Package Manager Benchmark

Comparing package manager (PM) to improve CI performances

Procedure

The following PM are considered:

bun (1.0.23) bun install link
pnpm (8.14.0) pnpm install link
yarn (1.22.21) yarn install link
npm (10.2.5) npm install link

Software used to test: hyperfine

hyperfine "bun install --backend=hardlink" "pnpm install --ignore-scripts" "yarn install --no-scripts" "npm install --force --no-scripts --ignore-scripts" --warmup=4 --prepare="rm -rf node_modules" --cleanup="rm -rf node_modules" --export-markdown="package-manager-benchmark.md"

Results

Command	Mean [s]	Min [s]	Max [s]	Relative
`bun install --backend=hardlink`	1.014 ± 0.066	0.923	1.131	1.00
`pnpm install --ignore-scripts`	2.060 ± 0.095	1.955	2.244	2.03 ± 0.16
`yarn install --no-scripts`	7.883 ± 0.234	7.594	8.299	7.77 ± 0.56
`npm install --force --no-scripts --ignore-scripts`	10.155 ± 0.324	9.711	10.860	10.01 ± 0.73

Date: 2024-01-23

Configuration

CPUs: 16
CPU Name: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-11800H @ 2.30GHz
Architecture: x86_64
Software: Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS (Jammy)

Conclusion

The fastest tested package manager is bun but when using on the Windows platform, it lacks stability at the moment. Therefore, we can try pnpm.

To install:

# On MacOS and Linux
curl -fsSL https://get.pnpm.io/install.sh | sh -

# On Windows (using PowerShell)
iwr https://get.pnpm.io/install.ps1 -useb | iex