Yarn vs NPM Comparison: In-Depth Analysis

1. What are Yarn and NPM?

Thanks to the fast development in JavaScript, working with packages became crucial for developers who aim to build efficient apps. Throughout the development of JavaScript, tools that allow for package management have matured and now offer more features for managing dependencies, automatically performing security checks, and configuring the workspace. NPM (Node Package Manager) and Yarn are widely recognized as two leading JavaScript package managers, each offering unique features to enhance development workflows.

NPM is another package manager with a default to Node.js that has existed since 2010 and is well-known due to its vast library of packages. Facebook released Yarn in 2016 to take a step beyond NPM and improve speed, security, and stability. Since then, both package managers have been refined, with NPM releasing versions 7 and 8 and Yarn releasing significant versions such as Yarn 2 and 3, also called Berry.

This guide extensively compares ‘Yarn vs NPM,’ focusing on their commands, features, strengths, and weaknesses. This article will give you a better understanding of what each tool provides and give you the basis for determining which package manager meets the needs of your project.

2. Background and Evolution of NPM and Yarn

NPM: Origins and Growth

NPM, launched in 2010, is closely tied to Node.js as its default package manager. Developed by Isaac Z. Schlueter, NPM makes it easy for developers to share and use Javascript codes in different projects. It is a repository with several thousand packages. This software has advanced from a basic package manager to a sophisticated tool with features for handling dependencies, security scans, and automation scripts.

Thus, NPM’s popularity increased along with all Node.js backend frameworks. However, as projects scale to large and complex applications and systems, users start to observe issues with unstable, low-performance, and less secure packages or dependence on subjective package installs.

Yarn: Addressing NPM’s Shortcomings

The yarn was released in 2016 by Facebook in collaboration with Google, Tilde, and Exponent. It was explicitly designed to address some of NPM’s shortcomings. With Yarn, Facebook aimed to create a faster, more secure, and deterministic package manager that could handle large-scale, complex JavaScript applications.

One of Yarn’s notable innovations was deterministic installs, which ensured that each install produced the same file structure across all machines. This made consistency more straightforward to achieve in large development teams. Yarn’s introduction of offline caching also meant faster installation times and fewer network-related issues.

Current Status of Yarn and NPM

Both NPM and Yarn have undergone significant improvements over the years. NPM introduced new versions like NPM 7 and NPM 8, which addressed many performance issues and added workspaces for mono repo support. Yarn also evolved, releasing Yarn 2 and 3 (Berry), which introduced features like Plug’n’Play (PnP) to improve performance and reduce dependency conflicts.

Knowing which one contains a more extensive stock of tools, commands, and unique features is challenging. Each section details how the various package managers work, the commands involved, and how and when you might want to use them to determine which are the most suitable for your setup.

3. Installation and Setup

The installation and setup process of NPM and Yarn is crucial to understanding, as they establish the foundation for using each package manager in your project.

Installing NPM

NPM is typically installed alongside Node.js, making it the most straightforward package manager. If Node.js is already installed on your system, you should have access to NPM immediately. To check if NPM is installed, you can run the following command:

npm -v

This command checks which version of NPM is currently installed and confirms that the package manager is operational.

npm install -g npm@latest

This global installation command ensures you have the latest NPM features and security updates.

Installing Yarn

Depending on your preference, yarn can be installed in multiple ways, including via NPM, script, or binary download. Here’s how you can install Yarn using NPM:

npm install -g yarn

Alternatively, Yarn offers a shell script installation method. To install Yarn globally, run the following command:

curl -o- -L https://yarnpkg.com/install.sh | bash

This command will download and configure Yarn on your machine, making it accessible globally.

System Requirements and Compatibility

Yarn and NPM run on major operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux. They have similar compatibility with Node.js versions, though Yarn 2+ offers a “zero-installs” setup with Plug’n’Play, eliminating the need for node_modules in some instances.

4. Core Commands Comparison

It is crucial to use the core command of every package manager to work into dependency. Let’s compare the most frequently used commands in NPM and Yarn, observing the similarities and differences in syntax and additional functions.

Initial Setup

• NPM: 

npm init

• Yarn:

yarn init

The init command creates a new project by generating a package.json file that stores the project’s dependencies, scripts, and metadata.

Example:

npm init

yarn init

Both commands prompt you with questions about configuring your project. You can use the—y flag with NPM (npm init—y) or the—yes flag with Yarn (yarn init—yes) to skip the prompts and create a package.json with default values.

Adding Packages

• NPM: npm install <package>
• Yarn: yarn add <package>

The command to add a package is installed in NPM and added in Yarn. When you add a package, it gets listed in package.json as a dependency by default.

Example:

npm install react

yarn add react

You can also add development dependencies by specifying the –save-dev flag in NPM or the -D flag in Yarn:

npm install --save-dev jest

yarn add jest -D

Removing Packages

• NPM: 

• Yarn: 

yarn remove <package>

Both commands will remove the specified package from your node_modules directory and remove the dependency entry from package.json.

Example:

npm uninstall lodash

yarn remove lodash

Updating Packages

• NPM: 

npm update

• Yarn: 

yarn upgrade

To update packages to their latest versions, use the update command in NPM and the upgrade command in Yarn.

Example:

npm update

yarn upgrade

Yarn’s upgrade-interactive allows you to update packages in an interactive mode. You can select each dependency to update.

yarn upgrade-interactive

Installing Project Dependencies

• NPM:

npm install

• Yarn:

yarn install

Both commands install all dependencies listed in the package.json file. Yarn is known for its performance advantage in this area with offline caching.

Example:

npm install

yarn install

When using yarn, you can specify a frozen lock file to prevent changes to the yarn.lock file, ensuring a deterministic install.

Lock Files

• NPM: 

package-lock.json

• Yarn: 

yarn.lock

Yarn and NPM use lock files to achieve consistent dependency versions during installation. Unlike NPM, which automatically generates the package-lock.json, Yarn, on the other hand, generates the yarn.lock. These lock files are critical, especially in projects with different environments, and are being developed where the versions of the dependencies must be the same.

5. Performance Comparison

In terms of performance, the Yarn package specified earlier has been faster than NPM in considerable projects. This increased performance is due to parallel installations, asset pre-fetching, and deterministic installations.

Installation Speed

In most cases, Yarn takes a shorter time to install packages because it caches packages locally and doesn’t need to make requests to the network for packages that it has already installed. Once a package is installed, Yarn stores a copy of it in the cache, making future installs much faster.

In contrast, NPM has improved its performance in recent versions, notably in NPM 5 and onwards. With the introduction of parallel installation, NPM’s speed now closely matches Yarn’s in many scenarios.

6. Package Security

Security is critical in package management, given the prevalence of open-source dependencies in JavaScript applications. Yarn and NPM offer built-in security tools, with a few notable differences.

Security Audits

• NPM: 

npm audit

• Yarn:

yarn audit

With npm audit, developers can run a vulnerability scan of installed dependencies. While the NPM audit tool reviews packages against a public vulnerability database and returns any problems, it also categorizes them into three categories: vulnerabilities, dependencies, and devDependencies. Another great feature is that the command installed when setting up a project checks for security threats every time a new package is released and offers a brief report on vulnerabilities in your project.

Example:

npm audit

In the same way, Yarn introduces the yarn audit command, which tends to generate a report on vulnerabilities within packages. It segments types by urgency level and provides possible solutions.

Example:

yarn audit

Fixing Vulnerabilities

NPM provides an npm audit fix command to resolve vulnerabilities automatically when possible. Unfortunately, Yarn does not have an automatic fix command, so developers usually change specific packages.

Example:

npm audit fix

While Yarn and NPM offer essential security tools, NPM’s automatic vulnerability fixes provide an advantage in ease and speed. At the same time, Yarn’s reporting allows for precise control over remediation steps.

7. Workspaces and Monorepo Support

As JavaScript projects grow, managing multiple packages within a single repository, also known as a monorepo, is common. Both NPM and Yarn now support workspaces, though with some distinctions.

Yarn Workspaces

Yarn pioneered the implementation of workspaces and had a robust system for managing multiple packages in a monorepo. Yarn Workspaces lets the developers structure projects into a single repository, manage their dependencies between them, and install them in the entire system. Most of the time, Yarn also takes it upon itself to move all shared dependencies onto the root directory, making them less duplicated and space-saving.

To use workspaces, add a workspaces field in the root package.json:

{
  "workspaces": ["packages/*"]
}

NPM Workspaces

When NPM 7 came out, NPM launched its version of the workspaces. NPM workspace functionality is quite alike and covers similar functionality, but its key use case is dependency management within a monorepo. NPM Workspaces operate alongside the existing NPM commands supporting workspace-specific installations, updating, and linking packages.

Example:

{
  "workspaces": ["packages/*"]
}

Both Yarn and NPM are credible workspace solutions. Yarn is considered more optimistic and ready for large-scale monorepos. However, NPM’s workspaces have improved, becoming a more viable option for handling different workspaces.

8. Dependency Management

No package manager doesn’t handle dependencies as one of its crucial operations. This means that Yarn and NPM handle dependencies differently, depending on how projects are installed and updated or how dependent projects are resolved.

Types of Dependencies

Both NPM and Yarn categorize dependencies into:

• dependencies: Needed for running the project.
• devDependencies: Only needed for development.
• peerDependencies: Required to prevent version conflicts for shared dependencies.
• optionalDependencies: Dependencies that won’t break the install process if they fail.

Dependency Conflicts and Resolutions

In both Yarn and NPM, peerDependencies help prevent conflicts by defining compatible package versions. Yarn’s resolutions field in package.json offers additional control over version conflicts, allowing users to force specific versions for certain dependencies. NPM does not natively support this field, but there are workarounds, such as using npm-force resolutions.

Example (Yarn):

{
  "resolutions": {
    "react": "16.8.0"
  }
}

This command forces Yarn to install React version 16.8.0 whenever React depends on it, regardless of other version requirements. One significant benefit of yarn is that it is versatile for large projects with multiple package versions.

9. Pros and Cons of Yarn vs NPM

Evaluating Yarn and NPM involves considering their advantages and disadvantages about your project-specific needs, team size, and expertise with each tool.

Pros of Yarn

• Speed: Yarn is generally faster than NPM, thanks to parallel installations and offline caching.
• Deterministic Installs: Yarn’s lock file and caching system ensure that every installation yields the same dependency structure, improving consistency.
• Workspaces: Yarn’s workspaces are highly optimized, making them ideal for large mono repo.
• Advanced Caching: Yarn’s offline cache works well without network connectivity, reducing downtime.

Cons of Yarn

• Complex Configuration: Yarn can have a steeper learning curve with features like Plug’n’Play.
• Compatibility: Yarn 2+ (Berry) can introduce compatibility issues with some packages due to the Plug’n’Play installation method.

Pros of NPM

• Ease of Use: NPM’s familiarity and bundling with Node make it easy to adopt for new developers.
• Broad Compatibility: NPM’s compatibility with older modules and legacy systems remains strong.
• Automatic Security Fixes: The npm audit fix command provides a quick way to resolve vulnerabilities.
• Improved Performance: NPM 7+ has made significant strides in performance, narrowing the speed gap with Yarn.

Cons of NPM

• Performance Lag: Although NPM has improved its speed, it still lags behind Yarn in certain situations with large installations.
• Non-Deterministic Installs: NPM’s lockfile does not guarantee a fully deterministic install, potentially leading to inconsistent environments.

Conclusion of Pros and Cons

NPM is often sufficient for smaller projects or those with simpler dependencies. However, Yarn’s performance and workspace advantages make it the preferred choice for more extensive, complex projects or monorepos.

10. Transitioning Between Yarn and NPM

Switching between Yarn and NPM is relatively simple and helpful if you want to leverage features specific to one package manager.

Switching from NPM to Yarn

A project can be converted from NPM to Yarn using the ‘yarn import’ command to convert package-lock.json into yarn.lock.

Example:

yarn import

Switching from Yarn to NPM

To migrate a Yarn project to NPM, you delete the yarn.lock file and then run npm install to create a package-lock.json. Although it doesn’t integrate perfectly with NPM, this method brings the project to the dependency structure on NPM.

Both package managers also support cross-compatibility of their lock files, though choosing one consistently is recommended to avoid unexpected dependency resolutions.

11. Community and Ecosystem

Yarn and NPM have strong communities. Both provide enough materials for problems that may appear, tutorials on almost any topic, and integrations.

NPM Community

NPM’s widespread adoption has led to a strong support community, with countless tutorials, GitHub issues, and Stack Overflow discussions available to troubleshoot common issues. NPM also benefits from being the default with Node.js, making it the go-to package manager for most JavaScript projects.

Yarn Community

Although newer, Yarn has a dedicated following among developers handling large or complex projects. Yarn’s GitHub repository and documentation are highly active, with contributions from major companies like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. Yarn also offers a plug-in ecosystem that can extend its functionality and benefit specific workflows.

Yarn and NPM are complex and have large ecosystems, but Yarn has added the importance of ‘developer experience’ and extra features like Plug’n’Play, making it popular for enterprise projects.

12. Final Recommendations and Conclusion

After comparing Yarn and NPM across installation, performance, security, dependency management, and community support, here are some final recommendations to help you decide which package manager best suits your needs.

When to Choose Yarn

• If your project has complex dependencies or requires strict consistency across environments, Yarn might be the ideal package manager for your needs.
• When performance is a top priority, Yarn generally offers faster installs and offline support.
• For monorepos or projects with multiple packages, Yarn’s workspaces offer optimized dependency management.
• If your project requires features like Plug’n’Play or custom resolutions, which give Yarn an edge in flexibility, you might find Yarn the better choice for your needs.

When to Choose NPM

• If your project is smaller or relatively simple, NPM’s default setup with Node.js is easy to use and maintain.
• This is for teams already accustomed to NPM, where ease of use and community support are priorities.
• When automatic security fixes are essential, NPM offers a quicker fix process.
• If compatibility with legacy projects is necessary, NPM’s compatibility with older dependencies might offer fewer hurdles.

Conclusion

Yarn and NPM have similar strengths, limitations, advantages, and disadvantages. What you use depends on your requirements. Yarn is excellent for high-performance, workspace organization, and large-scale applications. NPM, in contrast, is still very approachable, recognizable, and easy to find assistance for, which is why it is perfect for any JavaScript application.

Ultimately, Yarn and NPM continue to evolve, incorporating each other’s strengths with every release. With their commands, performance capabilities, and unique features, you can decide which package manager helps you improve JavaScript development productivity on your project.

About the writer

This article was written by Vinayak Baranwal, For more insightful content or collaboration opportunities, feel free to connect with Vinayak on LinkedIn through the provided link.