JavaScriptEasy
What do you think of CommonJS vs ESM?
By FrontendPro Editorial Team Updated 8/8/2026
#JavaScript
Answer
JavaScript has evolved its module systems. ESM (ECMAScript Modules) using import / export is the official standard, natively supported in modern browsers and Node.js, designed for both synchronous and asynchronous use cases. CommonJS (CJS) using require / module.exports was the original standard for Node.js, primarily synchronous, and remains prevalent in the Node ecosystem. AMD (Asynchronous Module Definition) using define / require was an early system designed for asynchronous loading in browsers but is now largely obsolete, replaced by ESM.
