compare
Babel vs SWC
The same facts for both, read from GitHub every night, and the relation a person reviewed.
| Fact | Babel | SWC |
|---|---|---|
| Language | TypeScript | Rust |
| Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Stars | 44k | 34k |
| Latest | v8.0.6 | v1.16.13 |
| Last push | 2026-10-06 | 2026-10-06 |
| Release cadence | about 19 days between releases | about 1 day between releases |
| Active contributors | 21 commit authors on the default branch in the last 90 days | 37 commit authors on the default branch in the last 90 days |
| Flags | none | none |
How they relate
SWC replaces Babel. Alternatives to Babel →
Full replacementA Rust compiler for TypeScript and JSX, configured in .swcrc, with Wasm plugins instead of Babel plugins.
Published benchmarks, each linked to its source. The numbers depend on the hardware and the workload they were measured on.
Synchronous transform on a single core
transformSync: swc (es3) 616 ops/sec, swc (es2018) 2,555 ops/sec, babel (es5) 34.05 ops/sec.
Babel
- v7.29.92026-09-18babel-plugin-transform-typescript
- v8.0.62026-09-18Thanks @robhogan for your first PR!
- v8.0.52026-09-10Thanks @drubetti, @jibin7jose, @joelle-a-dev, @journey-ad, @Kjubikstronk, @MatteoGabriele, and @zhangli091011 for your…
- v7.29.82026-08-07babel-generator, babel-parser, babel-plugin-transform-spread, babel-traverse, babel-types
- v8.0.42026-07-09babel-parser, babel-plugin-transform-typescript
SWC
- v1.16.132026-09-30
- v1.16.13-nightly-20260930.12026-09-30
- v1.16.122026-09-29
- v1.16.12-nightly-20260929.12026-09-29
- v1.16.10-nightly-20260928.12026-09-28
Babel
unsigned The latest release, v8.0.6, carries no signature GitHub could verify.
Loading the security report
SWC
unsigned The latest release, v1.16.13, carries no signature GitHub could verify.
Loading the security report