Benchmarks of JavaScript Package Managers
Last benchmarked at: Feb 15, 2026, 3:35 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 | 31.5s | 7.6s | 7.2s | 3.5s | |||
| install | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | 1.4s | 766ms | 5.1s | n/a |
| install | ✔ | ✔ | 9.6s | 2.4s | 5.2s | 1.3s | |
| install | ✔ | 14.4s | 5.3s | 7.3s | 2.9s | ||
| install | ✔ | 12.9s | 5.1s | 5.3s | 1.3s | ||
| install | ✔ | ✔ | 1.8s | 2.2s | 7s | n/a | |
| install | ✔ | ✔ | 1.3s | 723ms | 5.1s | n/a | |
| install | ✔ | 1.8s | 5s | 7s | n/a | ||
| update | n/a | n/a | n/a | 6.5s | 3.1s | 5.7s | 3s |