Best JavaScript package managers
Tools that install the dependencies of a JavaScript project. pnpm leads with about 321M real installs a week, followed by npm with about 23.9M.
| package | real installs / week | npm / week | noise | last release | confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. pnpmFast, disk space efficient package manager | 321M | 321,032,656 | under 1% | Nov 2026 | high |
| 2. npma package manager for JavaScript | 23.9M | 23,867,572 | under 1% | Nov 2026 | high |
| 3. yarn📦🐈 Fast, reliable, and secure dependency management. | 12.6M | 12,630,642 | under 1% | Mar 2024 | high |
| 4. bunBun is a fast all-in-one JavaScript runtime. | 6.02M–6.03M | 6,029,071 | under 1% | Oct 2026 | high |
Ranked by real installs. That measures use, not quality: read the notes below before choosing. Mirror spikes and crawlers removed. CI and dependency installs still count, so this is not a head count. Noise: the share of npm's count that mirror spikes and crawlers account for. What remains still includes CI and dependency installs. Rows are refreshed in rotation, the oldest here on Nov 6, 2026.
How do they differ?
Read this ranking with care: npm comes with Node.js, and the others are often installed outside the npm registry, so these counts understate all of them. pnpm saves disk space with a shared store and a strict node_modules. The yarn package on npm is Yarn Classic; newer versions, with Plug'n'Play, are set up per project. Bun is a whole runtime with a fast installer.