Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Babel VS React Boilerplate

Compare Babel VS React Boilerplate and see what are their differences

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Babel logo Babel

Babel is a compiler for writing next generation JavaScript.

React Boilerplate logo React Boilerplate

Offline-first, highly scalable foundation for your next app
  • Babel Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-02
  • React Boilerplate Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-18

Babel features and specs

  • JavaScript Version Compatibility
    Babel allows developers to write code using the latest JavaScript features and syntax, and transpile it into a version of JavaScript that can run on older browsers. This ensures greater compatibility across different environments.
  • Future-Proof Code
    With Babel, developers can start using upcoming JavaScript features today. This means that codebases can stay modern and developers can take advantage of new functionalities without waiting for full browser support.
  • Ecosystem and Plugins
    Babel has a rich ecosystem of plugins and presets that can extend its capabilities, making it highly adaptable to different project needs. This modularity allows for customization and enhancement of the build process.
  • Integration with Modern Development Tools
    Babel integrates well with various development tools such as Webpack, making it easier to include in existing build processes and workflows. This helps streamline development and maintain efficient workflows.
  • Community and Support
    Babel has a large and active community, which means extensive documentation, tutorials, and support forums. This can be particularly useful for troubleshooting and staying updated with best practices.

Possible disadvantages of Babel

  • Performance Overhead
    Transpiling code with Babel introduces a performance overhead during the build process. This can slow down development workflows, especially for large codebases with many files.
  • Configuration Complexity
    Setting up Babel can be complex, particularly for beginners. The numerous options and plugins available can sometimes be overwhelming and require significant time to configure correctly.
  • Source Map Issues
    Generating accurate source maps can sometimes be tricky with Babel, leading to difficulties in debugging. Misconfigured source maps can make it harder to track down issues within the original source code.
  • Dependency Bloat
    Including Babel in a project can add a significant number of dependencies. This dependency bloat can increase the size of the project and potentially introduce maintenance challenges or security vulnerabilities.
  • Learning Curve
    There is a learning curve associated with Babel, especially for developers who are new to modern JavaScript tooling. Understanding how Babel works and how to effectively use its features can take time and effort.

React Boilerplate features and specs

  • Established Structure
    React Boilerplate provides a well-organized and consistent project structure, making it easier for developers to follow best practices and maintain a scalable codebase.
  • Advanced Configuration
    The boilerplate offers a comprehensive setup with support for modern JavaScript features, including Webpack, Babel, and ESLint, reducing the need for manual configuration.
  • Redux Integration
    React Boilerplate comes with built-in support for Redux, helping manage application state efficiently and seamlessly.
  • Performance Optimization
    The boilerplate includes performance-focused tools and configurations such as code splitting, which helps in optimizing the application's performance.
  • Community and Documentation
    Being a popular project, React Boilerplate has extensive documentation and an active community, providing plenty of resources and support.
  • Testing Setup
    It includes testing frameworks like Jest and Enzyme, which facilitate writing and running tests for your React components and applications.

Possible disadvantages of React Boilerplate

  • Complex Initial Setup
    The extensive initial setup and configuration process might be daunting for beginners or developers unfamiliar with advanced React and Webpack configurations.
  • Overhead for Small Projects
    For small or simple projects, the boilerplate might feel like overkill, introducing unnecessary complexity and overhead.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    Due to its comprehensive nature and numerous built-in features, there can be a steep learning curve for developers who are new to the ecosystem.
  • Maintenance
    Keeping up with updates and changes in all included libraries and tools can be time-consuming and may require regular maintenance to ensure compatibility and security.
  • Customization Difficulties
    Altering the default configurations and structures to fit unique needs can sometimes be challenging and may require in-depth knowledge of the underlying tools.

Babel videos

Babel - Movie Review

More videos:

  • Review - Day 16 | Babel Review | 365 Films
  • Review - Worth The Hype? - BABEL Review
  • Review - Book CommuniTEA: Is BABEL a rac1st mani!fest0? [you should know the answer]
  • Review - Babel is a Masterpiece, And Here's Why

React Boilerplate videos

React Boilerplate com Redux e TypeScript

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Babel and React Boilerplate)
Development Tools
94 94%
6% 6
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Javascript UI Libraries
100 100%
0% 0
React
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Babel seems to be a lot more popular than React Boilerplate. While we know about 147 links to Babel, we've tracked only 10 mentions of React Boilerplate. 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.

Babel mentions (147)

  • Valentine’s Day Breakup: React Dumps Create React App
    Create React App (CRA) is a command-line interface tool that allows developers to set up a React project easily. It primarily serves as a project scaffolding tool, allowing you to create a new project with a single command: npx create-react-app . CRA comes with tools like Webpack and Babel, which handle the bundling and transpiling of code. The tools are pre-configured. It comes with a development server that... - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • #wecode Landing Page - WeCoded Challenge March 2025
    @vitejs/plugin-react uses Babel for Fast Refresh. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • You Don’t Know JS Yet: My Weekly Journey Through JavaScript Mastery
    For new and incompatible syntax, the solution is transpiling—converting newer JS syntax to older syntax that can run on older engines. The most popular transpiler? Babel. This process ensures modern JS code can still reach a wide audience, even on legacy systems. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Desktop apps for Windows XP in 2025
    Fortunately we have tools like PostCSS and Babel, that let you target your specific Browser version, and they'll do their best to transpile and polyfill your code to work with that version. This alone will do a lot of the heavy lifting for you if you are working with a lot of code. However, if you are just writing out a few HTML, CSS, and JS files, then that would be overkill and you can just figure out what code... - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • The Tools and APIs That Made My GeoGuessr 🌍 Project Possible
    Cross-Browser Compatibility: Some features worked differently across browsers. I used Babel to transpile my JavaScript code, ensuring it worked consistently everywhere. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
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React Boilerplate mentions (10)

  • Redux developers, please stop doing this!
    I worked on a React project in 2019, I believe it was built on top of the react-boilerplate template, and the developer experience with Redux was so bad that I became a Vue developer. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Top 5 React Boilerplates to Know in 2023
    2 React Boilerplate is a reliable and well-designed boilerplate in the Javascript UI Libraries, with 28.2k ratings on GitHub. The super-rich component and font base, together with Redux, Mocha, Redux-Saga, Jest, React Router, PostCSS, and reselect are all included. They support SEO indexing. Concentrating on app development and performance is more than enough. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Redux Sagas firing multiple times if injected in different containers
    We are using https://github.com/react-boilerplate/react-boilerplate and have a classic store layout with multiple components. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • react-boilerplate authentication login page flashes on page reload
    I'm working on an app with a login page and the rest of the pages of the app (should be logged in to view). I'm using react-boilerplate. From this example, I edited my asyncInjectors.js file to have redirectToLogin and redirectToDashboard methods:. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Identity Server 4 Social Login for SPA
    I'm working on application using a Web API(asp.net core) and a SPA (react-boilerplate). I'm starting work in user registration/login and one of the requirements is to allow for user to sign in with facebook, google, etc. Source: almost 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Babel and React Boilerplate, you can also consider the following products

jQuery - The Write Less, Do More, JavaScript Library.

React Native Desktop - Build OS X desktop apps using React Native

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

Static Site Boilerplate - A better workflow for building modern static websites.

Composer - Composer is a tool for dependency management in PHP.

UseGravity.App - Build a Node.js & React app at warp speed with a SaaS boilerplate