Most downloaded
debug
615.4M/wk
Start here when you want the clearest demand signal.
Most starred package
react
251.9K stars
Stars capture attention and memory, not production fit by themselves.
Adoption-to-visibility gap
minimist
127.5M/wk
A high download-to-star ratio often surfaces dependencies people use more than they discuss.
Quiet infrastructure
debug
19.3K stars
High demand with less headline visibility.
Ranked by weekly npm downloads ยท Source: npm registry
| # | Package | Stars | ๐ฅ Downloads/wk |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | debugโ๏ธ Production Lightweight debugging utility for Node.js and the browser | 19.3K | 615.4M/wk |
| 2 | chalkโ๏ธ Production Terminal string styling done right | 23.3K | 434.6M/wk |
| 3 | commanderโ๏ธ Production the complete solution for node.js command-line programs | 28.4K | 431.9M/wk |
| 4 | globโ๏ธ Production the most correct and second fastest glob implementation in JavaScript | 8.7K | 358.8M/wk |
| 5 | uuidโ๏ธ Production RFC9562 UUIDs | 15.3K | 264.6M/wk |
| 6 | typescriptโ๏ธ Production TypeScript is a language for application scale JavaScript development | 111.6K | 216.3M/wk |
| 7 | yargsโ๏ธ Production yargs the modern, pirate-themed, successor to optimist. | 11.5K | 212.8M/wk |
| 8 | fs-extraโ๏ธ Production fs-extra contains methods that aren't included in the vanilla Node.js fs package. Such as recursive mkdir, copy, and remove. | 9.6K | 188.5M/wk |
| 9 | lodashโ๏ธ Production Lodash modular utilities. | 61.3K | 154.8M/wk |
| 10 | reactโ๏ธ Production React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. | 251.9K | 144.7M/wk |
| 11 | dotenvโ๏ธ Production Loads environment variables from .env file | 20.6K | 139.6M/wk |
| 12 | eslintโ๏ธ Production An AST-based pattern checker for JavaScript. | 27.6K | 137.2M/wk |
| 13 | minimist๐ข Quiet Giantโ๏ธ Production parse argument options | 663 | 127.5M/wk |
| 14 | body-parserโ๏ธ Production Node.js body parsing middleware | 5.5K | 119.6M/wk |
| 15 | prettierโ๏ธ Production Prettier is an opinionated code formatter | 52.4K | 117.8M/wk |
| 16 | tailwindcssโ๏ธ Production A utility-first CSS framework for rapidly building custom user interfaces. | 98.1K | 116.9M/wk |
| 17 | axiosโ๏ธ Production Promise based HTTP client for the browser and node.js | 109.3K | 113.3M/wk |
| 18 | expressโ๏ธ Production Fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework | 69.6K | 108.8M/wk |
| 19 | asyncโ๏ธ Production Higher-order functions and common patterns for asynchronous code | 28.1K | 90.9M/wk |
| 20 | rxjsโ๏ธ Production Reactive Extensions for modern JavaScript | 31.7K | 89.7M/wk |
| 21 | date-fnsโ๏ธ Production Modern JavaScript date utility library | 36.7K | 89.2M/wk |
| 22 | oraโ๏ธ Production Elegant terminal spinner | 10.6K | 75.4M/wk |
| 23 | sharpโ๏ธ Production High performance Node.js image processing, the fastest module to resize JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, AVIF and TIFF images | 32.8K | 63.8M/wk |
| 24 | corsโ๏ธ Production Node.js CORS middleware | 15.6K | 61.9M/wk |
| 25 | webpackโ๏ธ Production Packs ECMAScript/CommonJs/AMD modules for the browser. Allows you to split your codebase into multiple bundles, which can be loaded on demand. Supports loaders to preprocess files, i.e. json, jsx, es7, css, less, ... and your custom stuff. | 66K | 48.7M/wk |
| 26 | jsonwebtokenโ๏ธ Production JSON Web Token implementation (symmetric and asymmetric) | 18.2K | 48.1M/wk |
| 27 | inquirerโ๏ธ Production A collection of common interactive command line user interfaces. | 21.6K | 44.6M/wk |
| 28 | jestโ๏ธ Production Delightful JavaScript Testing. | 45.5K | 43M/wk |
| 29 | graphqlโ๏ธ Production A Query Language and Runtime which can target any service. | 32.1K | 40.8M/wk |
| 30 | nextโ๏ธ Production The React Framework | 143.3K | 38.2M/wk |
| 31 | reduxโ๏ธ Production Predictable state container for JavaScript apps | 61.4K | 35.2M/wk |
| 32 | momentโ๏ธ Production Parse, validate, manipulate, and display dates | 47.9K | 34.6M/wk |
| 33 | multerโ๏ธ Production Middleware for handling `multipart/form-data`. | 12.1K | 17.4M/wk |
| 34 | socket.ioโ๏ธ Production node.js realtime framework server | 63.2K | 14.8M/wk |
| 35 | vue๐ Elite The progressive JavaScript framework for building modern web UI. | 212.6K | 13.6M/wk |
| 36 | prismaโ๏ธ Production The Prisma CLI: one binary for the ORM, Composer, and the Prisma Developer Platform. | 47.7K | 13M/wk |
| 37 | nodemonโ๏ธ Production Simple monitor script for use during development of a Node.js app. | 26.7K | 12.4M/wk |
| 38 | helmetโ๏ธ Production help secure Express/Connect apps with various HTTP headers | 17.4K | 11.8M/wk |
| 39 | passportโ๏ธ Production Simple, unobtrusive authentication for Node.js. | 23.5K | 7.4M/wk |
| 40 | mongooseโ๏ธ Production Mongoose MongoDB ODM | 27.5K | 6M/wk |
| 41 | bcryptโ๏ธ Production A bcrypt library for NodeJS. | 7.8K | 5M/wk |
| 42 | electron๐ Elite Build cross platform desktop apps with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS | 123.6K | 4.5M/wk |
| 43 | Production process manager for Node.JS applications with a built-in load balancer. | 43.3K | 3.1M/wk |
| 44 | puppeteer๐ซง Hype Watch A high-level API to control headless Chrome over the DevTools Protocol | 95.7K | 0/wk |
| 45 | playwright๐ซง Hype Watch A high-level API to automate web browsers | 98.6K | 0/wk |
| 46 | cheerio๐ซง Hype Watch The fast, flexible & elegant library for parsing and manipulating HTML and XML. | 30.5K | 0/wk |
| 47 | marked๐ซง Hype Watch A markdown parser built for speed | 37.3K | 0/wk |
| 48 | dayjs๐ซง Hype Watch 2KB immutable date time library alternative to Moment.js with the same modern API | 48.7K | 0/wk |
| 49 | zod๐ซง Hype Watch TypeScript-first schema declaration and validation library with static type inference | 44.2K | 0/wk |
| 50 | vite๐ซง Hype Watch Native-ESM powered web dev build tool | 83.6K | 0/wk |
The top of npm is usually a mix of framework primitives, build tooling, testing packages, and invisible infrastructure libraries that many apps inherit indirectly. That shape is exactly why download rankings are valuable: they reveal the dependency layer that keeps modern JavaScript moving even when those packages are less visible in day-to-day conversation.