mise vs nvm
mise
mise.jdx.devnvm
github.comSide by side
| Figure | mise | nvm |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Spec score · Runtime Version Managers | 7.7 (#12) | 8.5 (#4) |
| Spec score · Development Environment Managers | 7.6 (#31) | 8.4 (#10) |
| License | The project is open source and MIT licensed. | nvm is distributed under the MIT License, permitting use, modification, distribution and sale subject to retaining notices. |
| Purpose | mise manages development tools, environment variables, and project tasks through a project configuration file. | nvm lets users install and use different Node.js versions from the command line. |
| Shell support | Shell hooks are listed for bash, zsh, fish, nushell, PowerShell, and other shells. | It works on POSIX-compliant shells including sh, dash, ksh, zsh, and bash. |
| Support | The project directs questions to GitHub Discussions, bug reports to GitHub Issues, and security reports to the private process in SECURITY.md. | The project states that only the latest nvm version is supported. |
Plans
In their own words
mise
mise is a free, MIT-licensed open-source tool for managing development runtimes, command-line tools, environment variables, and project tasks from a configuration file. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows and lists a registry of more than 1,000 tools. Projects can pin tool versions and share those choices with teams and continuous-integration systems. Configuration can load variables from dotenv files, secrets, and shell commands. Tasks can define build, test, lint, and other commands with dependencies and arguments, with task graphs, affected-build handling, and remote caching listed. The bootstrap command can declare packages, dotfiles, repositories, and services for machine setup. Shell hooks cover bash, zsh, fish, nushell, PowerShell, and other shells. Documentation describes GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, and Xcode Cloud use. Community plugins are listed for Emacs, IntelliJ, Neovim, and VSCode, with support depending on editor, extension, and language. Security controls include trust settings, safe and paranoid modes, checksums, signatures, provenance, and artifact attestations.
nvm
nvm is a free, MIT-licensed command-line tool for installing and managing Node.js versions. It is designed for installation per user and invocation per shell, and works in POSIX-compliant shells including sh, dash, ksh, zsh, and bash. Users can install specific versions, switch between them, set aliases such as a default, and use LTS aliases and commands to select long-term support versions. A project can specify its Node.js version in an.nvmrc file; documented shell snippets can support automatic switching. During installation, nvm can reinstall global npm packages from another installed Node.js version. With the --offline flag, it can install a version that was previously downloaded or cached without network access. The project documents use in Docker, including an example for CI/CD jobs. On Windows, nvm can work through WSL and may work with Git Bash or Cygwin depending on the environment. Fish shell is not supported, and the project points users to community alternatives. The project states that only the latest nvm version is supported.