SUMM

Vite has surpassed Webpack in weekly npm installs, marking a major shift in the JavaScript bundler landscape
The creator credits Evan You and the company around Vite for driving important change in web development tooling
Vite's win isn't solely about npm installs; there are deeper ecosystem and technical reasons for its success

Webpack 1.0 released in 2014 to help bundle growing numbers of JavaScript files into a single file for users, addressing browser connection limits
Before bundlers, developers relied on script tags and hoped for correct dependency loading, risking broken sites
Browserify enabled the use of Node-style modules and packages in the browser, including support for commonjs modules and built-in node features via shims and polyfills
npm's arrival provided a standardized package manager beyond script tags, shifting how dependencies were managed

Webpack rose to prominence around 2015, partly due to React's growth and endorsement from key figures like Pete Hunt
Introduced concepts like dependency graphs for all website assets, enabling features like code splitting and hot module reloading (HMR) for improved developer experience
Webpack's loaders allowed flexible handling of various file types, but maintaining these configurations was often complex
React and Webpack were closely linked, with tools like Create React App abstracting config complexities but presenting difficulties when customizations were needed

The creator shares their experience at Twitch, transitioning through several teams and eventually working on complex React/GraphQL apps with heavy reliance on Webpack
Migrating from Webpack 2 to 4 was particularly challenging, leading to a deeper respect for modern web engineering
Spending significant time on low-level Webpack config revealed both the power and pain of existing tooling

Snowpack, built by Fred K. Schott (Astro creator), improved dev speed with plugin support, caching, and fast refresh, but is now unmaintained in favor of alternatives like Vite
Vite, originally designed as a bundler for Vue, rapidly expanded to support other frameworks, including React, thanks to community contributions
Unlike Snowpack (custom everything), Vite used esbuild for dev and Rollup for production, combining fast local dev with reliable production bundling

Vite's hybrid approach used esbuild during development for instant feedback and Rollup for efficient, optimized production code
Out-of-the-box experience, faster reloads, and reduced config complexity made Vite preferable over alternatives
Supported automatic bundle splitting via Rollup, outperforming manual splitting often necessary in Webpack; this realization was transformative for the creator

Vite became the default for Vue and gained broad adoption in the React community, surpassing tools like Create React App for new projects
Most new React sites are now started using Vite templates
Despite some install metrics being skewed by caching and build processes, Vite's real-world momentum is undeniable

Migrating massive, legacy Webpack codebases (thousands of files, custom loaders) to Vite is difficult and often impractical for big companies
Vite's development mode (esbuild serving many files independently) doesn't scale to huge apps, posing performance issues for large teams
Alternatives like Turbopack (from Vercel, Rust-based, aiming for Webpack API compatibility) and Rspack (TikTok/ByteDance's Rust-based bundler) are emerging for these cases

The Vite team is developing RollDown, a Rust rewrite of Rollup to further speed up both dev and production builds and solve scaling challenges
RollDown aims to unify dev and prod builds, addressing limitations present when dealing with very large projects

Npm install counts (for Vite or Webpack) can be misleading due to caching and how large teams manage dependencies
Despite technical caveats, Vite is now the default choice for most new web apps due to superior developer experience and community support
The bundler wars are effectively over: new projects rarely choose Webpack, marking a new era centered around Vite
The ecosystem has matured, and churn in tooling is largely behind us, promising greater stability and productivity for web developers

Vite won.