I will not take the # of NPM vs Java Maven as is. Keep in mind that Java SE (API) is way more complete than NodeJS basic APIs. Also keep in mind that in Java,

I will not take the # of NPM vs Java Maven as is. Keep in mind that Java SE (API) is way more complete than NodeJS basic APIs. Also keep in mind that in Java, most people have 1-2 choices at most and those choices tend to be way more mature and stable so we tend to feel comfortable with those (at most) choices. You can slice and dice my analysis anyway you want. You can say lack of choices is bad and millions of Java devs will disagree with you. You can say that NodeJS is evolving like mad and thousands of other more experienced Devs that myself would argue that NodeJS ecosystems is playing "see which one sticks". Your values are different than of mine. StackOverlow stats you posted doesn't mean anything. Literally. We know JS has been around for ages. The fact that JS claim of fame to be smaller/leaner than Java yet rank #2 behind Java humongous ecosystem is a question mark in my mind: "What The Heck?" It can go either way. Gulp vs Grunt, NPM and Bower. Java has Maven. One tool. Yes, there are Ant and Gradle but let's be honest, Maven is king whether you like it or not. With Java, I declare the archetype (web-app or simple app) and dependencies and away I go (unit-test is part of the build, integration-test requires a few additional lines). With JS, I have to .. ? Let me know if it's simpler than Maven. Let's not waste time to argue about XML vs JSON or whatnot, that's a matter of taste, let's focus on the required steps to build, run tests, and package it up whether as a deployable or a dependency of others.