Popularity
Blue line is node-sass, orange is sass popularity.
The sass readme explains some of the differences:
- Dart Sass, from which this package is compiled, can be used either as a stand-alone executable or as a Dart library. Running Dart Sass on the Dart VM is substantially faster than running the pure JavaScript version, so this may be appropriate for performance-sensitive applications. The Dart API is also (currently) more user-friendly than the JavaScript API. See the Dart Sass README for details on how to use it.
- Node Sass, which is a wrapper around LibSass, the C++ implementation of Sass. Node Sass supports the same API as this package and is also faster (although it's usually a little slower than Dart Sass). However, it requires a native library which may be difficult to install, and it's generally slower to add features and fix bugs.
Performance
There are performance differences which are covered in answer, which compares the differences compiling Bootstrap 4:
In this particular case, two seconds is not a big deal; but consider Dart-Sass(JS) is nine times slower than Dart-Sass(Dart VM) and three times slower than node-sass.
This article has more details about this benchmark.
Maintenance
node-sass is considered deprecated, but you can see frequent updates are happening for both packages.
Why @use and @forward doesn't work on node-sass
Because node-sass uses LibSass which is implemented in C and does not receive updates as frequently as the Dart implementation.
npm
npmjs.com › package › sass
sass - npm
3 days ago - A pure JavaScript implementation of Sass.. Latest version: 1.98.0, last published: 3 days ago. Start using sass in your project by running `npm i sass`. There are 11649 other projects in the npm registry using sass.
» npm install sass
Published Mar 10, 2026
Version 1.98.0
Author Natalie Weizenbaum
Repository https://github.com/sass/dart-sass
Homepage https://github.com/sass/dart-sass
Sass
sass-lang.com › install
Sass: Install Sass
If you use Node.js, you can also install Sass using npm by running
css - Can't install node-sass using npm - Stack Overflow
I am trying to install SASS compiler node-sass which will compile SCSS code into CSS code. I am trying by watching an online course, doing same things but getting some errors. npm init --yes : crea... More on stackoverflow.com
Slow performance when using npm package `sass`
I have been using the npm package for dart-sass recently across some projects ( Sass A11yColor ). I have noticed that using the homebrew installation of dart-sass and the node-sass npm package is a lot faster then using the sass npm pack... More on github.com
2
Should I use sass or node-sass package from the npm repository?
I don't know which is more official but I used node-sass for a few projects and found no problems. More on reddit.com
16
2
June 12, 2018How can I tell which version of Sass is running with node-sass?
Hi, This might sound like an odd question but I'm using gulp-sass, a wrapper for node-sass which in turn uses libsass. I'm confused as to how I know which version of Sass I'm running. D... More on github.com
7
Videos
Sass / SCSS COMPLETE Tutorial (+ Node.js & NPM) with ...
15:24
Node Express and SASS/SCSS Setup - YouTube
SASS Tutorial Part 1, install sass with npm and start with the ...
02:25
Sass Tutorial For Beginner | Part-2 | Install Sass via npm, Setup ...
10:33
How to use Gulp and NPM to compile SASS/SCSS - YouTube
02:17
How to Install Node js and SASS on Windows 10, 11 – Complete ...
npm
npmjs.com › search
sass - npm search
npm · Sign UpSign In · Sort by: Default · Default · Most downloaded this week · Most downloaded this month · Most dependents · Recently published · exact match · A pure JavaScript implementation of Sass. style · scss · sass · ...
Medium
medium.com › @brianhan › watch-compile-your-sass-with-npm-9ba2b878415b
Watch & Compile your Sass with npm. | by Brian Han | Medium
May 22, 2017 - In this section, I’ll show you how I made a simple sass compiler and watcher without using gulp.js and only using npm scripts.
DEV Community
dev.to › ccreusat › migrating-from-node-sass-to-sass-dart-sass-with-npm-3g3c
Migrating from Node-Sass to Sass (Dart-Sass) with npm - DEV Community
May 20, 2022 - Tired of node-sass ? For 2 years now, LibSass and node-sass has been deprecated. A lot of... Tagged with css, sass, migration, npm.
npm
npmjs.com › package › sass-loader
sass-loader - npm
February 5, 2026 - Loads a Sass/SCSS file and compiles it to CSS. ... To enable CSS processing in your project, you need to install style-loader and css-loader via npm i style-loader css-loader.
» npm install sass-loader
Published Feb 05, 2026
Version 16.0.7
Author J. Tangelder
Repository https://github.com/webpack/sass-loader
DEV Community
dev.to › adetutu › how-to-install-sass-locally-using-node-package-manager-npm-89
How to Install SASS Locally Using Node Package Manager (NPM) - DEV Community
May 9, 2023 - To Install Sass as a development dependency for a specific project, follow the steps outlined below; STEP 1: Open a terminal window or command prompt and navigate to your project directory. ... The command npm init creates a new package.json file in your project directory.
npm
npmjs.com › package › npm-sass
npm-sass - npm
April 20, 2022 - sass compilation with npm aware include paths. Latest version: 3.1.0, last published: 4 years ago. Start using npm-sass in your project by running `npm i npm-sass`. There are 17 other projects in the npm registry using npm-sass.
» npm install npm-sass
Published Apr 20, 2022
Version 3.1.0
Author lennym
Repository https://github.com/lennym/npm-sass
Homepage https://github.com/lennym/npm-sass
GitHub
github.com › sass › dart-sass › issues › 415
Slow performance when using npm package `sass` · Issue #415 · sass/dart-sass
July 20, 2018 - ⚡️ npm run build:node-sass | gnomon 0.1152s 0.0004s > sass-perf@1.0.0 build:node-sass /Users/alexpage/Sites/sass-perf 0.0001s > node-sass test.scss style.css 0.6985s 0.0033s Rendering Complete, saving .css file...
Author alex-page
GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › css › how-to-import-sass-through-npm
How to import SASS through npm ? - GeeksforGeeks
July 12, 2025 - npm install node-sass --save Note: - --save in above command is used to save the SASS in dependencies of json file. Now SASS has been installed in your system successfully. Step 3: To work with SASS, go to package.json file in your project, ...
GitHub
github.com › sass › node-sass
GitHub - sass/node-sass: :rainbow: Node.js bindings to libsass · GitHub
July 24, 2024 - Node-sass is a library that provides binding for Node.js to LibSass, the C version of the popular stylesheet preprocessor, Sass. It allows you to natively compile .scss files to css at incredible speed and automatically via a connect middleware.
Starred by 8.5K users
Forked by 1.3K users
Languages C++ 82.0% | JavaScript 12.6% | C 2.0% | Shell 1.8% | M4 0.6% | Makefile 0.5%
npm
npmjs.com › package › sass-embedded
sass-embedded - npm
January 21, 2026 - This package is an alternative to the sass package. It supports the same JS API as sass and is maintained by the same team, but where the sass package is pure JavaScript, sass-embedded is instead a JavaScript wrapper around a native Dart executable.
» npm install sass-embedded
Published Mar 10, 2026
Version 1.98.0
Author Google Inc.
Repository https://github.com/sass/embedded-host-node
Yarn
classic.yarnpkg.com › en › package › sass
sass
Fast, reliable, and secure dependency management.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/webdev › should i use sass or node-sass package from the npm repository?
r/webdev on Reddit: Should I use sass or node-sass package from the npm repository?
June 12, 2018 -
I want to install a sass compiler as I'm learning the language. The tutorial instructs from the official ruby version, but I don't want to needlessly install ruby on my system. Now, I already have node and npm, and there are two packages on npm repo:
https://www.npmjs.com/package/sass
https://www.npmjs.com/package/node-sass
Can someone confirm which is the canonical and should be ideally used?
Eke's Blog
eke.hashnode.dev › three-awesome-ways-to-install-and-set-up-sass
Three Awesome Ways to Install & Set up SASS
June 21, 2022 - This is one of the first methods we'll be discussing. This involves installing sass using the node package manager(NPM), coupled with a simple NPM script that watches a certain folder where we created our sass files and complies it to regular CSS in the folder we specified.
GitHub
github.com › sass › node-sass › issues › 961
How can I tell which version of Sass is running with node-sass? · Issue #961 · sass/node-sass
May 15, 2015 - Hi, This might sound like an odd question but I'm using gulp-sass, a wrapper for node-sass which in turn uses libsass. I'm confused as to how I know which version of Sass I'm running. Does it simply correspond to the version of node-sass...
Published May 15, 2015
Author markweston
Devextent
devextent.com › dart-sass-javascript-implementation-npm-compile-sass
Use the Dart Sass JavaScript Implementation to Compile SASS with Node.js | Dev Extent
This means that the sass npm package should be used instead of the node-sass npm package, which is built on top of LibSass, to compile sass with Node.js. The sass npm package is a pure JavaScript implementation of Dart Sass.
Bootstrap
getbootstrap.com › docs › 5.3 › customize › sass
Sass · Bootstrap v5.3
# Install Sass globally npm install -g sass # Watch your custom Sass for changes and compile it to CSS sass --watch ./scss/custom.scss ./css/custom.css