NPM Package Manager Debate

Discussions compare npm's usability, security, speed, and ecosystem to package managers like pip, gem, and Maven in other languages, debating its strengths, weaknesses, and alternatives like yarn and pnpm.

➡️ Stable 0.5x Web Development
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Comments
18
Years Active
5
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#6575
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Keywords

NPM PHP DAYJOB CSS unpkg.com YMMV JS HN WMR FOR npm package node dependencies package manager pip nodejs packages ecosystem package managers

Sample Comments

danmanstx Apr 22, 2016 View on HN

and (him) as a javascript developer, isn't npm in a similar place?

Vegenoid Apr 16, 2025 View on HN

What package managers do you use, and what does npm do differently that makes you unwilling to use it?

pjmlp Jun 3, 2022 View on HN

Having an npm like ecosystem is hardly better.

quacker Aug 25, 2017 View on HN

Maybe python's dependency management (pypi/pip) is nicer than NPM? (I think it is, at least)

choward Apr 13, 2020 View on HN

Have you used npm before? It's a complete mess.

JBReefer Feb 26, 2018 View on HN

This kind of thing is why people are saying npm is easier...

fkyoureadthedoc Sep 11, 2025 View on HN

You sure it's not just because npm has been around for 15 years as the default package manager for node?

fault1 Jan 10, 2022 View on HN

npm (or yarn) for the most part works much better than python package managers

baq Dec 21, 2022 View on HN

what? npm is, for a lack of better word, shit. not worse than Python situation (coming from somebody who was excited when new-style classes were introduced), but that is a very low bar. ($DAYJOB makes me use npm _and_ pnpm, nx, nvm, corepack and I guess some other tools I don't know about just to make the goddamn thing build.)

send_computers May 14, 2018 View on HN

This seems like a description of NPM in the node ecosystem, they are incrementally solving all these issues.