Benchmarks of JavaScript Package Managers | pnpm

How fast is pnpm, really? We install two real projects with npm, two generations of pnpm, and three pnpm configurations — and install Node.js itself against fnm and nvm.
Data fetched Nov 12, 2026 from pnpm/benchmarks, rebuilt on every deploy.
Two projects installed six ways each — the cache and lockfile states you actually end up in, from a fresh clone to a warm re-run.
A wide dependency graph of small packages — lots of files to link, little to resolve.
All 6 scenarios added up.
A typical mix of 20 installs during local development, where the cache is rarely cold: 8× cache + lockfile, 4× cache, 3× everything warm, 2× lockfile, 2× update, 1× clean.
Fourteen modern toolchains — Angular, Nest, Vite, webpack, Storybook — resolving to about a gigabyte.
All 6 scenarios added up.
A typical mix of 20 installs during local development, where the cache is rarely cold: 8× cache + lockfile, 4× cache, 3× everything warm, 2× lockfile, 2× update, 1× clean.
pnpm installs and switches Node.js versions itself, so you may not need a version manager at all. Here it is against fnm and nvm.
All 3 scenarios added up.
Every tool runs on the same machine against the same project, and the timings are committed to pnpm/benchmarks. This page reads them at build time and picks the newest version of each tool.
This is one project on one machine — your numbers will differ. Run pnpm run benchmark to see your own.