Benchmarks of JavaScript Package Managers
Last benchmarked at: Oct 29, 2023, 2:46 AM (daily updated).
This benchmark compares the performance of npm, pnpm, Yarn Classic, and Yarn PnP (check Yarn's benchmarks for any other Yarn modes that are not included here).
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, nonode_modulesfolder.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 thepackage.jsonand running the install command again.
Lots of Files
The app's package.json here
| action | cache | lockfile | node_modules | npm | pnpm | Yarn | Yarn PnP | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| install | 36.7s | 13.8s | 9.5s | 5.3s | |||
| install | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | 1.9s | 1.8s | 2.4s | n/a | 
| install | ✔ | ✔ | 8.1s | 4.3s | 6s | 2.1s | |
| install | ✔ | 13.7s | 8.8s | 8.6s | 4.4s | ||
| install | ✔ | 15.1s | 9.5s | 6.1s | 2.1s | ||
| install | ✔ | ✔ | 2.3s | 3.4s | 4.9s | n/a | |
| install | ✔ | ✔ | 1.9s | 1.9s | 2.4s | n/a | |
| install | ✔ | 2.3s | 8.9s | 4.8s | n/a | ||
| update | n/a | n/a | n/a | 8.5s | 5.6s | 5s | 4.6s |