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Should I Use pnpm?

pnpm.io·Analyzed 3 hours ago··Based on 9 sources

Fast, disk space efficient package manager

Worth it

Worth it

Adopt it if you write JavaScript — it is free, installs 2–3× faster than npm, and cuts disk use 50–70%.

Free, 2–3× faster installs than npm with 50–70% less disk. Best upgrade for JS and monorepo teams.

Confidence: High

$0

Starting price

Open source, MIT license

Yes

Free tier

Entirely free, no paid tiers

36k

GitHub stars

2k forks

2–3× faster than npm

Install speed

50–70% disk savings

Value for money5

Free, faster, and saves disk

Feature depth4

Monorepo support, strict node_modules layout

Security posture3

Multiple 2026 CVEs, actively patched

Pros

  • Up to 2x faster than npm and Yarn¹
  • Installs 2–3× faster than npm, saves 50–70% disk³
  • Content-addressable store dedupes packages across projects
  • Non-flat node_modules and monorepo support by default⁹
  • Free and MIT-licensed

Cons

  • Not the fastest — Bun is 18× faster³
  • Yarn 4 called 'the safest default' in comparisons³
  • Multiple 2026 CVEs, including a critical path traversal⁸

Gotchas

  • highCritical path-traversal CVE disclosed; run latest version and pin upgrades
  • mediumSpeed advantage shrinks vs Bun; benchmark against your own CI first³
  • mediumGuess: migrating npm/Yarn projects means lockfile conversion and CI rewiring³

Best for

  • JavaScript/Node teams with heavy dependency trees
  • Monorepo workspaces
  • CI pipelines where install speed matters
  • Disk-constrained developer machines

Not for

  • Non-JavaScript projects — it only manages Node packages
  • Teams all-in on Bun, which is 18× faster
  • Anyone expecting vendor support or SLAs — it is community OSS
  • Teams that cannot change lockfiles and CI config

Pricing

pnpm

$0

  • Full CLI, workspaces and monorepo support
  • Community support via GitHub

Security

Actively maintained with a published security policy, but multiple 2026 CVEs (path traversal, one critical) — keep it updated.

  • CVE-2026-55699 — External Control of File Name or PathAffected versions vulnerable to external control of file name or path.⁷
  • CVE-2026-24131 — Path TraversalPath traversal vulnerability in dependency handling.⁸
  • CVE-2026-50015 — Critical path traversalFlagged as critical for versions prior to the fix.

What users say

Third-party benchmarks and developer write-ups consistently confirm the speed and disk claims, with Bun as the main speed rival.

“On its docs page you can read that pnpm is a 'fast, disk space efficient package manager.' It really is fast - locally, up to three times”
— dev.to review
“pnpm installs 2-3× faster than npm and saves 50-70% disk. Bun is 18× faster but swaps your runtime. Yarn 4 is the safest default.”
— DeployHQ benchmark comparison
“pnpm is a fast, disk-efficient package manager for Node.js. It installs dependencies up to 3× faster than npm, uses up to 80% less disk space”
— fireup.pro comparison

Alternatives

Compare pnpm with each alternative.

npm

Default choice; slower but zero migration effort

Yarn

Called the safest default in recent comparisons

Full analysis

Based on 15+ public sources. No named corporate users found in evidence; security findings are publicly disclosed CVEs.

Sources

  1. pnpm official sitepnpm.io
    official
  2. pnpm on GitHubgithub.com
    official
  3. pnpm vs npm vs Yarn vs Bun benchmarkdeployhq.com
    review
  4. What is pnpm? Is it really so fast?dev.to
    review
  5. pnpm on npm registry (MIT, active releases)npmjs.com
    official
  6. deps.dev — pnpm security policy and starsdeps.dev
    security
  7. Snyk — CVE-2026-55699security.snyk.io
    security
  8. Vulert — CVE-2026-24131vulert.com
    security
  9. Dwarves Foundation — pnpm monorepo overviewdwarvesf.hashnode.dev
    review

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