iamkun/dayjs |
| Kinsta | 0.09 | https://kinsta.com |
| Imperva | 0.08 | https://www.imperva.com/ |
| Judge.me | 0.08 | https://judge.me |
| Avada SEO | 0.08 | https://apps.shopify.com/avada-seo-suite |
| Envoy | 0.08 | https://www.envoyproxy.io/ |
| Braintree | 0.08 | https://www.braintreepayments.com |
IAB Tier 1 Vertical Distribution
Relative Usage by Industry
Market Distribution Comparison
Use Cases
Quick Prototypes
Developers start projects instantly with Parcel's zero config. Create an HTML file, reference JavaScript, and run parcel—everything just works without any setup.
Learning Projects
Beginners learn JavaScript without configuration complexity. Parcel handles transpilation, bundling, and optimization, letting students focus on code instead of build tools.
Small to Medium Applications
Teams build production applications without maintaining webpack configs. Parcel's defaults produce optimized bundles with code splitting, minification, and asset hashing.
Library Development
Library authors bundle packages with Parcel's library target. It produces ESM, CommonJS, and UMD builds with TypeScript declarations automatically.
Static Websites
Marketing teams create optimized static sites. Parcel processes HTML entry points, optimizes images, and generates cache-busted asset URLs.
Experiments and Demos
Developers quickly build demos and experiments without build tool friction. CodeSandbox and StackBlitz use Parcel for in-browser bundling.
IAB Tier 2 Subcategory Distribution
Top Websites Using parcel
| Website | IAB Category | Subcategory | OpenRank |
|---|---|---|---|
| foursquare.com | Business and Finance | Business | 6.76 |
| vogue.com | Style & Fashion | Fashion Trends | 6.35 |
| cook-perio.com | Medical Health | Surgery | 5.74 |
| bonappetit.com | Food & Drink | Cooking | 5.65 |
| washingtontimes.com | News and Politics | Political Event | 5.62 |
| architecturaldigest.com | Home & Garden | Interior Decorating | 5.61 |
| citrix.com | Technology & Computing | Computing | 5.59 |
| threatpost.com | Technology & Computing | Computing | 5.56 |
| brandwatch.com | Business and Finance | Social | 5.51 |
| vidyard.com | Business and Finance | Content Production | 5.43 |
Code Examples
Basic Usage
<!-- index.html - Parcel entry point -->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="./styles.css">
</head>
<body>
<div id="app"></div>
<script type="module" src="./index.tsx"></script>
</body>
</html>
<!-- Run: parcel index.html -->React Application
// index.tsx - No configuration needed
import React from 'react';
import { createRoot } from 'react-dom/client';
import App from './App';
import './styles.css';
const root = createRoot(document.getElementById('app')!);
root.render(<App />);
// Parcel automatically:
// - Compiles TypeScript
// - Transforms JSX
// - Processes CSS
// - Enables HMR in developmentpackage.json Scripts
{
"name": "my-app",
"source": "src/index.html",
"scripts": {
"start": "parcel",
"build": "parcel build",
"clean": "rm -rf dist .parcel-cache"
},
"devDependencies": {
"parcel": "^2.10.0"
},
"dependencies": {
"react": "^18.2.0",
"react-dom": "^18.2.0"
}
}Library Target
// package.json for library
{
"name": "my-library",
"source": "src/index.ts",
"main": "dist/main.js",
"module": "dist/module.js",
"types": "dist/types.d.ts",
"targets": {
"main": { "optimize": true },
"module": { "optimize": true }
}
}
// Build: parcel buildCustom Configuration
// .parcelrc (only when needed)
{
"extends": "@parcel/config-default",
"transformers": {
"*.svg": ["@parcel/transformer-svg-react"]
},
"reporters": ["...", "parcel-reporter-bundle-analyzer"]
}Usage by Domain Popularity (Top 1M)
Usage by Domain Age
The average age of websites using parcel is 12.5 years. The average OpenRank (measure of backlink strength) is 2.84.
Comparison
Parcel vs Webpack
- Configuration: Parcel zero-config, webpack extensive
- Features: Webpack more powerful, Parcel simpler
- Ecosystem: Webpack larger plugin ecosystem
- Learning Curve: Parcel much easier to start
Parcel vs Vite
- Dev Server: Vite ESM-based, Parcel bundles
- Configuration: Both minimal config
- Speed: Vite faster dev server startup
- Philosophy: Parcel HTML-first, Vite JS-first
Strengths
- True zero configuration for most projects
- HTML file as entry point
- Built-in support for many languages
- Great for beginners and prototypes
Considerations
- Less ecosystem than webpack
- Advanced customization more limited
- Slower than Vite for dev server
- Less community adoption recently
Best For
- Projects prioritizing simplicity
- Rapid prototyping
- Learning environments
- Small to medium applications
Emerging Websites Using parcel
| Website | IAB Category | Subcategory | OpenRank |
|---|---|---|---|
| rowanfamilydentistry.com | Medical Health | Diseases and Conditions | 0 |
| juliebaumannhomes.com | Business and Finance | Industries | 0 |
| writingsclub.com | Hobbies & Interests | Content Production | 0 |
| cmsreading.org | Education | Adult Education | 0 |
| heartwarmingcandles.net | Hobbies & Interests | Arts and Crafts | 0 |
Technologies Less Frequently Used with parcel
| Technology | Co-usage Rate | Website |
|---|---|---|
| Convert | 0.01% | https://www.convert.com |
| Auryc | 0.01% | https://www.auryc.com |
| The Hotels Network | 0.01% | https://thehotelsnetwork.com |
| GoDaddy Domain Parking | 0.01% | https://www.godaddy.com |
| Hello Bar | 0.01% | http://hellobar.com |
