Compare

JSR vs npm

npm scores higher on the AgentReady, 57/100 against 50/100. They differ on 7 of the 41 signals. Which ones decides whether an agent can adopt them without a person watching.

What each one is

JSR. The open-source package registry for modern JavaScript and TypeScript.

npm. npm is the package manager for JavaScript and the world's largest software registry, owned by GitHub.

Where JSR is ahead

JSR passes clear product positioning, and npm does not. That is discover, whether an agent can find the product at all without being told it exists.

It also holds understand: authentication documented. npm misses it.

Where npm is ahead

npm passes search discoverable, and JSR does not. That is discover, whether an agent can find the product at all without being told it exists.

It also holds understand: structured api reference. JSR misses it.

And on adopt, no mandatory sales call, fast time to first request and copyable quickstart. JSR misses those.

What neither does

Both fail clear canonical domain, llms.txt published, llms-full.txt / full agent docs, openapi / spec quality, request examples provided, response examples provided, errors and status codes documented, limits / constraints documented, agent-compatible signup flow, programmatic credential creation, structured, predictable output, machine-readable errors, retry behavior documented, idempotency support, rate-limit behavior predictable, observable execution. If your agent needs any of those, you will be building it yourself either way.

Score, pillar by pillar

The AgentReady splits into four pillars, scored separately, because a product can be easy to find and still impossible to adopt.

Discover. Both sit at 67/100 here. JSR misses search discoverable, clear canonical domain, llms.txt published, llms-full.txt / full agent docs; npm misses clear canonical domain, clear product positioning, llms.txt published, llms-full.txt / full agent docs.

Understand. npm leads 38 to 31. JSR misses structured api reference, openapi / spec quality, request examples provided, response examples provided, errors and status codes documented, limits / constraints documented; npm misses openapi / spec quality, authentication documented, request examples provided, response examples provided, errors and status codes documented, limits / constraints documented.

Adopt is whether an agent can get a key and make its first successful call without a human in the loop. npm leads 80 to 60. JSR misses no mandatory sales call, agent-compatible signup flow, programmatic credential creation, fast time to first request, copyable quickstart; npm misses agent-compatible signup flow, programmatic credential creation.

Operate. Both sit at 41/100 here. JSR misses structured, predictable output, machine-readable errors, retry behavior documented, idempotency support, rate-limit behavior predictable, observable execution; npm misses structured, predictable output, machine-readable errors, retry behavior documented, idempotency support, rate-limit behavior predictable, observable execution.

Pricing

JSR does not publish a machine-readable starting price and has a free tier. npm starts at $7/mo and has a free tier.

Signal by signal

Which to pick

npm clears more of the signals an agent needs, so it is the safer default for unattended use. Full profiles: JSR and npm. Alternatives to each: JSR, npm.

An agent can fetch this as data: POST /v1/compare {"slugs": ["jsr", "npmjs"]}