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Node.js VS Yarn

Compare Node.js VS Yarn and see what are their differences

Node.js logo Node.js

Node.js is a platform built on Chrome's JavaScript runtime for easily building fast, scalable network applications

Yarn logo Yarn

Yarn is a package manager for your code.
  • Node.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-18
  • Yarn Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-03

Node.js features and specs

  • Asynchronous and Event-Driven
    Node.js uses an asynchronous, non-blocking, and event-driven I/O model, making it efficient and scalable for handling multiple simultaneous connections.
  • JavaScript Everywhere
    Developers can use JavaScript for both client-side and server-side programming, providing a unified language environment and better synergy between front-end and back-end development.
  • Large Community and NPM
    Node.js has a vibrant community and a rich ecosystem with the Node Package Manager (NPM), which offers thousands of open-source libraries and tools that can be integrated easily into projects.
  • High Performance
    Built on the V8 JavaScript engine from Google, Node.js translates JavaScript directly into native machine code, which increases performance and speed.
  • Scalability
    Designed with microservices and scalability in mind, Node.js enables easy horizontal scaling across multiple servers.
  • JSON Support
    Node.js seamlessly handles JSON, which is a common format for API responses, making it an excellent choice for building RESTful APIs and data-intensive real-time applications.

Possible disadvantages of Node.js

  • Callback Hell
    The reliance on callbacks to manage asynchronous operations can lead to deeply nested and difficult-to-read code, commonly referred to as 'Callback Hell'.
  • Not Suitable for CPU-Intensive Tasks
    Node.js is optimized for I/O operations and can become inefficient for CPU-intensive tasks, slowing down overall performance due to its single-threaded event loop.
  • Immaturity of Tools
    Compared to more established technologies, some Node.js libraries and tools still lack maturity and comprehensive documentation, which can be challenging for developers.
  • Callback and Promise Overheads
    Managing asynchronous operations using callbacks or promises can lead to additional complexity and overhead, impacting maintainability and performance if not handled correctly.
  • Fragmented Ecosystem
    The fast-paced evolution of Node.js and its ecosystem can lead to fragmentation, with numerous versions and libraries that may not always be compatible with each other.
  • Security Issues
    The extensive use of third-party libraries via NPM can introduce security vulnerabilities if not properly managed and updated, making applications more susceptible to attacks.

Yarn features and specs

  • Speed
    Yarn uses an efficient caching mechanism and parallel installation to improve package installation times, making it faster than many other package managers.
  • Reliability
    With its deterministic dependency resolution, Yarn ensures that a project will work on all systems exactly the same way, preventing the 'works on my machine' problem.
  • Security
    Yarn uses checksums to verify the integrity of every installed package before execution, ensuring higher security standards.
  • Offline Mode
    Yarn has an offline mode capability which allows developers to install dependencies offline if they've been installed remotely at least once before.
  • Workspaces
    Yarn Workspaces allow developers to manage multiple packages within a project, facilitating efficient mono-repo management.

Possible disadvantages of Yarn

  • Complexity
    Yarn introduces additional commands and configurations which may pose a learning curve for developers who are used to npm.
  • Disk Usage
    Yarn's offline cache can consume more disk space compared to npm, which could be an issue for projects with very large dependencies.
  • Compatibility
    Some older Node.js projects and dependencies may have compatibility issues with Yarn, requiring adjustments or the use of npm.
  • Network Incompatibility
    Yarn's fetching mechanism sometimes doesn't work properly behind certain corporate proxies or firewalls, leading to network issues.
  • Smaller Community
    Compared to npm, Yarn has a smaller user base, which can result in fewer community resources, tutorials, and third-party tools.

Node.js videos

What is Node.js? | Mosh

More videos:

  • Review - What is Node.js Exactly? - a beginners introduction to Nodejs
  • Review - Learn node.js in 2020 - A review of best node.js courses

Yarn videos

Yarn Snob Reviews New Lion Brand Yarns [A Few Big Hits and Bigger Misses]

More videos:

  • Review - Yarn Review - Lionbrand Vs Caron | Which Do You Choose | Bag-O-Day Crochet Video
  • Review - My First Shipment from Ice Yarns - Comparison & Review | Yay For Yarn

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Node.js and Yarn)
Developer Tools
91 91%
9% 9
Front End Package Manager
Runtime
100 100%
0% 0
JS Build Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Node.js and Yarn

Node.js Reviews

Top JavaScript Frameworks in 2025
JavaScript is widely used for back-end or server-side development because it makes a call to the remote server when a web page loads on the browser. When a browser loads a web page, it makes a call to a remote server. Further, the code parses the page’s URL to understand users’ requirements before retrieving and transforming the required data to serve back to the browser....
Source: solguruz.com
9 Best JavaScript Frameworks to Use in 2023
Node.js applications are written in JavaScript and run on the Node.js runtime, which allows them to be executed on any platform that supports Node.js. Node.js applications are typically event-driven and single-threaded, making them efficient and scalable. Additionally, the Node Package Manager (NPM) provides a way to install and manage dependencies for Node.js projects...
Source: ninetailed.io
20 Best JavaScript Frameworks For 2023
TJ Holowaychuk built Express in 2010 before being acquired by IBM (StrongLoop) in 2015. Node.js Foundation currently maintains it. The key reason Express is one of the best JavaScript frameworks is its rapid server-side coding. Complex tasks that would take hours to code using pure Node.js can be resolved in a few minutes, thanks to Express. On top of that, Express offers a...
FOSS | Top 15 Web Servers 2021
Node.js is a cross-platform server-side JavaScript environment built for developing and running network applications such as web servers. Node.js is licensed under a variety of licenses. As of March 2021, around 1.2% of applications were running on Node.js. Among the top companies and applications utilizing this modern web server are GoDaddy, Microsoft, General Electric,...
Source: www.zentao.pm
10 Best Tools to Develop Cross-Platform Desktop Apps 
Electron.js is compatible with a variety of frameworks, libraries, access to hardware-level APIs and chromium engine, and Node.js support. Electron Fiddle feature is great for experimentation as it allows developers to play around with concepts and templates. Simplification is at the center of Electron because developers don’t have to spend unnecessary time on the packaging,...

Yarn Reviews

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Node.js should be more popular than Yarn. It has been mentiond 896 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Node.js mentions (896)

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Yarn mentions (117)

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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Node.js and Yarn, you can also consider the following products

ExpressJS - Sinatra inspired web development framework for node.js -- insanely fast, flexible, and simple

npm - npm is a package manager for Node.

VS Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

Webpack - Webpack is a module bundler. Its main purpose is to bundle JavaScript files for usage in a browser, yet it is also capable of transforming, bundling, or packaging just about any resource or asset.

Laravel - A PHP Framework For Web Artisans

Django - The Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines