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Should I Use npm-stat: download statistics for NPM packages?

npm-stat.com·Analyzed 15 hours ago··Based on 8 sources

download statistics for NPM packages

Worth it

Worth it

Free, no-signup npm download charts — a fine utility for quick popularity checks.

Free npm download charts, fine for quick looks. Counts are inflated by mirrors and bots — not decision-grade data.

Confidence: Medium

Free

Price

Donation-supported, ad-free

Yes

Free tier

Everything included

Paul Vorbach

Maintainer

Open source on GitHub

npm registry

Data source

Not real-time

Value for money5

Free, ad-free, donation-funded

Ease of use4

Enter package names, get charts

Feature depth2

Charts only; no real-time data

Security posture3

No public security page, no known issues

Pros

  • Free and ad-free; runs on donations²
  • Charts for any npm package, data straight from npm¹
  • Compare packages or authors over custom date ranges²
  • Open source — code public on GitHub⁷
  • Widely cited in academic research

Cons

  • Counts only cover the official npm registry, not mirrors or private registries⁵
  • Stats are not provided in real-time¹
  • No public security page³
  • Solo-maintainer project; no enterprise support²

Gotchas

  • highMirror sites cache packages automatically, inflating download numbers for unused packages⁴
  • highTools exist that simulate downloads to fake package popularity⁶
  • mediumDonation-funded solo project; no uptime SLA or support commitment²
  • lowData lags — not real-time, so recent trend shifts won't show¹

Best for

  • Open-source maintainers tracking package adoption
  • Quick side-by-side package comparisons
  • Researchers citing npm adoption trends

Not for

  • Anyone making build-vs-buy calls from raw download counts
  • Teams needing real-time or private-registry stats
  • Businesses wanting vendor SLAs or guaranteed support

Pricing

Free

$0

  • Download charts for any npm package
  • Ad-free, donation-supported

Security

No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

Practitioners warn that npm download counts are unreliable popularity signals because mirrors and bots inflate them.

“npm stats are pretty broken.”
— Latenode community forum
“NPM download counts only include downloads to the official NPM registry, and not registries”
— dev.to

Alternatives

Compare npm-stat: download statistics for NPM packages with each alternative.

npm trends

Compare download curves across packages side by side

npm package pages

Official weekly download counts per package, zero setup

Apify npm Package Stats actor

Programmatic download counts plus package metadata via API

npm-stats package

Query the npm registry API directly from code

Full analysis

Based on 16 public sources; consistent but community feedback is thin.

Sources

  1. npm-stat homepagenpm-stat.com
    official
  2. npm-stat charts page (donation note)npm-stat.com
    official
  3. npm-stat security pagenpm-stat.com
    security
  4. How reliable are npm package download counts?community.latenode.com
    review
  5. How I exploited NPM downloads... and why you shouldn'tdev.to
    review
  6. npm-increaser-downloads (count inflation tool)npmjs.com
    news
  7. pvorb/npm-stat.com source on GitHubgist.github.com
    official
  8. Apify npm Package Stats actorapify.com
    official

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