85
ExcellentFast, disk space efficient package manager
- Weekly Downloads
- 115.9M
↑34%
- Bundle (gzip)
- 5.4 MB
- Updated
- Vulns
- 0
Health Score Breakdown
Maintenance
100
Popularity
100
Quality
50
Security
100
Stability
70
Comparison guide
Pnpm vs Yarn
Side-by-side NPM package comparison
Quick Verdict
Smallest Bundle
Yarn
1.5 MB gzipped
Most Popular
Pnpm
115.9M weekly downloads
Best Maintained
Pnpm
100/100 maintenance score
Highest Quality
Pnpm
50/100 quality score
Overall Pick
Pnpm
Best all-around based on popularity, size, maintenance & quality
67
Good📦🐈 Fast, reliable, and secure dependency management.
- Weekly Downloads
- 8.8M
↓5%
- Bundle (gzip)
- 1.5 MB
- Updated
- Vulns
- 0
Health Score Breakdown
Maintenance
40
Popularity
100
Quality
50
Security
100
Stability
70
Choosing between Pnpm and Yarn? Here's a data-driven comparison based on real npm data — downloads, bundle size, health scores, and more — to help you decide which package fits your project best.
Downloads & Popularity
Pnpm leads with 115.9M weekly downloads — roughly 13.1x more. Yarn has 8.8M weekly downloads. Higher download counts generally indicate broader community adoption and a larger ecosystem of tutorials, plugins, and support.
Bundle Size
Yarn has the smallest gzipped bundle at 1.5 MB. Pnpm comes in at 5.4 MB. A smaller bundle size means faster page loads, which improves user experience and Core Web Vitals scores.
Health Score Comparison
Pnpm has an overall health score of 85/100 (very good), with strong maintenance, security, popularity scores. Yarn has an overall health score of 67/100 (good), with strong security, popularity scores. Health scores are calculated from maintenance activity, code quality, security posture, popularity, and stability metrics.
When to Choose Each
Choose Pnpm if you value massive community and ecosystem, actively maintained, strong security track record. Choose Yarn if you value large community support, strong security track record.
Our Verdict
Both Pnpm and Yarn are solid choices for JavaScript development. Pnpm has the edge in overall health score (85/100), while each package brings unique strengths to the table. Evaluate them based on your project's priorities — whether that's community size, bundle efficiency, or maintenance activity — and choose the one that aligns best with your requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is pnpm better than yarn?
- It depends on your needs. Pnpm has a health score of 85/100 while Yarn scores 67/100. Pnpm has more weekly downloads (115.9M), suggesting broader adoption. Consider your specific requirements — bundle size, community support, and feature set — to decide which is the better fit.
- Which has a smaller bundle size, pnpm or yarn?
- Yarn has the smaller gzipped bundle at 1.5 MB. A smaller bundle means faster load times for your users, which can positively impact SEO and user experience.
- How many developers use pnpm vs yarn?
- Based on npm download statistics, Pnpm has approximately 115.9M weekly downloads and Yarn has approximately 8.8M weekly downloads. These numbers reflect package installations, not unique developers, but they indicate relative adoption levels.
- Which is better maintained, pnpm or yarn?
- Pnpm currently has the higher overall health score at 85/100. Pnpm has a maintenance score of 100/100 and Yarn scores 40/100 on maintenance.
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The 2026 JavaScript Stack Cheatsheet
One PDF: the best package for every category (ORMs, bundlers, auth, testing, state management). Used by 500+ devs. Free, updated monthly.