Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Yarn VS npm

Compare Yarn VS npm and see what are their differences

Yarn logo Yarn

Yarn is a package manager for your code.

npm logo npm

npm is a package manager for Node.
  • Yarn Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-03
  • npm Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-03

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.

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.

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

npm videos

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

More videos:

  • Review - Review bus baru NPM,, V15 Mr marcha ft kru kece,, berangkat Payakumbuh menuju Jakarta
  • Review - Analysis of an Exploited NPM Package || Jarrod Overson

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Yarn and npm)
Front End Package Manager
JS Build Tools
59 59%
41% 41
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Package Manager
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 Yarn and npm

Yarn Reviews

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npm Reviews

Repository Management Tools
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...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Yarn should be more popular than npm. It has been mentiond 117 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.

Yarn mentions (117)

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npm mentions (64)

  • 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 / 4 months ago
  • Publishing To NPM For The First Time
    First, I signed up for an account on npmjs.com and authenticated my npm CLI with my account using a "publish" type access token generated from the website. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • How to Publish an npm Package
    Congratulations,now you package on npm you can check using go npmjs check your profile. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • A step-by-step guide on how to create and publish and npm package
    To begin, you will need to choose a name for your package. Note: Your package name must be unique. Using the exact or similar name of an existing package will return an error when publishing the package to npm. To ensure the uniquenesses of your package name, head over to npmjs.com and search for any existing packages with a similar name. If there’s an exact match or a similar name, consider changing the name... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Caching RESTful API requests with Heroku’s Redis Add-on
    By using Fastify, you can quickly get a Node.js application up and running to handle requests. Assuming you have Node.js installed, you’ll start by initializing a new project. We’ll use npm as our package manager. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

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

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

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.

Brunch - Brunch builds, lints, compiles, concatenates and shrinks your HTML5 app in an ultra-simple way. No more Grunt / Gulp mess.

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

GNU Make - GNU Make is a tool which controls the generation of executables and other non-source files of a program from the program's source files.

Bower - Bower is a package manager for the web.