NPM (Node Package Manager) and Yarn are both package managers used for managing dependencies in Node.js projects. Here are some of the differences between the two:
1. Package Installations: NPM and Yarn both install packages from the npm registry, but Yarn has a faster and more reliable installation process, which caches packages locally and uses parallel processing to speed up the installation process.
2. Package Locking: Both NPM and Yarn use a package-lock.json file to lock down the versions of installed packages, but Yarn’s package lock file is more reliable and deterministic, ensuring that the same versions of packages are installed consistently across different machines.
3. CLI: NPM and Yarn both have similar command-line interfaces (CLI), but Yarn’s CLI is more user-friendly, providing better error messages and progress bars for package installations.
4. Custom Registries: Both NPM and Yarn support custom package registries, but Yarn has better support for private registries and caching packages locally.
5. Security: Both NPM and Yarn have similar security features, but Yarn has an added layer of security by using checksums to verify the integrity of packages during installation.
Overall, Yarn is a more reliable and efficient package manager than NPM, providing faster installations, better package locking, a more user-friendly CLI, and better support for custom registries and security. However, NPM is still widely used and has a larger user community, and some developers may prefer its simpler CLI and fewer configuration options.