Node Version Managers¶
| Tool | ⭐ | Auto-switch (.nvmrc) | Speed | Best For | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nvm | 91k | Yes | Medium | Maximum compatibility | Most adopted, shell-based |
| fnm | 23k | Yes | Very Fast | Daily dev | Rust-based, instant switching |
| n | 19k | No (manual) | Fast | Simple global switching | Very minimal |
| ⚠️ Volta | 13k | Yes (auto pin) | Very Fast | Stable per-project toolchains | Also manages npm/yarn/pnpm |
| nodenv | 2.3k | Yes | Fast | Lightweight setups | rbenv-style approach |
| asdf (node plugin) | 1k | Yes | Fast | Multi-language teams | One manager for many runtimes |
Volta¶
Volta is unmaintained. Everything that works today should continue to do so for the foreseeable future, so if it is working for you, there is no particular urgency to migrate to another tool, but we will not be able to address breakages from new OS releases or other changes in the ecosystem, so you should put it on your maintenance roadmap at some point. We recommend migrating to
mise. See issue #2080.
Maybe I have to look into mise.