As a backend developer, I’ve always prioritized efficiency in my workflow. But when my JavaScript builds started taking over 91 seconds (91,241ms) with Babel, I knew something had to change. Enter SWC (Speedy Web Compiler)—a Rust-based alternative to Babel that completely transformed my development experience.

My build time dropped from 91,241ms to just 216.21ms. That’s a 400x speedup! 🚀

Why Babel Started Slowing Me Down

Babel is an incredible tool, but its reliance on JavaScript-based transpilation makes it slower as projects scale. My app, weighing 196MB, was becoming a bottleneck in my CI/CD pipeline. The long build times were frustrating, leading to:
✅ Slower iteration cycles
✅ Longer deployment times
✅ Increased resource usage

SWC: A Game-Changer for Build Performance

These tests were conducted on a real production app, making the results even more significant. SWC, written in Rust, is built for speed.

Here’s how my build stats changed:

Compiler	Build Time	Build Size
Babel	91,241ms (91s)	27MB
SWC	216.21ms (0.2s) 🚀	18MB

Key Takeaways

✅ 400x Faster Builds – No more waiting minutes for compilation.
✅ Smaller Output – Build size dropped from 27MB to 18MB.
✅ Lightning-Fast CI/CD – Deployments became nearly instantaneous.

Would I Go Back to Babel?

Absolutely not. SWC is a must-have if you’re serious about build speed. If you’re tired of watching your terminal compile for minutes, it’s time to make the switch.

I wish I had done it sooner. How fast are your builds? 🚀

In my next article, I’ll share a step-by-step guide on how to migrate from Babel to SWC seamlessly—so stay tuned! 🚀