npm VS Bazel

Compare npm VS Bazel and see what are their differences

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Bazel

Bazel is a tool that automates software builds and tests.

Landing page //
2023-10-03

Landing page //
2024-07-17

npm

Website: npmjs.com
Pricing URL: Official npm Pricing
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Bazel

Website: bazel.build
Pricing URL: -
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npm features and specs

Large Ecosystem
npm boasts an extensive library of packages, making it easier for developers to find existing solutions for a wide array of tasks.
Active Community
A vibrant and active community ensures continuous updates, support, and improvements for various packages.
Integration with Node.js
Seamless integration with Node.js, which makes it the default package manager for Node.js projects.
Version Control
Provides robust version control, enabling developers to specify and manage dependencies precisely.
Scripts
Allows automation of tasks through custom scripts defined in the package.json file, enhancing development workflow.

Possible disadvantages of npm

Security Issues
The open nature can potentially lead to dependency on unvetted or insecure packages, posing security risks.
Deprecation and Abandonment
Packages may be deprecated or abandoned by their maintainers, which can disrupt projects that depend on them.
Complex Dependency Management
Managing complex dependencies and resolving conflicts between them can sometimes be challenging and time-consuming.
Performance Overhead
The sheer size of the node_modules directory can lead to performance overhead and large project sizes.
Quality Variability
The quality of packages on npm can vary widely, with some lacking sufficient documentation or tests.

Bazel features and specs

High Scalability
Bazel is designed to handle large codebases and complex dependency graphs efficiently, which makes it suitable for projects with millions of lines of code.
Incremental Builds
Bazel supports incremental builds by only rebuilding parts of the project that have changed, thus saving time and computational resources.
Cross-Platform Support
Bazel supports different platforms including Linux, MacOS, and Windows, enabling consistent build processes across diverse development environments.
Reproducible Builds
It ensures that the same source code will yield identical build outputs, which is beneficial for debugging and ensuring consistency across different environments.
Extensibility
Bazel is highly extensible, allowing developers to define custom build rules and macros to fit their specific needs.
Wide Language Support
Out of the box, Bazel supports many programming languages such as Java, C++, Python, and Go, with the ability to extend to other languages.

Possible disadvantages of Bazel

Steep Learning Curve
Bazel has a complex configuration language and many internal concepts, which might be challenging for new users to learn and adopt quickly.
Limited IDE Integration
Compared to other build systems, Bazel might have limited or less mature support in certain Integrated Development Environments (IDEs), potentially hindering productivity.
Overhead of Remote Caching
While remote caching is a powerful feature, setting it up and maintaining it can introduce additional overhead and complexity to the build process.
Initial Setup Complexity
Getting a project up and running with Bazel can require significant upfront configuration, especially for projects migrating from another build system.
Limited Community Support
Compared to more established build systems, Bazel has a smaller community, which might result in fewer resources and shared knowledge available online.

Analysis of npm

Overall verdict

npm is generally considered good, especially for developers working within the Node.js ecosystem. It simplifies package management, supports extensive version control, and fosters a collaborative environment through its community-driven platform.

Why this product is good

npm (Node Package Manager) is a crucial tool for JavaScript developers. It allows for easy installation, management, and sharing of packages, which can significantly accelerate development time. With a vast repository of open-source libraries, npm provides solutions for countless tasks, reducing the need to build everything from scratch.

Recommended for

JavaScript developers
Node.js developers
Front-end developers using modern JavaScript frameworks
Back-end developers building scalable applications

Analysis of Bazel

Overall verdict

Bazel is a powerful and robust build tool, especially for large-scale projects and organizations that require high build performance and scalability. Its advanced features can significantly improve the efficiency of development workflows. However, there is a learning curve, and the complexity of rules and configurations may not suit smaller projects or those with simpler build requirements.

Why this product is good

Bazel is a build tool developed by Google that is designed to support fast and correct builds. It is particularly known for its ability to handle large codebases and complex build dependencies efficiently. Bazel uses a single build language across different platforms, and its build system provides features such as incremental builds, remote build execution, and caching, which make it highly suitable for repetitive and reproducible builds. The tool is capable of handling projects written in multiple languages, such as Java, C++, Python, and more, due to its extensibility with custom rules.

Recommended for

Large-scale and complex software projects
Organizations that utilize monorepos
Developers needing cross-platform support
Teams looking to leverage remote build execution
Projects with complex dependencies across multiple programming languages

npm videos

+ Add

Artis bus NPM Mr marcha sopir ny ramah,Review detail bus baru yang berangkat dari Payakumbuh~Jakarta

Bazel videos

+ Add

Kebenaran dari Powerbank Bazel 450 Series

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to npm and Bazel)

Bazel

Front End Package Manager

69 69%

Front End Package Manager

31% 31

JS Build Tools

100 100%

JS Build Tools

0% 0

JavaScript Package Manager

55 55%

JavaScript Package Manager

45% 45

Package Manager

100 100%

Package Manager

0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using npm and Bazel. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare npm and Bazel

There are three components to npm, they are the website, registry and the cli. The npm website is the place where developers discover packages, set up their profiles and also manage the other aspects of npm. The npm registry is the huge database that contains all the dependencies and stuff whereas the npm cli is the one that is used by most of the developers to interact with...

Source: mindmajix.com

What is Artifactory?

All packages are organized so that you can keep track of all of the dependencies and their various versions. The registry, website, and command-line interface, or CLI, are the three components of npm. The npm website is where developers can find packages, create profiles, and manage other elements of the npm project. The npm registry is an extensive database that holds all...

Source: blog.packagecloud.io

Bazel Reviews

We have no reviews of Bazel yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

npm might be a bit more popular than Bazel. We know about 68 links to it since March 2021 and only 67 links to Bazel. 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.

npm mentions (68)

Some thoughts on personal Git hosting
> But we still don't have a solution to search projects on potentially thousands of servers, including self-hosted ones. We do. https://mvnrepository.com/repos/central https://npmjs.com https://packagist.org/ https://pypi.org/ https://www.debian.org/distrib/packages#search_packages https://pkg.go.dev/ https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/ And many others. And we still have forums like this one and Reddit where... - Source: Hacker News / 27 days ago
Protecting Yourself from Spear Phishing Attacks Such as the One Targeting NPM Maintainers with 2FA Update
A rather official looking message was sent to maintainers of packages hosted on npmjs.com that they were overdue for a two-factor update. - Source: dev.to / 25 days ago
Maintainers of ESLint Prettier Plugin Attacked via npm Supply Chain Malware
Publishing packages to the official npmjs.com registry requires an account with a valid e-mail address. When npm packages are published, this information is openly and widely available to anyone to review. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
How to Publish Your First NPM Package: A Complete Guide
Check on NPM website: Visit https://npmjs.com/package/your-package-name. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
A Gentle Introduction to WebAssembly in Rust (2025 Edition)
If your WASM code is self contained in Rust, you can build it in production mode and publish it on npmjs.com right now. The wasm-pack tool creates all the TypeScript types, package.json skeleton and anything else needed for a complete package. It is recommended that you review and update your package.json file prior to publishing. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago

Bazel mentions (67)

Swift and Cute 2D Game Framework: Setting Up a Project with CMake
I really recommend Bazel (https://bazel.build). - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
Why Is This Site Built with C
Agree regarding easiness of building rust (`cargo build`), extremely satisfying (git clone and cargo build...) Does anyone have any comments on Bazel[1] because I'm kind of settling on using it whenever it's appropriate (c/c++)?.. [1] https://bazel.build/. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
7 Ways to Use the SLSA Framework to Secure the SDLC
To achieve reproducibility, your build process must control for environmental differences like timestamps, file ordering, or machine-specific configurations. Tools like Bazel or Nixprovide deterministic build systems that lock down these variables. For instance, Bazel uses a content-addressable cache, meaning the same source code and dependencies always result in the same build outputs, even when run on different... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
Contributing To Open Source - C++ Edition
Despite following all the steps (on both Windows and Unix), I couldn't get the cmake build to succeed. After several hours of debugging, I decided to try another build method provided by the project, using bazel, which was much simpler. - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
How to effectively work in big codebases
Many big companies have built their own tools to reign in this complexity and make it easier and faster for developers to work on large, multi-language code bases. Meta has buck, Amazon has brazil, and Google has bazel. But from my experience, especially, with brazil, these tools also have some rough edges, so understanding how they work can go a long way. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing npm and Bazel, you can also consider the following products

Ender - Frontend Development

Gradle - Accelerate developer productivity. Gradle helps teams build, automate and deliver better software, faster. DocsExplore the documentation of Gradle. Find installation ..

Yarn - Yarn is a package manager for your code.

Ninja Build - Ninja is a small build system with a focus on speed.

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.

CMake - CMake is an open-source, cross-platform family of tools designed to build, test and package software.