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CocoaPods vs npm: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this markdown code, we will compare the key differences between CocoaPods and npm, which are package managers used in software development.

  1. Programming Language Compatibility: CocoaPods is primarily used for managing dependencies in iOS and macOS development projects using Objective-C or Swift programming languages. On the other hand, npm is a package manager for JavaScript and is commonly used in web development projects.

  2. Dependency Resolution: CocoaPods uses a centralized repository of libraries and frameworks specifically designed for iOS and macOS development. It resolves dependencies by checking compatibility and versions specified in the Podfile. In contrast, npm uses a decentralized package registry and offers a wider range of packages, libraries, and frameworks for various JavaScript-based projects.

  3. Configuration and Installation: CocoaPods requires a macOS environment and is typically installed through RubyGems, a package manager for Ruby. It also requires Xcode to build and compile the dependencies. On the contrary, npm comes bundled with Node.js, making it platform-independent and easily installable using the Node Package Manager.

  4. Project Structure: In CocoaPods, the dependencies are managed using a Podfile, which specifies the required libraries and their specific versions. It integrates with Xcode projects by generating and managing an Xcode workspace that includes the dependencies. In npm, the dependencies are managed through a package.json file, which contains a list of required packages and their respective versions.

  5. Community and Ecosystem: CocoaPods has a well-established community and ecosystem specifically focused on iOS and macOS development. It offers a curated collection of libraries and frameworks tailored for Apple platforms. On the other hand, npm has a larger and more diverse community catering to a wide range of JavaScript-based projects, including web development, server-side scripting, and command-line tools.

  6. Support and Documentation: Due to its specialization in Apple platforms, CocoaPods maintains comprehensive documentation targeted specifically at iOS and macOS developers. It provides detailed guidelines and tutorials on how to integrate dependencies into Xcode projects. Conversely, npm offers extensive documentation covering various aspects of JavaScript development, making it accessible to a broader audience.

In summary, CocoaPods and npm differ in programming language compatibility, dependency resolution, configuration and installation process, project structure, community and ecosystem, and support/documentation. CocoaPods focuses on iOS and macOS development using Objective-C or Swift, while npm is primarily used for JavaScript-based projects with a wider community and package registry.

Advice on CocoaPods and npm
Needs advice
on
npmnpm
and
YarnYarn

From a StackShare Community member: “I’m a freelance web developer (I mostly use Node.js) and for future projects I’m debating between npm or Yarn as my default package manager. I’m a minimalist so I hate installing software if I don’t need to- in this case that would be Yarn. For those who made the switch from npm to Yarn, what benefits have you noticed? For those who stuck with npm, are you happy you with it?"

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Replies (14)
Julian Sanchez
Lead Developer at Chore Champion · | 11 upvotes · 252.8K views
Recommends
on
YarnYarn
at

We use Yarn because it allows us to more simply manage our node_modules. It also simplifies commands and increases speed when installing modules. Our teams module download time was cut in half after switching from NPM to Yarn. We now require all employees to use Yarn (to prevent errors with package-lock.json and yarn.lock).

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Recommends
on
npmnpm

I use npm since new version is pretty fast as well (Yarn may be still faster a bit but the difference isn't huge). No need for other dependency and mainly Yarn sometimes do not work. Sometimes when I want to install project dependencies I got error using Yarn but with npm everything is installed correctly.

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Recommends
on
YarnYarn

p.s.

I am not sure about the performance of the latest version of npm, whether it is different from my understanding of it below. Because I use npm very rarely when I had the following knowledge.

------⏬

I use Yarn because, first, yarn is the first tool to lock the version. Second, although npm also supports the lock version, when you use npm to lock the version, and then use package-lock.json on other systems, package-lock.json Will be modified. You understand what I mean, when you deploy projects based on Git...

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Mark Nelissen
Recommends
on
npmnpmnpmnpm

I use npm because I also mainly use React and TypeScript. Since several typings (from DefinitelyTyped) depend on the React typings, Yarn tends to mess up which leads to duplicate libraries present (different versions of the same type definition), which hinders the Typescript compiler. Npm always resolves to a single version per transitive dependency. At least that's my experience with both.

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Recommends
on
YarnYarn

As far as I know Yarn is a super module of NPM. But it still needs npm to run.

Yarn was developed by Facebook's guys to fix some npm issues and performance.

If you use the last version of npm most of this problem does not exist anymore.

You can choose the option which makes you more confortable. I like using yarn because I'm used to it.

In the end the packages will be the same. Just try both and choose the one you feel more confortable. :)

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Recommends
on
YarnYarn

I am a minimalist too. I once had issues with installing Nuxt.js using NPM so I had to install Yarn but I also found that the Dev experience was much better

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Digital All
Recommends
on
npmnpm

I use npm because its packaged with node installation and handles npm tokens in CI/CD tools for private packages/libraries.

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Izzur Zuhri
Recommends
on
npmnpm

I use npm because it has a lot of community support and the performance difference with alternative tool is not so significant for me.

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tataata
Frontend designer and developer · | 3 upvotes · 238K views
Recommends
on
YarnYarn

Yarn made it painless for the team to sync on versions of packages that we use on the project <3

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Shuuji TAKAHASHI
Recommends
on
YarnYarn

I use Yarn because it outputs nice progress messages with cute emoji and installs packages quickly if the package is cached. Also, Yarn creates yarn.lock file which makes the developer use the consistent environment.

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Tor Hagemann
Principal Software Engineer at Socotra · | 3 upvotes · 138.2K views
Recommends
on
npmnpmYarnYarn

You should use whichever had the best DX (developer experience) for your team. If you are doing a massive front-end project, consider yarn if not only because it makes it a snap to go from zero to ready. What some people say about npm being more stable or easier for smaller projects is highly true as well. (not to mention, you sometimes have to install yarn) But, note that official NodeJS Docker images ship with both npm and yarn. If you want to use yarn, put package-lock=false and optionally save-exact=true in your project's .npmrc file. Compare whether you prefer the ergonomics of yarn global add over npm install -g or see fewer meaningless warnings for the specific set of dependencies you leverage.

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Recommends
on
npmnpm

I use npm because its the official package manager for Node. It's reliability, security and speed has increased over time so the battle is over!

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Francois Leurent
Recommends
on
npmnpm
at

We tend to stick to npm, yarn is only a fancy alternative, not 10x better. Using a self -hosted private repository (via sinopia/npm-mirror) make package locking (mostly) pointless.

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Denys Slipetskyy
Lead Software Engineer · | 3 upvotes · 239K views
Recommends
on
YarnYarn
at

I use Yarn because it process my dependencies way faster, predictable deps resolution order, upgrade-interactive is very handy + some Yarn specific features (workspaces, Plug’n’Play alternative installation strategy) ...

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Decisions about CocoaPods and npm
Oleksandr Fedotov
Senior Software Engineer at joyn · | 3 upvotes · 279.8K views

As we have to build the application for many different TV platforms we want to split the application logic from the device/platform specific code. Previously we had different repositories and it was very hard to keep the development process when changes were done in multiple repositories, as we had to synchronize code reviews as well as merging and then updating the dependencies of projects. This issues would be even more critical when building the project from scratch what we did at Joyn. Therefor to keep all code in one place, at the same time keeping in separated in different modules we decided to give a try to monorepo. First we tried out lerna which was fine at the beginning, but later along the way we had issues with adding new dependencies which came out of the blue and were not easy to fix. Next round of evolution was yarn workspaces, we are still using it and are pretty happy with dev experience it provides. And one more advantage we got when switched to yarn workspaces that we also switched from npm to yarn what improved the state of the lock file a lot, because with npm package-lock file was updated every time you run npm install, frequent updates of package-lock file were causing very often merge conflicts. So right now we not just having faster dependencies installation time but also no conflicts coming from lock file.

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Petr Bambušek
Head of Frontend at Mews · | 2 upvotes · 293.7K views
Chose
YarnYarn
over
npmnpm
at
()

This was no real choice - we switched the moment Yarn was available, and never looked back. Yarn is the only reasonable frontend package manager that's actually being developed. They even aim to heal the node_modules madness with v2! Npm is just copying its ideas on top of introducing massive bugs with every change.

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Pros of CocoaPods
Pros of npm
    Be the first to leave a pro
    • 647
      Best package management system for javascript
    • 382
      Open-source
    • 327
      Great community
    • 148
      More packages than rubygems, pypi, or packagist
    • 112
      Nice people matter
    • 6
      As fast as yarn but really free of facebook
    • 6
      Audit feature
    • 4
      Good following
    • 1
      Super fast
    • 1
      Stability

    Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions

    Cons of CocoaPods
    Cons of npm
      Be the first to leave a con
      • 5
        Problems with lockfiles
      • 5
        Bad at package versioning and being deterministic
      • 3
        Node-gyp takes forever
      • 1
        Super slow

      Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

      What is CocoaPods?

      It supports almost every way you would want to get source code, git, svn, bzr, http and hg. You can use your own private code repository to manage your own dependencies. It only requires a git repo, no server necessary.

      What is npm?

      npm is the command-line interface to the npm ecosystem. It is battle-tested, surprisingly flexible, and used by hundreds of thousands of JavaScript developers every day.

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      What companies use CocoaPods?
      What companies use npm?
      Manage your open source components, licenses, and vulnerabilities
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      What tools integrate with CocoaPods?
      What tools integrate with npm?

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      Blog Posts

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      What are some alternatives to CocoaPods and npm?
      Gradle
      Gradle is a build tool with a focus on build automation and support for multi-language development. If you are building, testing, publishing, and deploying software on any platform, Gradle offers a flexible model that can support the entire development lifecycle from compiling and packaging code to publishing web sites.
      Cocoa Touch (iOS)
      The Cocoa Touch layer contains key frameworks for building iOS apps. These frameworks define the appearance of your app. They also provide the basic app infrastructure and support for key technologies such as multitasking, touch-based input, push notifications, and many high-level system services.
      Carthage
      It exclusively uses dynamic frameworks instead of static libraries. It's a ruthlessly simple dependency manager for macOS and iOS, created by a group of developers from Github.
      Apache Maven
      Maven allows a project to build using its project object model (POM) and a set of plugins that are shared by all projects using Maven, providing a uniform build system. Once you familiarize yourself with how one Maven project builds you automatically know how all Maven projects build saving you immense amounts of time when trying to navigate many projects.
      Homebrew
      Homebrew installs the stuff you need that Apple didn’t. Homebrew installs packages to their own directory and then symlinks their files into /usr/local.
      See all alternatives