Is Maven similar to npm?

Same tool, different language?

Maven is the most popular build and dependency resolution tool for Java, just like NPM is for JS. But it's not just the same tool for a different language. There are obviously huge differences between Java and JS builds, and these differences are directly visible in the way Maven operates. For example, while many JS tools rely on Git to do some heavy-lifting, Maven works with custom filesystem-based Maven repositories, as Maven predates Git and needs to handle binary artifacts, which Git historically didn't handle well. In Maven there's a clear separation between sources and binaries, while they are often the same thing in JS world.

Maven basics

Maven in its purest form follows a declarative model, where pom.xml (similar to package.json) defines different properties of the build, but contains no scripts. The disadvantage is it can be a challenge to fine-tune some aspects of the build without using scripts as you have to rely on plugins. The advantage is it can be easier to understand other builds just by looking at pom.xml, as they usually follow the same approach without too much customization. Gradle is a popular Groovy-based tool built on top of Maven standards and conventions, and is specifically designed to simplify pom.xml and break this "no script" barrier.

Referencing your dependencies

Similarly to package.json, you don't work with pom.xml of your dependency directly, but rather define dependency coordinates and let your build tool handle the rest. In Maven the basic form of these coordinates is GAV (groupId, artifactId, version).

Flat dependency tree?

Based on comments in the other answer, Maven provides "flat dependency tree", not "nested dependency tree" that NPM provides by default. Maven does not allow multiple versions of the same dependency. If it happens that different versions are requested, Maven uses dependency resolution to pick a single version. This means that sometimes your transitive dependencies will get a different version than they require, but there are ways to manage this. However, this limitation comes from Java, not Maven, as (normally) in Java a class loader will only provide access to a single class definition even if multiple definitions are found on the classpath. Since Java is not particularly good at handling this, Maven tries to avoid this scenario in the first place.

Note: since npm v3 the dependencies are flatten. The alternative package manager yarn also does the same.

Maturity

Furthermore, Maven is considerably older than NPM, has a larger user base, huge number of custom plugins, and so far could probably be considered more mature overall. Sometimes Maven is used for non-Java or even polyglot projects, as there are plugins for handling other languages or specific environments, such as Android. There are plugins that bridge Maven and other build tools, such as frontend-maven-plugin that actually handles multiple JS build tools.

Below I use | to separate between maven | npm terms respectively:

Common features:

• Both tools support dynamic fetch of dependencies ( artifacts | packages ) based on a descriptor file pom.xml|package.json, and also allow you to deploy | publish your own artifacts | packages.

• They both have a default public repository | registry ( http://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/ | https://registry.npmjs.org), but 3rd-party can also be used (via settings.xml|.npmrc ).

• They both support the concept of build-level dependencies (plugins | devDependencies used in scripts). *Maven supports provided dependencies also but this does not seem to apply to npm, since javascript is rarely deployed into containers.

• They both support dependency namespacing: groupId|scope

Differrences:

• maven has an additional local repository(cache):

  • No need to fetch again the same dependency for differrent projects.
  • Artifacts that are installed locally, are automatically accessible by other local projects.

• dependencies from a project build in maven are downloaded in <homedir>/.m2. With npm they are downloaded in <projectdir>/node_modules.

• Building in maven is commonly a one-step process: mvn package (fetch deps , build). In npm it is a 2-step process: npm install (fetch deps) , npm build (build)

• maven defines build lifecycles (for building,testing,deploying) consisted of phases, to which default operations(plugin goals) attach, based on differrent packaging options(.jar,.war,.ear e.t.c). You can then overwrite these operations, or inject new ones (via the plugin system). This provides kind of an out-of-the box solution for build,docgen,test,deploy e.t.c.
  npm approach is more simplistic ( see: scripts)

• Due to the above, npm is labeled as a package-management tool for javascript while maven is labeled as a build-automation and dependency-management tool for java.

• In maven setting-up the build process more commonly involves editing the pom.xml.
  In npm it involves writing code or configuring complementary build tools like gulp,webpack e.t.c

• For some reason version ranges defined by users in npm modules, are much more loose than in maven. This can cause issues with transitive dependencies, that is why an additional file was recently added: package-lock.json

• With npm it is much more straightforward to start a new project: npm init. With maven, you need to know how to write a minimal pom.xml, or read about archetypes.

• In general it is much more common to edit pom.xml than package.json. E.g. adding dependencies in maven is done manually (or via IDE) while in npm via command line.

• As with all build tools, you can call one tool from inside the other, but I think its much more common to call npm from inside maven, than the opposite.

• npm supports dev,production builds. In maven this needs to be defined through profiles.