Seven open-source monorepos that already run on Turborepo or Nx, timed under their own runner and under vx: cold, cache restore, one-file edit and a clean clone. Raw seconds, min of three, slower rows included.
benchmarksThe synthetic benchmark runs one generated graph. This post times repos someone else wrote: open-source monorepos that already use Turborepo or Nx, each moved to native vx config, then run under both tools on the same machine.
Both tools build the same outputs; that is the assumption behind every row.
main with bun build --compile: 522c23b for
create-t3-turbo, react-email, trpc and typescript-eslint; 731cf92 for
vercel/ai, medusa and TanStack query; 1ee058c for the react-email clone
row.bunx @vzn/vx-migrate --native --no-install, then
vx lock.--concurrency=10, Nx
--parallel=10, vx --concurrency 10.git clone at another path, node_modules
copied, sharing the first checkout’s cache, with no outputs.Seconds, min of 3. Shorter bars are less time; each chart keeps its table one click away.
build typecheck, 11 tasks, commit 8f945b7.
| Arm | Turborepo 2.5.8 | vx |
|---|---|---|
| cold | 13.63 s | 10.97 s |
| restore | 0.28 s | 0.09 s |
| edit | 4.69 s | 4.89 s |
| edit, clean: false | 4.61 s | 3.83 s |
| clone | 0.28 s | 0.11 s |
Both edit rows are a rerun on vx 5b2b0a1 (same machine shape, min of
3). The second sets cache.outputs.clean: false on the three tsc build
tasks: by default vx deletes a task’s declared outputs before it runs on
a miss, tsc’s .cache/tsbuildinfo.json included, so tsc rebuilds api
from scratch.
build, 4 tasks, commit 1531a39.
| Arm | Turborepo 2.9.14 | vx |
|---|---|---|
| cold | 28.92 s | 25.11 s |
| restore | 0.32 s | 0.22 s |
| edit | 28.23 s | 26.29 s |
| clone | 0.34 s | 0.26 s |
build, 7 tasks, commit d756e59.
| Arm | Turborepo 2.10.12 | vx |
|---|---|---|
| cold | 9.29 s | 7.48 s |
| restore | 0.17 s | 0.15 s |
| edit | 9.40 s | 7.04 s |
| clone | 0.16 s | 0.13 s |
build, 82 tasks, commit e8c8e32.
| Arm | Turborepo 2.9.14 | vx |
|---|---|---|
| cold | 144.96 s | 135.33 s |
| restore | 0.92 s | 0.45 s |
| edit | 156.38 s | 145.61 s |
| clone | 0.97 s | 0.65 s |
build build:plugin, 83 tasks, commit 5018ab67.
| Arm | Turborepo 1.13.4 | vx |
|---|---|---|
| cold | 316.57 s | 307.81 s |
| restore | 3.56 s | 3.45 s |
| edit | 268.92 s | 259.96 s |
| clone | 2.59 s | 3.54 s |
build, 25 tasks, commit 817bd02.
| Arm | Nx 23.2.1 | vx |
|---|---|---|
| cold | 35.01 s | 29.37 s |
| restore | 0.94 s | 0.32 s |
| edit | 34.10 s | 29.03 s |
| clone | 0.96 s | 0.58 s |
build, 18 tasks, commit 57e7cccce.
| Arm | Nx 23.2.0 | vx |
|---|---|---|
| cold | 52.50 s | 41.77 s |
| restore | 4.45 s | 5.32 s |
| edit | 40.69 s | 38.97 s |
| clone | 4.15 s | 5.37 s |
npx @vzn/vx initnpx @vzn/vx run build --allThen time your runner’s command and vx run on the same machine, each
on its own cache. More at vznjs.github.io/vx.
PerformanceWhere a task run spends its time
We traced one workspace through vx, Turborepo 2.11.8 and Nx 23.3.0, step by step, cold and warm. Most of a run is the tasks themselves. The rest is a list of choices, and some of vx's extra work is there on purpose.
CachingAn input changes mid-run: what four task tools do
A task reads src/a.ts, and while it runs, something writes src/a.ts. Which cache entry gets saved? We read the source of vx, Turborepo, Nx and Vite Task to find out. Each made a different trade.
comparisonThere was no choice on the market
Turborepo is fast and stops at the edge of a laptop. Nx scales and is a product with a runner attached. Between a tool that will not grow and a platform that will not get out of the way, the thing a large JavaScript monorepo actually needs did not exist. That is why vx does.