fnm
Ranked 7 of 7 version managers by recommenders
A fast Node version manager that people recommend as a faster, cleaner replacement for nvm. One critic says it will eventually slow down too.
A fast Node version manager that people recommend as a faster, cleaner replacement for nvm. One critic says it will eventually slow down too.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 86%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Much faster than nvm
“I use it and it's lives up to the name (it's much faster)”
Comment from 6 Oct 2026 in “Friendship ended with Deno, now Node is my best friend” “It’s a lot faster and generally works better too.”
Comment from 9 Jun 2026 in “Life is too short for a slow terminal” “fnm is better/faster/cleaner than nvm”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “Shell Tricks That Make Life Easier (and Save Your Sanity)” - Comment from 6 Oct 2026 in “Friendship ended with Deno, now Node is my best friend”
Cleaner and works better than nvm
“It’s a lot faster and generally works better too.”
Comment from 9 Jun 2026 in “Life is too short for a slow terminal” “fnm is better/faster/cleaner than nvm”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “Shell Tricks That Make Life Easier (and Save Your Sanity)” “Agreed fnm is much better than nvm”
Comment from 6 Oct 2026 in “Friendship ended with Deno, now Node is my best friend”
Other version managers people recommend
The four most recommended other version managers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mise | 137 | 22 | 86% | 12 | 1 yr4 owners | Approved |
| asdf version manager | 17 | 3 | 85% | 8 | — | Approved |
| rustup | 14 | 5 | 74% | 8 | — | Approved |
| SDKMAN | 12 | 1 | 92% | 2 | — | — |
| fnmThis page | 6 | 1 | 86% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 8 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Agreed fnm is much better than nvm”
“I use it and it's lives up to the name (it's much faster)”
“nvm? fnm? what is this? 1998 ?”
“It's been fast and I like how it prompts you to install a missing node version as soon as you jump into a directory with a `.nvmrc` file.”
“it will eventually slow down too”
“It’s a lot faster and generally works better too.”
“fnm is better/faster/cleaner than nvm”
“downloads Ghostty, VSCode, fnm and pnpm”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.