Blog Overview
Published on: 05/2025

Understanding Vite and Rollup – Modern Toolchains with a Future

Vite has emerged as one of the most popular build tools in the frontend ecosystem in recent years. Compared with Webpack or classical Rollup set‑ups, Vite promises shorter development cycles, less configuration – and a pleasantly modern developer experience. If you are searching for Vite vs Webpack, this post gives you the key facts.

But how do Vite and Rollup perform in everyday work? What really sets them apart – and where do they shine compared with Webpack, which is still the default in many companies?

Vite & Rollup – two tools, one common foundation

Vite targets modern frontend projects where short feedback loops, hot reloading and low entry barriers are paramount. It is powered by two high‑performance engines:

  • esbuild is used in development mode to analyse and serve modules at lightning speed
  • Rollup is used for the final production build

In practice that means: anyone who wants to configure or extend Vite should also read the Rollup documentation – many Vite settings map directly to Rollup options. This combination of speed and flexibility makes Vite powerful – but also more demanding once you go beyond the basics.

Rollup itself remains a strong tool, especially for library builds or projects that need fine‑grained control over their output.

Why Webpack is no longer state of the art

Many projects still rely on Webpack – out of habit or because the infrastructure grew historically. In reality you often face:

  • Slow builds, especially in large code bases
  • Complex, hard‑to‑maintain configuration
  • Fragile plugin landscape after major upgrades
  • Significant debugging overhead

Tools like Vite and Rollup solve these problems with a clear focus on modern web standards, performance and productivity.

Rollup for complex builds with full control

Rollup really shines when your output has special requirements:

  • multiple entry points
  • specific module formats (ESM, CJS, IIFE, …)
  • externals and granular tree shaking
  • custom plugin logic during the build

Its configuration is slim and predictable – ideal for engineers who need to know exactly what ends up in their bundle. For tooling, libraries and platform components, Rollup is still first choice.

Technical deep‑dive: Vite uses Rollup – but thinks differently

One fact that is often overlooked: Vite uses Rollup internally for its production build. All well‑known Rollup features – external, output.manualChunks, multiple entry points or custom plugins – can therefore also be used in a Vite project.

However, Vite’s development mode works differently. It relies on esbuild and its own module graph. That means:

  • Plugins run in build mode exactly like in Rollup
  • In dev mode they may need additional work
  • Engineers should treat build‑ and dev‑phase separately

Vite thus combines the best of both worlds: Rollup for production builds, esbuild for lightning‑fast development.

Example: Rollup‑style plugin in a vite.config.ts

// vite.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "vite";
import svg from "rollup-plugin-svg"; // classic Rollup plugin

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    svg(), // works in build mode; for dev you might need a Vite equivalent
  ],
});

For libraries: tsup as a lightweight solution

Not every project needs a complex set‑up. For smaller TypeScript packages or tools, a simple bundler such as tsup is often enough.

With a single command you get a modern package including type definitions:

npx tsup src/index.ts --format esm,cjs --dts

tsup is based on esbuild, extremely fast and requires almost no configuration – ideal for libraries that need to hit production quickly.

Migration path: replacing Webpack today

A typical migration could look like this:

  • Frontend projects with UI: move to Vite for fast hot reloading and modern DX
  • Libraries: start with tsup, or go directly with Rollup for more advanced needs
  • Custom loaders or complex build logic: leverage the flexibility of Rollup – either standalone or as Vite’s build backend

Most teams feel the benefits immediately: faster CI, less complexity, happier engineers.

Looking ahead: Rolldown – a new core for Vite?

The tooling landscape around Vite keeps moving. Work is underway on Rolldown – a new bundler that aims to replace both esbuild and Rollup under Vite’s hood.

Rolldown’s goal is to provide a unified, fully controllable build foundation that is faster than Rollup while staying largely compatible with its plugin API. Written in Rust, it focuses on performance, clarity and long‑term maintainability.

According to the Rolldown documentation, the bundler delivers build speeds on par with esbuild and is 10–30 × faster than Rollup. Rolldown is currently in beta – not production ready yet. Nevertheless, the plan is clear: it could make Vite even faster and more consistent in both dev and build mode.

Conclusion: understand Vite and Rollup, build for the future

Vite and Rollup have established themselves as modern alternatives to Webpack – with clear benefits for performance, maintainability and developer happiness. They complement each other and let teams tailor their build process precisely to their needs.

  • Vite – rapid development and minimal configuration
  • Rollup – maximum control for complex builds
  • tsup – perfect for small to medium TypeScript libraries

Teams still using Webpack often waste time, clarity and team morale – and with Rolldown on the horizon, the toolchain could become even faster and more unified.

Do you plan to migrate to Vite or Rollup, need plugin development support, or want to modernise an outdated set‑up?

→ Feel free to reach out – I help teams with migrations, tooling strategies and bespoke build solutions.