Skip to main content

Benchmarks of JavaScript Package Managers

Last benchmarked at: Oct 5, 2021, 2:45 AM (daily updated).

This benchmark compares the performance of npm, pnpm, and Yarn (both regular and PnP variant).

Here's a quick explanation of how these tests could apply to the real world:

  • clean install: How long it takes to run a totally fresh install: no lockfile present, no packages in the cache, no node_modules folder.
  • with cache, with lockfile, with node_modules: After the first install is done, the install command is run again.
  • with cache, with lockfile: When a repo is fetched by a developer and installation is first run.
  • with cache: Same as the one above, but the package manager doesn't have a lockfile to work from.
  • with lockfile: When an installation runs on a CI server.
  • with cache, with node_modules: The lockfile is deleted and the install command is run again.
  • with node_modules, with lockfile: The package cache is deleted and the install command is run again.
  • with node_modules: The package cache and the lockfile is deleted and the install command is run again.
  • update: Updating your dependencies by changing the version in the package.json and running the install command again.

Lots of Files#

The app's package.json here

actioncachelockfilenode_modulesnpmpnpmYarnYarn PnP
install1m 6.8s17.2s21.2s27.7s
install2.2s1.3s2.7sn/a
install13.4s4.7s8.5s1.8s
install18.7s7.9s15.1s7.2s
install31.4s14.8s15.4s20s
install28.1s1.9s8sn/a
install2.1s1.3s9.3sn/a
install25.4s6.9s15.9sn/a
updaten/an/an/a2.1s12.5s20.5s33.1s

Graph of the alotta-files results