Monotonous and repetitive tasks are universally disliked. However, the good news is that we can likely delegate such tasks to our computers. In the realm of web development build automation, two dominant tools stand out: Grunt and Gulp. But, which one is the right choice for you? What distinguishes them? Let’s delve into the similarities and differences between Grunt and Gulp to guide your selection of the ideal JavaScript task runner.Grunt and Gulp are instrumental in automating laborious, error-prone build processes such as:
Code minification
Code quality analysis
Image optimization
Vendor prefixing
Unit testing
And more
Essentially, if a task is performed repeatedly, there’s a high probability that it can be automated using either Grunt or Gulp. By incorporating a task runner into our workflow, we can conserve time and energy that our computer can efficiently manage. This allows us to focus on what truly matters: creativity and innovation.Consider a task runner as a framework designed for automating development tasks. Just as JavaScript web development frameworks like Angular and jQuery simplify the writing of JavaScript code, Grunt and Gulp streamline the creation of build-automation code.How does a task runner function? It’s straightforward. You create instructions that inform the task runner:
Which files you wish to process
The actions you want to perform on those files (minification, error analysis, etc.)
Where you want the processed files to be placed
Since Grunt and Gulp are JavaScript task runners, you write your instructions using JavaScript. Here are step-by-step tutorials to help you begin with Grunt and Gulp:
Speed Up Your Web Development Workflow with Grunt
How to Use Gulp
At first glance, Grunt and Gulp appear quite similar. Using either one results in the same outcome: an enhanced web development workflow. Broadly speaking, they are identical in that:
They are task runners capable of automating parts of our development workflow
We write the tasks they execute using JavaScript
Both require Node and npm to operate
However, the similarities end here. The configuration methods and execution strategies differ.There are two primary differences between Grunt and Gulp:
Configuration Approach: Grunt is configuration-based, while Gulp is stream-based.
Execution Strategy: Grunt executes processes sequentially, whereas Gulp aims for maximum concurrency, attempting to run processes in parallel when possible.
Let’s illustrate the major difference between Grunt and Gulp with an example. We will create a task for both to perform. This task will involve optimizing a set of CSS files to enhance web performance. The task will:
Combine all CSS files within a directory into a single stylesheet
Minify the stylesheet
Place the minified file in a specified directory with a specific name
Report the task execution time in the command line after completion
Grunt Task Configuration 
Gulp Task Configuration 
Task Configuration DifferenceGulp’s syntax is more concise. The strength of Gulp lies in its stream-based build system, allowing tasks to be created by sequentially piping processes.It’s akin to chaining methods on a selector function in jQuery.The magic is due to the object format that plugins exchange, known as Vinyl. Vinyl is an abstraction that describes a virtual file object—one that could refer to an existing file on the file system, a stream, or simply end with a null.
— Preslav Rachev Gulp vs Grunt. Why one? Why the Other?What I’ve observed is that most of the tasks I create with Gulp result in significantly shorter and cleaner task configuration files. In other words, with Gulp, there’s less code to write to perform the same processes.While I may be slightly biased, I do use both Grunt and Gulp. (I choose one over the other based on the type of project I’m working on.) The following table lists the Grunt and Gulp plugins used in the task:
Process
Grunt Plugin
Gulp Plugin
Concatenation
grunt-concat-css
gulp-concat-css
Minification
grunt-contrib-cssmin
gulp-cssmin
Display task-execution speed in the command line
time-grunt
gulp-duration
The execution method of a task varies between Grunt and Gulp.How Grunt Executes a TaskFor each process in a Grunt task, the following steps are required:
Open the processed file from the last process
Run the current process
Save the changes
Close the current processed file to allow the next process to access it
How Gulp Executes a TaskConversely, Gulp does not require intermediate steps involving temporary files between processes. The output of one process flows directly into the next, significantly reducing I/O time. This is why it’s “stream-based.” Gulp utilizes Orchestrator to run processes with maximum concurrency, aiming to execute processes simultaneously. Theoretically, this enables Gulp to complete tasks more quickly.Measuring Task-Execution SpeedYou can test the speed difference between Grunt and Gulp.Both can report the time taken to complete tasks. To measure the execution speed of the tasks we created earlier, the time-grunt and gulp-duration plugins were employed. Both the Grunt and Gulp tasks were executed five times each.The same source files were used (three CSS files), and the destination directory (i.e., the directory) was removed between each task execution. This ensured that the task runners had to write to disk each time the task was executed. Be cautious when interpreting the results of the following data, as many factors can influence the outcome, such as the differences in plugins for concatenation, minification, and reporting execution speed.Grunt Task-Execution Speeds
Test 1
915ms
Test 2
941ms
Test 3
908ms
Test 4
994ms
Test 5
938ms
Average Time
939.2ms
Gulp Task-Execution Speeds
Test 1
229ms
Test 2
229ms
Test 3
226ms
Test 4
225ms
Test 5
221ms
Average Time
226ms
In this particular scenario, Gulp was able to execute the CSS optimization task 4x faster than Grunt. While you won’t notice the difference for simple tasks, this can be a significant factor for complex build-automation tasks that take minutes to complete.It’s crucial to avoid unnecessary delays. Notably, a new version of Grunt is in the works, and it will also use Orchestrator, which is likely to lead to improved task-execution speeds. Check out this blog post by Zander Martineau, where he conducted a speed comparison test between Grunt and Gulp. He similarly reported that Gulp was faster than Grunt in completing tasks.Grunt was initiated in late 2011 and took about a year to gain attention. As the first to enter the market, it has a larger user base compared to Gulp. Gulp entered the scene in mid-2013 and gained notice early in 2014, with the number of adopters increasing since then.To gauge the number of developers using Grunt and Gulp, we can examine the npm download statistics for the grunt and gulp packages. Since downloading the grunt and/or gulp package is the first step to using the task runners, this serves as a reasonable starting point for quantifying the number of users.However, the “download” metric has several limitations for comparative purposes. Some developers might use both Grunt and Gulp. Gulp has released more version updates than Grunt, which could lead to increased download rates due to people updating their software.This measurement only tells part of the story. The following data is from npm-stat—a tool that reports statistics about npm packages.Grunt Usage Stats
Total downloads
14 million
Number of downloads last month
1.3 million
Average number of downloads per day
42,075
Gulp Usage Stats
Total downloads
5.9 million
Number of downloads last month
~929,000
Average number of downloads per day
32,479
Plugins are fundamental to task configuration.While you can certainly write your own processes for automation, it’s far easier to utilize a pre-existing one if it’s available. Both Grunt and Gulp have official plugin directories on their websites. They both display the number of plugins listed in their respective directories. Grunt boasts 4,663 plugins, while Gulp has 1,561 plugins. Clearly, Grunt has more plugins than Gulp, nearly 3x more compared to its counterpart. Keep in mind that Grunt has a head start, so having more plugins is to be expected.When relying on a software tool, it’s advisable to consider its update frequency.You want to use tools that are rapidly and continually improved through bug fixes, security patches, and feature enhancements. By examining the GitHub repositories of Grunt and Gulp, we can gain insights into the development activity of these two open-source projects. This is because GitHub displays the number of commits, releases, and contributors.Commits occur whenever the source code is updated, which can be a good indicator of how active the project’s developers are in fixing bugs and adding/improving features. In software, releases refer to distinct stages of development.For example, (using semantic versioning conventions) v1.0.0 is the first stable release. v2.1.2 is
