SWC

SWC is a super-fast TypeScript and JavaScript compiler written in Rust, designed as a drop-in replacement for Babel. It provides 20 to 70 times faster compilation while maintaining equivalent functionality for syntax transformation, including JSX, TypeScript stripping, and converting modern JavaScript for browser compatibility.

The speed advantage comes from being compiled to native code rather than running in a JavaScript runtime, and from leveraging Rust's memory safety and parallelism. SWC is the default compiler in Next.js, and Vite can use it through plugins. It also powers minification in many build pipelines as a faster alternative to Terser. For web development teams, SWC means faster feedback loops during development and shorter production build times. The plugin system allows custom transformations, though the ecosystem is smaller than Babel's extensive plugin library.