---
title: "Releasing Babel 8 today: ESM-only, drop ES5 default, and a smooth migration path · Babel"
url: https://daily.dev/posts/releasing-babel-8-today-esm-only-drop-es5-default-and-a-smooth-migration-path-babel-qqddo1fll
source_url: https://babeljs.io/blog/2026/06/16/8.0.0
type: article
source: "Babel"
published: 2026-06-16T14:22:14.632Z
updated: 2026-06-17T10:21:05.078Z
tags: ["javascript", "typescript", "babel"]
reading_time: 7
upvotes: 9
comments: 2
language: en
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Releasing Babel 8 today: ESM-only, drop ES5 default, and a smooth migration path · Babel

**[Babel](https://daily.dev/sources/babel)** · 7 min read · 9 upvotes · 2 comments

## Summary

Babel 8 is officially released after 8 years since Babel 7. The major changes include: Babel is now ESM-only and requires Node.js 24+; @babel/preset-env no longer compiles to ES5 by default, instead targeting Browserslist's defaults (roughly ES2023); TypeScript types are now bundled in all Babel packages eliminating the need for @types/babel__* packages; the loose and spec options are removed/deprecated in favor of assumptions; and polyfill injection via corejs/useBuiltIns options is extracted to separate packages. The release focuses on modernization rather than new features, with a migration guide provided. The Babel team also notes declining donations despite growing download counts (651M weekly) and calls for community support.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://babeljs.io/blog/2026/06/16/8.0.0>

## Community discussion

Top comments from developers on daily.dev.

**@itsmnthn** · 0 upvotes

> Finally, ditching es5 default and moving to esm ❤️

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Tags: [#javascript](https://daily.dev/tags/javascript), [#typescript](https://daily.dev/tags/typescript), [#babel](https://daily.dev/tags/babel)

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