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NPM vs Yarn - Help me decide


Introduction

Developers are usually caught in a dilemma when choosing between package managers to use in building and managing project dependencies. Two popular package managers in the ecosystem are NPM (Node package manager) and Yarn (package manager created by Facebook). We’ll be looking at these package managers side by side considering the following features:

At the end of this article, you’ll be able to decide which package manager to use when building your project.

Performance

Performance has been a bone of contention when comparing these two stacks, NPM ( Node package manager) and Yarn (dependency manager created by Facebook). It was believed since it’s introduction, that Yarn had better performance as opposed to NPM. In recent times, NPM (version 6.4.1 ) has bridged the gap with Yarn (version 1.9.4) in terms of performance. In this section of this article, we’ll compare the performance of these stacks and also their CLI syntax, offline capabilities and ability to install packages in parallel.

Module installation speed

This is where we’ll put package installation speeds to the test using a benchmark performed by appleboy. In this benchmark, we’ll be performing speed test with the latest version of Node v10.11.0 at the time of this writing. You can perform these tests yourself by cloning this repository. The result of the test is stated in the table below:

test case npm install npm ci yarn
install without cache (without node_modules) 3m40s 3m10s 1m1s
install with cache (without node_modules) 1m1s 18s 2s
install with cache (with node_modules) 54s 21s 2s
install without internet (with node_modules) - - 2s

Yes! You saw that. Yarn installs without internet while NPM doesn’t. With those results, we don’t need a mother confessor to decide which of the package managers are faster.

CLI syntax Let’s examine the CLI syntax provided by NPM and Yarn. Note that some commands appear in both package managers but do not necessarily do the same thing.

Yarn NPM
yarn: This command is used to install all the packages in a package.json file. npm install: This is used by NPM to install packages from the package.json file.
yarn run: This command is used to run script object specified in the package.json file. npm run: npm run is an alias for the command npm run-script, which does the same thing thing as its Yarn equivalent.
yarn add [package]: This command is used to install a package npm install [package]: This installs a package from NPM.
yarn remove [package]: This command is used to remove a package. npm uninstall [package]: This is the NPM equivalent for removing or uninstalling packages.
yarn version: This command is used to update the version of your application using semantic versioning. npm version: This command lists the version of your application, Node, NPM as well as other Node dependencies.
yarn upgrade: This command upgrade all the packages in the package.json file. NPM has an equivalent but is an installed package. [npm-upgrade](https://www.npmjs.com/package/npm-upgrade).
yarn self-update: This command is used to update Yarn to the latest available version. At the time of this writing, this command is not yet available. NPM has no equivalent command as at the time of this writing.

Let’s look at a few of the differences between NPM and Yarn’s CLI syntax in detail:

  • yarn version vs npm version: These commands are the same but yield different outputs. Yarn’s use of the version keyword is in terms of updating the tag of application in semver (semantic versioning) format, whereas NPM displays a list portraying the version of the current project, Node, NPM, and other dependencies.
  • yarn upgrade vs npm-upgrade: The upgrade keyword, updates all the packages specified in the package.json file for Yarn. NPM doesn’t have an equivalent CLI command but has a global utility module which is installed by running npm i -g npm-upgrade, which is used to update all the packages in package.json by running npm-upgrade.

Offline download Yarn’s offline download feature is one cool feature. How does it work? packages installed using Yarn are installed on the user disk. Although many may condemn this practice, it boycotts the overhead of having to send HTTP requests to get packages which have been installed before. That way, without internet, yarn or yarn add [package_name] installs your packages. NPM, on the other, hand needs the internet to make those HTTP packages to get previously installed packages which many people may like because it doesn’t populate their local disk with packages they may only use one-time.

Parallel Installation Parallel installation is another cool feature exhibited by yarn out of the box. Yarn installs packages in a parallel manner. That is if I have to install five packages and package 2 is taking forever to install, Yarn goes over to package 3 or 4 or 5 it basically installs the packages side by side, unlike the serial manner which NPM uses. Parallel installation is one of the reasons why Yarn triumphs in speed battle with NPM.

Security

Yarn uses a checksum to verify the integrity of packages installed before any code is executed. What is a checksum? A checksum basically is a string of characters created by applying a mathematical algorithm to the contents of a file. It is used to check whether or not two files are the same. How does it work? Anytime a package is installed and is about to be executed, an integrity check is done by using the package’s checksum. NPM, on the other hand, performs integrity checks via SHA-1 (Secure Hash Algorithm) specified in the package-lock.json file. An SHA-1 string is appended on each package block in the package-lock.json and integrity check is performed using the integrity key, which looks like:

...

"wordwrap": {
    "version": "0.0.3",
    "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/wordwrap/-/wordwrap-0.0.3.tgz",
    "integrity": "sha1-o9XabNXAvAAI03I0u68b7WMFkQc="
}

...

License checks
Yarn comes with a handy license checker right out of the box, just in case you’ll want to view licenses for your installed packages. The command yarn licenses list will in alphabetical order list all of the packages which were installed by the yarn or yarn install command and also give you the license (as well as URL to the source code) associated with each package. NPM, on the other hand, doesn’t have a handy license checker out of the box. There are a few open source packages which perform this function, one of which is a license-checker by davglass. Let’s examine both commands:

yarn licenses list

yarn licenses v0.14.0
├─ abab@1.0.3
│  ├─ License: ISC
│  └─ URL: git+https://github.com/jsdom/abab.git
├─ abbrev@1.0.9
│  ├─ License: ISC
│  └─ URL: http://github.com/isaacs/abbrev-js
├─ acorn-globals@1.0.9
│  ├─ License: MIT
│  └─ URL: https://github.com/ForbesLindesay/acorn-globals.git
├─ acorn@2.7.0
│  ├─ License: MIT
│  └─ URL: https://github.com/ternjs/acorn.git
├─ align-text@0.1.4
│  ├─ License: MIT
│  └─ URL: git://github.com/jonschlinkert/align-text.git
├─ amdefine@1.0.0
│  ├─ License: BSD-3-Clause AND MIT
│  └─ URL: https://github.com/jrburke/amdefine.git
├─ ansi-escapes@1.4.0
│  ├─ License: MIT
│  └─ URL: https://github.com/sindresorhus/ansi-escapes.git
├─ ansi-regex@2.0.0
│  ├─ License: MIT
│  └─ URL: https://github.com/sindresorhus/ansi-regex.git
...

After installing the license-checker package from GitHub. Run license-checker. PS: Both commands should be run inside the root directory of your project. The output is like so:

├─ cli@0.4.3
│  ├─ repository: http://github.com/chriso/cli
│  └─ licenses: MIT
├─ glob@3.1.14
│  ├─ repository: https://github.com/isaacs/node-glob
│  └─ licenses: UNKNOWN
├─ graceful-fs@1.1.14
│  ├─ repository: https://github.com/isaacs/node-graceful-fs
│  └─ licenses: UNKNOWN
├─ inherits@1.0.0
│  ├─ repository: https://github.com/isaacs/inherits
│  └─ licenses: UNKNOWN
├─ jshint@0.9.1
│  └─ licenses: MIT
├─ lru-cache@1.0.6
│  ├─ repository: https://github.com/isaacs/node-lru-cache
│  └─ licenses: MIT
├─ lru-cache@2.0.4
│  ├─ repository: https://github.com/isaacs/node-lru-cache
│  └─ licenses: MIT
├─ minimatch@0.0.5
│  ├─ repository: https://github.com/isaacs/minimatch
│  └─ licenses: MIT
├─ minimatch@0.2.9
│  ├─ repository: https://github.com/isaacs/minimatch
│  └─ licenses: MIT
├─ sigmund@1.0.0
│  ├─ repository: https://github.com/isaacs/sigmund
│  └─ licenses: UNKNOWN
└─ yui-lint@0.1.1
   ├─ licenses: BSD
      └─ repository: http://github.com/yui/yui-lint

Support

NPM is an open source dependency manager created by Isaac Z. Schlueter to meet up with the shortcomings of similar packages such as PEAR. Yarn on the order hand was developed by Facebook to meet up with the shortcomings of NPM. There’s a lot of developer traffic tending towards Yarn reasons being that Yarn is quite faster than NPM. Like shown above on this page, Yarn which is fairly young has more stars compared to NPM as at the time of this writing. These two packages are now well aware of themselves, with Yarn being able to be installed using NPM. Yarn, on the other hand, can install packages from the package-lock.json by using the [yarn import](https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/cli/import) command. Which will help migrate projects relying on package-lock.json to Yarn. To know more, you can visit the [yarn-import](https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/cli/import#toc-motivation) documentation.

From Yarn’s blog:

This feature is one of the first fruits of a continuing collaboration between the maintainers of the two package managers. We feel strongly about the two tools being aware of each other and providing an easy transition path between them…

NPM installs all and every package from npmjs.com which hinders accessibility in the event that one goes down, Yarn, on the other hand, installs from multiple repositories npmjs.com as well as Bower. While this doesn’t guarantee everyday availability but it reduces the probability of unavailability to the barest minimum. In the spirit of open sourcing, Listed below are links to their individual repositories, PRs would be welcomed in any of the repositories.

Ease of use

Ease of use or user-friendliness is the last feature we’ll be looking at in this article. In this section, we’ll be looking at two criteria (CLI and user experience), which we’ll use to examine the user-friendliness of these package managers.

CLI (Command Line Interface) Yes! you read that right. I mean, it’s CLI why would UI be a criterion. Let’s take a look at how the terminal looks like when we’re running a simple npm install **** or yarn command.

npm install

npm_vs_yarn-npm-install.png

yarn

npm_vs_yarn-yarn_install.png

Both installations were done with the same package.json file. We can see that NPM and Yarn have different CLIs. NPM generates noise during installation which can be silenced by using the -s flag to run it in silent mode.

User experience Both package managers have good user experience, like in the case of initializing a new project directory using yarn init or npm init. Where they both provide an interactive mode helping the user set up a new project. Yarn comes out of the box like stated above in performance section with an upgrade command yarn upgrade which helps to update all the dependencies in the project. This command also has an interactive feature which can be used by running yarn upgrade-interactive [--latest] which outputs like so:

[1/? Choose which packages to update. (Press <space> to select, <a> to toggle all, <i> to inverse selection) devDependencies
❯◯ autoprefixer      6.7.7  ❯  7.0.0          https://github.com/postcss/autoprefixer#readme
 ◯ webpack           2.4.1  ❯  2.5.1          https://github.com/webpack/webpack

 dependencies
 ◯ bull              2.2.6  ❯  3.0.0-alpha.3  https://github.com/OptimalBits/bull#readme
 ◯ fs-extra          3.0.0  ❯  3.0.1          https://github.com/jprichardson/node-fs-extra
 ◯ socket.io         1.7.3  ❯  1.7.4          https://github.com/socketio/socket.io#readme
 ◯ socket.io-client  1.7.3  ❯  1.7.4          https://github.com/Automattic/socket.io-client#readme

NPM, on the other hand, exhibits this same level of user experience just that this feature doesn’t come out of the box but with a package called npm-upgrade. This package can be installed by running this command npm i -g upgrade. After installing, typing npm-upgrade in your project directory and hitting the Enter key will yield the following output:

npm_vs_yarn_npm-upgrade.png

Yarn vs npm: What are the differences?

Introduction

Yarn and npm are both package managers widely used in the JavaScript ecosystem. While they serve the same purpose of managing dependencies, there are some key differences between the two. This Markdown code provides a concise comparison of Yarn and npm.

  1. Installation speed: Yarn generally installs packages faster than npm due to its parallel downloading feature. When a package has multiple dependencies, Yarn can download them simultaneously, while npm downloads them sequentially. This parallel downloading capability significantly reduces installation times.

  2. Security: Yarn has a stricter security model compared to npm. Yarn uses checksums to validate every package that is installed, ensuring that the packages have not been tampered with or compromised. On the other hand, npm relies on HTTPS connections to download packages but does not perform the same level of validation as Yarn. This makes Yarn a more secure option for package installation.

  3. Dependency resolution: Yarn and npm use different algorithms for resolving dependencies. Yarn uses a lockfile (yarn.lock) that guarantees reproducible builds by locking the exact versions of dependencies. npm, on the other hand, uses a package-lock.json file. While both achieve similar outcomes, Yarn's lockfile is generally considered more reliable and consistent.

  4. Compatibility with multiple registries: Yarn is capable of seamlessly connecting to multiple registries simultaneously, making it easy to work with both the npm registry and private registries. This flexibility allows for more efficient management of dependencies across different registries. npm can also work with multiple registries, but it requires additional configuration steps to switch between them.

  5. Execution speed: Yarn performs operations such as package installation and dependency resolution faster than npm. Yarn accomplishes this by using a parallel processing approach, which can significantly improve the speed of various commands in comparison to npm.

  6. Offline Mode: Yarn provides an offline mode that allows developers to install packages and work on projects without requiring an internet connection. This is particularly useful in situations where developers need to work in environments with limited or no internet access. npm does not have a built-in offline mode, making it dependent on an internet connection for most operations.

In summary, Yarn offers faster installation speed, enhanced security features, a more reliable lockfile for dependency resolution, compatibility with multiple registries, superior execution speed, and an offline mode compared to npm. These differences make Yarn a preferred choice for many JavaScript developers.

Advice on npm and Yarn
Needs advice
on
npmnpm
and
YarnYarn

From a StackShare Community member: “I’m a freelance web developer (I mostly use Node.js) and for future projects I’m debating between npm or Yarn as my default package manager. I’m a minimalist so I hate installing software if I don’t need to- in this case that would be Yarn. For those who made the switch from npm to Yarn, what benefits have you noticed? For those who stuck with npm, are you happy you with it?"

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Replies (14)
Julian Sanchez
Lead Developer at Chore Champion · | 11 upvotes · 238.4K views
Recommends
on
YarnYarn
at

We use Yarn because it allows us to more simply manage our node_modules. It also simplifies commands and increases speed when installing modules. Our teams module download time was cut in half after switching from NPM to Yarn. We now require all employees to use Yarn (to prevent errors with package-lock.json and yarn.lock).

See more
Recommends
on
npmnpm

I use npm since new version is pretty fast as well (Yarn may be still faster a bit but the difference isn't huge). No need for other dependency and mainly Yarn sometimes do not work. Sometimes when I want to install project dependencies I got error using Yarn but with npm everything is installed correctly.

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Mark Nelissen
Recommends
on
npmnpmnpmnpm

I use npm because I also mainly use React and TypeScript. Since several typings (from DefinitelyTyped) depend on the React typings, Yarn tends to mess up which leads to duplicate libraries present (different versions of the same type definition), which hinders the Typescript compiler. Npm always resolves to a single version per transitive dependency. At least that's my experience with both.

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Recommends
on
YarnYarn

p.s.

I am not sure about the performance of the latest version of npm, whether it is different from my understanding of it below. Because I use npm very rarely when I had the following knowledge.

------⏬

I use Yarn because, first, yarn is the first tool to lock the version. Second, although npm also supports the lock version, when you use npm to lock the version, and then use package-lock.json on other systems, package-lock.json Will be modified. You understand what I mean, when you deploy projects based on Git...

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Recommends
on
YarnYarn

As far as I know Yarn is a super module of NPM. But it still needs npm to run.

Yarn was developed by Facebook's guys to fix some npm issues and performance.

If you use the last version of npm most of this problem does not exist anymore.

You can choose the option which makes you more confortable. I like using yarn because I'm used to it.

In the end the packages will be the same. Just try both and choose the one you feel more confortable. :)

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Francois Leurent
Recommends
on
npmnpm
at

We tend to stick to npm, yarn is only a fancy alternative, not 10x better. Using a self -hosted private repository (via sinopia/npm-mirror) make package locking (mostly) pointless.

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Recommends
on
YarnYarn

I am a minimalist too. I once had issues with installing Nuxt.js using NPM so I had to install Yarn but I also found that the Dev experience was much better

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Izzur Zuhri
Recommends
on
npmnpm

I use npm because it has a lot of community support and the performance difference with alternative tool is not so significant for me.

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Digital All
Recommends
on
npmnpm

I use npm because its packaged with node installation and handles npm tokens in CI/CD tools for private packages/libraries.

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tataata
Frontend designer and developer · | 3 upvotes · 223.9K views
Recommends
on
YarnYarn

Yarn made it painless for the team to sync on versions of packages that we use on the project <3

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Shuuji TAKAHASHI
Recommends
on
YarnYarn

I use Yarn because it outputs nice progress messages with cute emoji and installs packages quickly if the package is cached. Also, Yarn creates yarn.lock file which makes the developer use the consistent environment.

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Recommends
on
npmnpm

I use npm because its the official package manager for Node. It's reliability, security and speed has increased over time so the battle is over!

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Tor Hagemann
Principal Software Engineer at Socotra · | 3 upvotes · 124K views
Recommends
on
npmnpmYarnYarn

You should use whichever had the best DX (developer experience) for your team. If you are doing a massive front-end project, consider yarn if not only because it makes it a snap to go from zero to ready. What some people say about npm being more stable or easier for smaller projects is highly true as well. (not to mention, you sometimes have to install yarn) But, note that official NodeJS Docker images ship with both npm and yarn. If you want to use yarn, put package-lock=false and optionally save-exact=true in your project's .npmrc file. Compare whether you prefer the ergonomics of yarn global add over npm install -g or see fewer meaningless warnings for the specific set of dependencies you leverage.

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Denys Slipetskyy
Recommends
on
YarnYarn
at

I use Yarn because it process my dependencies way faster, predictable deps resolution order, upgrade-interactive is very handy + some Yarn specific features (workspaces, Plug’n’Play alternative installation strategy) ...

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Decisions about npm and Yarn
Oleksandr Fedotov
Senior Software Engineer at joyn · | 3 upvotes · 263.8K views

As we have to build the application for many different TV platforms we want to split the application logic from the device/platform specific code. Previously we had different repositories and it was very hard to keep the development process when changes were done in multiple repositories, as we had to synchronize code reviews as well as merging and then updating the dependencies of projects. This issues would be even more critical when building the project from scratch what we did at Joyn. Therefor to keep all code in one place, at the same time keeping in separated in different modules we decided to give a try to monorepo. First we tried out lerna which was fine at the beginning, but later along the way we had issues with adding new dependencies which came out of the blue and were not easy to fix. Next round of evolution was yarn workspaces, we are still using it and are pretty happy with dev experience it provides. And one more advantage we got when switched to yarn workspaces that we also switched from npm to yarn what improved the state of the lock file a lot, because with npm package-lock file was updated every time you run npm install, frequent updates of package-lock file were causing very often merge conflicts. So right now we not just having faster dependencies installation time but also no conflicts coming from lock file.

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Petr Bambušek
Head of Frontend at Mews · | 2 upvotes · 274.5K views
Chose
YarnYarn
over
npmnpm
at
()

This was no real choice - we switched the moment Yarn was available, and never looked back. Yarn is the only reasonable frontend package manager that's actually being developed. They even aim to heal the node_modules madness with v2! Npm is just copying its ideas on top of introducing massive bugs with every change.

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What are some alternatives to npm and Yarn?
gulp
Build system automating tasks: minification and copying of all JavaScript files, static images. More capable of watching files to automatically rerun the task when a file changes.
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Bower
Bower is a package manager for the web. It offers a generic, unopinionated solution to the problem of front-end package management, while exposing the package dependency model via an API that can be consumed by a more opinionated build stack. There are no system wide dependencies, no dependencies are shared between different apps, and the dependency tree is flat.
NuGet
A free and open-source package manager designed for the Microsoft development platform. It is also distributed as a Visual Studio extension.
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