Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!
Gradle vs Yarn: What are the differences?
Key Differences between Gradle and Yarn
1. Scalability: Gradle is a build automation tool that provides scalability and flexibility in managing complex projects. It allows developers to define custom build logic using a powerful Groovy-based DSL, making it suitable for large and diverse software projects. On the other hand, Yarn is a package manager for JavaScript that focuses on dependency management in Node.js projects. It optimizes dependency resolution and install efficiency, making it ideal for managing the packages and dependencies in a Node.js application.
2. Language Support: Gradle supports a wide range of programming languages, including Java, C++, Kotlin, Groovy, and more. It can be used for building projects and managing dependencies in different languages, making it a versatile choice for multi-language projects. Yarn, on the other hand, is specifically designed for JavaScript projects, and it excels in managing npm packages and their dependencies in Node.js applications.
3. Build Configuration: Gradle uses a declarative approach for build configuration, allowing developers to define the build process and dependencies in a centralized build script. It provides a flexible and customizable way to define tasks, dependencies, and build logic. Yarn, on the other hand, uses a simple and intuitive configuration file called package.json
to specify the project's dependencies and scripts. It follows a more straightforward approach compared to Gradle's declarative build configuration.
4. Performance: Gradle offers a highly optimized build process that can handle complex projects efficiently. It uses an incremental build architecture to minimize the build time by only executing necessary tasks. Additionally, it provides dependency caching and parallel execution capabilities for faster builds. Yarn focuses more on the performance of dependency resolution and installation. It has algorithms that optimize the dependency graph for faster resolution and parallelism for concurrent package installations.
5. Ecosystem Integration: Gradle integrates well with various development tools and frameworks, allowing developers to leverage the ecosystem around them. It provides seamless integration with IDEs, CI/CD systems, and other build-related plugins and extensions. Yarn, being focused on Node.js projects, has excellent integration with the JavaScript ecosystem. It can make use of the numerous npm packages available and works well with tools like webpack, Babel, and Jest.
6. Community and Support: Gradle has a large and active community with extensive documentation and support resources. It is backed by Gradle Inc., which provides commercial support and consulting services. Yarn, being part of the JavaScript and Node.js ecosystem, also has a vibrant community and ample online resources. It benefits from the popularity and widespread usage of JavaScript, making it easy to find support and solutions to common issues.
In summary, Gradle and Yarn differ in their scalability, language support, build configuration approach, performance optimizations, ecosystem integration, and availability of community support. Gradle is suitable for multi-language projects with complex build requirements, while Yarn is a specialized tool for managing JavaScript dependencies in Node.js applications.
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?"
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).
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.
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.
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...
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. :)
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.
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
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) ...
I use npm because its packaged with node installation and handles npm tokens in CI/CD tools for private packages/libraries.
Yarn made it painless for the team to sync on versions of packages that we use on the project <3
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.
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.
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!
I use npm because it has a lot of community support and the performance difference with alternative tool is not so significant for me.
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.
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.
Pros of Gradle
- Flexibility110
- Easy to use51
- Groovy dsl47
- Slow build time22
- Crazy memory leaks10
- Fast incremental builds8
- Kotlin DSL5
- Windows Support1
Pros of Yarn
- Incredibly fast85
- Easy to use22
- Open Source13
- Can install any npm package11
- Works where npm fails8
- Workspaces7
- Incomplete to run tasks3
- Fast2
Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions
Cons of Gradle
- Inactionnable documentation8
- It is just the mess of Ant++6
- Hard to decide: ten or more ways to achieve one goal4
- Bad Eclipse tooling2
- Dependency on groovy2
Cons of Yarn
- 16
- Sends data to facebook7
- Should be installed separately4
- Cannot publish to registry other than npm3