Web Workers vs WebAssembly

Developers should use Web Workers when handling CPU-intensive operations like data processing, image manipulation, or complex calculations that could otherwise freeze the UI meets developers should learn webassembly when building performance-critical web applications, such as games, video editing tools, or scientific simulations, where javascript may be too slow. Here's our take.

Web Workers

Nice Pick

Developers should use Web Workers when handling CPU-intensive operations like data processing, image manipulation, or complex calculations that could otherwise freeze the UI

Pros

• They are essential for building responsive web apps, such as real-time dashboards or games, by offloading heavy work to background threads
• Related to: javascript, service-workers

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

WebAssembly

Developers should learn WebAssembly when building performance-critical web applications, such as games, video editing tools, or scientific simulations, where JavaScript may be too slow

Pros

• It's also useful for porting existing codebases from languages like C++ to the web without rewriting them in JavaScript
• Related to: javascript, rust

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Web Workers is a concept while WebAssembly is a platform. We picked Web Workers based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Web Workers wins

Based on overall popularity. Web Workers is more widely used, but WebAssembly excels in its own space.