Comparing NPM, YARN, and PNPM Package Managers: Which One is Right for Your Distributed Project to handle High Loads?
If you are a Frontend or Full Stack developer, you probably have used one or more of these package managers: NPM, YARN, and PNPM. They are tools that help you manage the dependencies of your project, such as libraries, frameworks, and utilities.
Let’s start with a brief introduction of each package manager.
NPM
NPM stands for Node Package Manager. It is the default and most popular package manager for JavaScript. It was created in 2009 by Isaac Schlueter as a way to share and reuse code for Node.js projects. Since then, it has grown to become a huge repository of over 2 million packages that can be used for both front-end and back-end development.
NPM has a simple and intuitive command-line interface that allows you to install, update, uninstall, and publish packages. It also has a website (npmjs.com) where you can browse, search, and download packages. NPM uses a file called package.json to store the metadata of your project, such as name, version, dependencies, scripts, etc. It also creates a folder called node_modules where it stores the installed packages.
Advantages
- It is widely used and supported by the JavaScript community
- It has a large and diverse collection of packages for almost any use case
- It has a rich set of features and options to customize your project
- It has a built-in security audit tool that checks for vulnerabilities in your dependencies
Disadvantages
- It can be slow and inefficient when installing or updating packages
- It can create duplicate or nested dependencies that take up disk space and cause conflicts
- It can have inconsistent or outdated versions of packages across different environments
YARN
YARN stands for Yet Another Resource Negotiator. It is an alternative package manager for JavaScript that was created in 2016 by Facebook, Google, Exponent, and Tilde. It was designed to address some of the issues and limitations of NPM, such as speed, reliability, and security.
YARN has a similar command-line interface as NPM, but with some differences and improvements. It also uses the same package.json file as NPM, but it adds another file called yarn.lock that locks the exact versions of your dependencies. It also creates a node_modules folder where it stores the installed packages.
Advantages
- It is faster and more efficient than NPM when installing or updating packages
- It uses a flat dependency structure that avoids duplication and nesting of packages
- It supports offline installation of packages from a local cache
- It has a better resolution algorithm that ensures consistent and deterministic versions of packages across different environments
Disadvantages
- It is not as widely used or supported as NPM by the JavaScript community
- It may not be compatible with some NPM packages or features
- It may have some bugs or issues that are not yet fixed or resolved
PNPM
PNPM stands for Performant Node Package Manager. It is another alternative package manager for JavaScript that was created in 2016 by Zoltan Kochan. It was designed to be faster, lighter, and more secure than both NPM and YARN.
PNPM has a similar command-line interface as NPM and YARN, but with some differences and enhancements. It also uses the same package.json file as NPM and YARN, but it adds another file called pnpm-lock.yaml that locks the exact versions of your dependencies. It also creates a node_modules folder where it stores the installed packages.
Advantage
- It is faster and lighter than both NPM and YARN when installing or updating packages
- It uses hard links or symlinks to link packages from a global store instead of copying them to the node_modules folder
- It supports strict dependency isolation that prevents packages from accessing modules that are not declared in their package.json file
- It has a built-in security audit tool that checks for vulnerabilities in your dependencies
Disadvantages
- It is not as widely used or supported as NPM or YARN by the JavaScript community
- It may not be compatible with some NPM or YARN packages or features
- It may have some bugs or issues that are not yet fixed or resolved
Comparison
Summary
Performance
One of the most important aspects of a package manager is how fast it can install and update the dependencies of your project. This can affect your development workflow, as well as your deployment process. To measure the performance of NPM, YARN, and PNPM, I ran some benchmarks using a sample project with ~1000 dependencies. Here are the results:
As you can see, PNPM is the fastest package manager, followed by YARN and then NPM. This is because PNPM uses a novel approach called “symlinked node_modules”, which creates hard links to the global store of packages instead of copying them to each project. This saves disk space and reduces duplication. YARN also uses a global cache of packages, but it still copies them to each project. NPM does not use any caching mechanism, so it downloads and installs each package every time.
Features
Another aspect of a package manager is what features it offers to make your life easier as a developer. Some of the features that I consider important are:
- Workspaces: This feature allows you to manage multiple sub-projects within a single repository, and share dependencies between them. This is useful for monorepo architectures, where you have multiple packages that depend on each other
- Lockfiles: This feature ensures that the exact versions of your dependencies are installed every time, regardless of any changes in the registry or in the package.json files. This improves the reproducibility and reliability of your builds
- Scripts: This feature allows you to run custom commands before or after installing or updating your dependencies, such as compiling, testing, or linting your code
- Hooks: This feature allows you to execute custom logic during certain events of the package manager’s lifecycle, such as resolving, fetching, linking, or auditing your dependencies
- Audit: This feature allows you to check your dependencies for any known vulnerabilities or issues, and get recommendations on how to fix them
All three package managers support workspaces, lockfiles, scripts, and audit features. However, only YARN and PNPM support hooks, which can give you more flexibility and control over your dependency management process. On the other hand, only NPM and YARN support audit features, which can help you improve the security and quality of your code.
Compatibility
Another aspect of a package manager is how compatible it is with other tools and platforms that you might use in your project. Some of the factors that affect compatibility are:
- Registry: This is the source of packages that the package manager uses to install and update your dependencies. The most common registry is npmjs.com, which hosts over 2 million packages for JavaScript and Node.js. However, there are also other registries that you might use for different purposes, such as private or scoped packages
- CLI: This is the command-line interface that the package manager provides to interact with it. The most common CLI is npm-cli, which comes bundled with Node.js. However, there are also other CLIs that you might use for different purposes such as yarn-cli, which is a standalone tool that can be installed separately, or pnpm-cli, which is a wrapper around npm-cli that adds some extra features
- Ecosystem: This is the set of tools and platforms that the package manager integrates with or supports, such as bundlers, transpilers, linters, test runners, frameworks, or cloud services. The most common ecosystem is the Node.js ecosystem, which includes tools such as webpack, babel, eslint, mocha, express, or AWS. However, there are also other ecosystems that you might use for different purposes, such as the browser ecosystem, which includes tools such as browserify, rollup, typescript, prettier, jest, react, or firebase
All three package managers are compatible with the same registry and ecosystem. However, they have different CLIs that offer different commands and options. For example, YARN has a command called “yarn workspaces” that allows you to manage your workspaces more easily. PNPM has a command called “pnpm recursive” that allows you to run commands on multiple sub-projects at once.
Security
One more aspect of a package manager that I will compare is how secure it is. Security is important because your dependencies might contain malicious code or vulnerabilities that could compromise your project or your users. Some of the measures that a package manager can take to improve security are:
- Verification: This is the process of checking the integrity and authenticity of the packages that you install or update. This can prevent tampering or spoofing attacks that could alter or replace the packages with malicious ones
- Isolation: This is the process of limiting the access and permissions of the packages that you install or update. This can prevent privilege escalation or code injection attacks that could execute malicious code on your system or your users’ systems
- Resolution: This is the process of selecting the best versions of the packages that you install or update. This can prevent dependency hell or conflict issues that could cause your project to break or behave unexpectedly
All three package managers use some form of verification to ensure the integrity and authenticity of the packages. However, PNPM uses a stronger algorithm (SHA-512) than YARN (SHA-1), which makes it more resistant to collisions and brute-force attacks. NPM and YARN use the same algorithm (SHA-512) as PNPM.
However, only PNPM uses isolation to limit the access and permissions of the packages. It does this by creating a separate node_modules folder for each package and using symlinks to link them together. This prevents packages from accessing or modifying other packages’ files or modules without explicit permission. NPM and YARN do not use any isolation mechanism, so they allow packages to access or modify any files or modules within the node_modules folder.
Moreover, only PNPM uses strict resolution to select the best versions of the packages. It does this by following the exact versions specified in the package.json files and creating a flat dependency tree. This prevents duplicate or incompatible versions of packages from being installed or updated. NPM and YARN use semver resolution, which allows some flexibility in choosing the versions based on ranges or modifiers. This can lead to duplicate or incompatible versions of packages being installed or updated.
Best practices
- Choose the package manager that best suits your project’s requirements, preferences, and constraints. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and each package manager has its own pros and cons. You can also switch between them if you need to, as long as you delete the existing node_modules folder and lockfile before installing with a different package manager
- Use a lockfile to ensure reproducible installs across different machines and environments. A lockfile is a file that records the exact versions and sources of the packages that your project depends on, so that you can install them consistently every time. NPM uses a package-lock.json file, YARN uses a yarn.lock file, and PNPM uses a pnpm-lock.yaml file. You should commit these files to your version control system and update them whenever you add, remove, or update a package
- Use a .npmrc file to configure your package manager’s behavior and settings. A .npmrc file is a file that contains key-value pairs of configuration options for your package manager, such as registry URL, proxy settings, cache location, etc. You can create this file in your project’s root directory or in your home directory, depending on whether you want to apply the configuration globally or locally. You can also use environment variables or command-line flags to override the configuration options
- Use scripts to automate common tasks and workflows with your package manager. Scripts are commands that you can define in your package.json file under the “scripts” property, such as “start”, “test”, “build”, etc. You can then run these scripts with your package manager’s CLI, such as npm run start, yarn start, or pnpm start. You can also use pre- and post- hooks to run scripts before or after another script, such as pretest or postbuild
- Use workspaces to manage multiple projects or packages within a single repository. Workspaces are folders that contain their own package.json files and dependencies, but share a common node_modules folder and lockfile at the root level. This way, you can avoid duplication and simplify dependency management across your projects or packages. NPM supports workspaces since version 7, YARN supports workspaces since version 1, and PNPM supports workspaces since version 2
Conclusion
Each package manager has its own advantages and disadvantages.
NPM is widely used and easy to use, but slower than Yarn and PNPM.
Yarn is faster than NPM and has some cool new features, but uses the same flattened node_modules directory as NPM.
PNPM is the fastest and most disk efficient package manager, but may have compatibility issues with some packages.
Choose the package manager that best fits your project’s requirement.
