Developing a quality software product is a time-intensive task. The good news is that automation tools are available to help developers to save time and manual effort and reduce the risk of errors. These tools are best known for automating mundane tasks and speeding up development.

Task runners are among the automation tools used for web development and are designed to automate one or more computing tasks. Without task runner tools, developers spend more time executing the same task repeatedly, hindering productivity.

Some of the best JavaScript task runners help software teams optimise workflows, divert their energy and attention towards other pressing tasks, and improve productivity. Tasks that need to be done manually for hours on end can be done automatically in a fraction of the time.

A wide assortment of task runner tools is available, and Gulp vs Grunt are two popular choices. Here, we’re comparing these task runner programmes, including their similarities and differences, and which is best.

What Is Gulp?

Gulp is an open-source MIT-licensed task runner launched in 2013 as a collaborative effort between the GitHub community and U.S.-based software company, Fractal Innovations. It’s developed on Node.js, a JavaScript platform, and uses the npm package manager or Node Package Manager.

Gulp is a command-line tool with gulp-cli as its user interface. This program also uses the configuration file package.json and a task listing file, gulpfile.js. It embraces the “code over configuration” principle and declares each task definition a JavaScript function on Gulpfile.js. Adding these files to the web directory is the first step to optimising your development workflow.

A key feature of the JavaScript-containing gulp file is that it combines individual file operations to be executed via the node.js module stream. The Gulp tool is known for its excellent performance because its individual stream processes run in memory before writing the results back to the respective files.

As tasks are programmed but not configured, programmers and developers need to know how to use node.js and JavaScript to use Gulp. This automation tool is supported by a directory containing premade task modules in plugin format of more than 3000 extensions, including gulp-cssmyicons for converting SVG icons into CSS and gulp-php-minify for optimising PHP codes.

What Is Grunt?

Grunt was developed in 2012 by JavaScript developer Ben Altman. Its program code is available for free under the MIT license on the official website or on GitHub.

Similar to Gulp, Grunt is based on Node.js, and grunt.cli is its command line interface that can be installed using npm. Grunt file package.json has all the relevant metadata on the automatable tasks, including the name, version, license, and related dependencies.

The Grunt file is located in either JavaScript or CoffeeScript and contains code to integrate and configure individual plugins using the NPM package manager. Defining tasks in the file gruntfile.js allows you to specify the configuration in each task. This file is easy to comprehend, making Grunt a more intuitive tool.

The plugin folder contains more than 6000 Grunt tool tasks for multiple purposes, from grunt-contrib-connect to start local web servers to grunt-contrib-clean to clean files and folders.

Gulp vs Grunt - The Similarities

You can use Gulp and Grunt to automate functions and common tasks, including debugging code, compressing images, and applying changes to files on the server. While these tasks are pretty simple, they can be quite time-intensive, especially when you’re working with a large website that needs regular updates.

Here’s a short list of the similarities between Gulp and Grunt:

Run on an open-source JavaScript runtime environment
Run tasks using Node.js
Use plugins to designate and automate tasks
Use .js files to build tasks

The following tasks can be automated using either Gulp or Grunt:

Compress image files automatically
Remove debugger and console statements from scripts
Minify, concatenate and clean up JavaScript and CSS
Run unit tests
Update databases
Send updates to the production server
Compile fewer files
Lint code for errors
Maintain WordPress themes
Batch rename files
Add attributes to XML docs
Compare source and destination files

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Gulp vs Grunt - The Differences

So, Gulp and Grunt can execute many of the same tasks; but the key difference lies in how they’re executed.

Here are the key differences between Gulp and Grunt.

Plugins

Gulp contains a series of plugins, with each written to perform a specific task. The Gulp plugin library contains over 3000 plugins for various applications.

Grunt has more plugins in its registry, over 6,000, which you can use to complete multiple tasks simultaneously.

So, the plugin creation process varies depending on the tool you choose.

Writing Code

Grunt uses JSON-like data configuration files, while Gulp relies on user-friendly JavaScript. While you’re working in Grunt, you’ll need to declare source and destination files for every task, which is why you’ll find Gulp code shorter than Grunt code. Once you’ve set up automated tasks, this may not be a concern.

However, Grunt code can get cumbersome to write for a large project. Its longer and more complicated build flows make it difficult to add fresh tasks with the risk of duplicating processes or rearranging the order of tasks.

While both tools automatically run tasks when you add files or make changes to the files in the directory, Grunt needs you to install and run the watch plugin for this feature. Here, the Gulp tool’s advantage lies in its built-in process for watching data files.

Speed

Gulp has the edge over Grunt in terms of speed, as it uses streams and handles tasks in memory, which means only one file is written.

Gulp is able to handle multiple tasks simultaneously compared to Grunt, which can handle only 1 task at a time.

Configuration vs Code

Gulp is designed to use single-purpose plugins and code to complete your tasks, which makes creating plugins an easy task. Its plugin configuration involves a more standardised process than Grunt.

But while many people find Gulp code easier to read, Grunt is much easier to write. So for a large team with diverse skills, you’ll probably find that the Grunt tool as a taskrunner is best.

Gulp vs Grunt - Which is the Best JavaScript Task Runner?

There’s no right or wrong choice between Gulp vs Grunt; both task runners are great. When you’re deciding between the two, consider whether you’re more inclined to code (Gulp) or configure (Grunt). Processing speed, and how many and what type of plugins, are the other factors that come into play in the decision-making process.

You’ve probably settled on a favourite tool after reading through this comparison. But if you haven’t, try testing both free task runners and see the difference for yourself. You may find either useful for different projects.

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