packer.nvim VS mason.nvim

Compare packer.nvim vs mason.nvim and see what are their differences.

packer.nvim

A use-package inspired plugin manager for Neovim. Uses native packages, supports Luarocks dependencies, written in Lua, allows for expressive config (by wbthomason)

mason.nvim

Portable package manager for Neovim that runs everywhere Neovim runs. Easily install and manage LSP servers, DAP servers, linters, and formatters. (by williamboman)
InfluxDB - Power Real-Time Data Analytics at Scale
Get real-time insights from all types of time series data with InfluxDB. Ingest, query, and analyze billions of data points in real-time with unbounded cardinality.
www.influxdata.com
featured
SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews
SaaSHub helps you find the best software and product alternatives
www.saashub.com
featured
packer.nvim mason.nvim
180 108
7,591 6,777
- -
3.4 8.2
about 2 months ago 15 days ago
Lua Lua
MIT License Apache License 2.0
The number of mentions indicates the total number of mentions that we've tracked plus the number of user suggested alternatives.
Stars - the number of stars that a project has on GitHub. Growth - month over month growth in stars.
Activity is a relative number indicating how actively a project is being developed. Recent commits have higher weight than older ones.
For example, an activity of 9.0 indicates that a project is amongst the top 10% of the most actively developed projects that we are tracking.

packer.nvim

Posts with mentions or reviews of packer.nvim. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2023-10-21.
  • thethethe.nvim - neovim friendly autocorrect plugin
    4 projects | /r/neovim | 21 Oct 2023
    packer
  • Help Enablin Powerline Font for Lightline in Kitty NeoVim
    1 project | /r/neovim | 24 Sep 2023
    -- Check if Packer.nvim is already installed if fn.empty(fn.glob(install_path)) > 0 then -- If not installed, clone it from GitHub fn.system({'git', 'clone', '--depth', '1', 'https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim', install_path}) -- Load Packer.nvim vim.cmd [[packadd packer.nvim]] return true end return false end
  • Installing neovim on windows 10 does not work (no really, it doesn't)
    1 project | /r/neovim | 19 Aug 2023
    local ensure_packer = function() local fn = vim.fn local install_path = fn.stdpath('data')..'/site/pack/packer/start/packer.nvim' if fn.empty(fn.glob(install_path)) > 0 then fn.system({'git', 'clone', '--depth', '1', 'https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim', install_path}) vim.cmd [[packadd packer.nvim]] return true end return false end
  • Issue with treesitter highlights, disappears after 5 seconds each time
    1 project | /r/neovim | 31 Jul 2023
    local fn = vim.fn -- Automatically install packer local install_path = fn.stdpath("data") .. "/site/pack/packer/start/packer.nvim" if fn.empty(fn.glob(install_path)) > 0 then PACKER_BOOTSTRAP = fn.system({ "git", "clone", "--depth", "1", "https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim", install_path, }) print("Installing packer close and reopen Neovim...") vim.cmd([[packadd packer.nvim]]) end -- Autocommand that reloads neovim whenever you save the plugins.lua file vim.cmd([[ augroup packer_user_config autocmd! autocmd BufWritePost plugins.lua source | PackerSync augroup end ]]) -- Use a protected call so we don't error out on first use local status_ok, packer = pcall(require, "packer") if not status_ok then return end -- Have packer use a popup window packer.init({ display = { open_fn = function() return require("packer.util").float({ border = "rounded" }) end, }, }) -- Install your plugins here return packer.startup(function(use) -- My plugins here use({ "wbthomason/packer.nvim" }) -- Have packer manage itself use({ "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim" }) -- Useful lua functions used by lots of plugins use({ "windwp/nvim-autopairs" }) -- Autopairs, integrates with both cmp and treesitter use({ "numToStr/Comment.nvim" }) use({ "JoosepAlviste/nvim-ts-context-commentstring" }) use({ "kyazdani42/nvim-web-devicons" }) use({ "akinsho/bufferline.nvim" }) use({ "moll/vim-bbye" }) use({ "nvim-lualine/lualine.nvim" }) use({ "akinsho/toggleterm.nvim" }) use({ "ahmedkhalf/project.nvim" }) use({ "lewis6991/impatient.nvim" }) use({ "lukas-reineke/indent-blankline.nvim" }) use({ "goolord/alpha-nvim" }) use("folke/which-key.nvim") -- Colorschemes use({ "folke/tokyonight.nvim" }) use("lunarvim/darkplus.nvim") use("bluz71/vim-moonfly-colors") use("fcpg/vim-fahrenheit") use("rainglow/vim") use("wojciechkepka/vim-github-dark") use("gavinok/spaceway.vim") use({"mcchrish/zenbones.nvim", requires = "rktjmp/lush.nvim"}) use({ "ellisonleao/gruvbox.nvim" }) -- Gruvbox theme -- LSP use({ "neovim/nvim-lspconfig" }) -- enable LSP use({ "williamboman/nvim-lsp-installer" }) -- simple to use language server installer use({ "jose-elias-alvarez/null-ls.nvim" }) -- for formatters and linters -- Telescope use({ "nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim" }) -- Treesitter use("nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter", {run = ':TSUpdate'}) use("nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter-context") use("nvim-treesitter/playground") -- Editor plugins use({ "karb94/neoscroll.nvim" }) -- Git use({ "lewis6991/gitsigns.nvim" }) -- LSP Zero use { 'VonHeikemen/lsp-zero.nvim', requires = { -- LSP Support {'neovim/nvim-lspconfig'}, -- Required {'williamboman/mason.nvim'}, -- Optional {'williamboman/mason-lspconfig.nvim'}, -- Optional -- Autocompletion {'hrsh7th/nvim-cmp'}, -- Required {'hrsh7th/cmp-buffer'}, {'hrsh7th/cmp-path'}, {'hrsh7th/cmp-nvim-lua'}, {'hrsh7th/cmp-nvim-lsp'}, -- Required {'L3MON4D3/LuaSnip'}, -- Required {'rafamadriz/friendly-snippets'}, } } -- Automatically set up your configuration after cloning packer.nvim -- Put this at the end after all plugins if PACKER_BOOTSTRAP then require("packer").sync() end end)
  • Editing init.lua with lua_ls on gives "Undefined global : vim" ?
    3 projects | /r/neovim | 27 Jun 2023
    require('packer').startup(function(use) use 'https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim' use 'https://github.com/neovim/nvim-lspconfig' end)
  • error message whenever I write a file
    2 projects | /r/neovim | 20 Jun 2023
  • [Help] Packer.nvim
    3 projects | /r/neovim | 3 Jun 2023
    git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim\ ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/packer/start/packer.nvim
  • Pyright Won't Let me Quit Python Files
    3 projects | /r/neovim | 17 May 2023
    ``` vim.g.maplocalleader = " " vim.g.mapleader = " " local ensure_packer = function() local fn = vim.fn local install_path = fn.stdpath("data") .. "/site/pack/packer/start/packer.nvim" if fn.empty(fn.glob(install_path)) > 0 then fn.system({ "git", "clone", "--depth", "1", "https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim", install_path }) vim.cmd([[packadd packer.nvim]]) return true end return false end
  • [Neovim] Gestionnaire de packages basé à Lua
    2 projects | /r/enfrancais | 4 May 2023
    2 projects | /r/enfrancais | 4 May 2023

mason.nvim

Posts with mentions or reviews of mason.nvim. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2024-04-21.
  • I can't stand using VSCode so I wrote my own (it wasn't easy)
    10 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 21 Apr 2024
  • Using a venv with Neovim's Python LSP
    2 projects | dev.to | 5 Apr 2024
    I recently started coding with Neovim using kickstart.nvim as the template for my editor configuration. I downloaded the python-lsp-server package using Mason, but I was disappointed to discover that the IntelliSense on my third party dependencies didn't work. The LSP was resolving to my global Python installation, which did not have the packages from my virtual environment (venv) installed.
  • Do I need NeoVIM?
    11 projects | /r/neovim | 7 Dec 2023
    https://github.com/hrsh7th/nvim-cmp This is an autocompletion engine https://github.com/nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter This allows NeoVim to install parsing scripts so NeoVim can do things like code highlighting. https://github.com/williamboman/mason.nvim Not strictly necessary, but allows you to access a repo of LSP, install them, and configure them for without you actively messing about in config files. https://github.com/neovim/nvim-lspconfig Also not strictly necessary, but vastly simplifies LSP setup. https://github.com/williamboman/mason-lspconfig.nvim This lets the above two plugins talk to each other more easily.
  • Do I need a plugin manager ?
    3 projects | /r/neovim | 7 Dec 2023
    I'm using mason.nvim to install my dependencies, I've this snippet at nvim/plugin/mason.lua so after cloning my dotfiles I can just run:
  • Mason can't install gopls (or gofumpt, or goimports)
    2 projects | /r/neovim | 6 Dec 2023
    The suggestion from this thread fixed it for me. I just needed to unset GOOS and GOARCH then restart neovim.
  • Neovim documentation is pretty bad
    1 project | /r/neovim | 18 Jul 2023
    For instance, I'm trying to install rust-analyzer in lazyvim from https://github.com/williamboman/mason.nvim. The installation instructions are:
  • LazyVim
    32 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 16 Jul 2023
  • How do you enable semantic highlighting for Python?
    4 projects | /r/neovim | 7 Jul 2023
    I have pyright installed via mason which apparently support "semantic token highlighting" but have been having a hard time getting these colors to show up in a buffer. It seems Neovim has changed how it handles semantic highlighting a few times so there's still some conflicting information online. It's hard to know what's current and what's not. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
  • language server not installed or missing from path
    1 project | /r/neovim | 5 Jul 2023
    Use mason to install the language servers you want.
  • Why is nobody using CoC anymore?
    3 projects | /r/neovim | 3 Jul 2023
    Because null-ls.nvim & mason.nvim together do everything I wanted CoC for

What are some alternatives?

When comparing packer.nvim and mason.nvim you can also consider the following projects:

vim-plug - :hibiscus: Minimalist Vim Plugin Manager

lazy-lsp.nvim - Neovim plugin to auto install LSP servers

lazy.nvim - 💤 A modern plugin manager for Neovim

coc.nvim - Nodejs extension host for vim & neovim, load extensions like VSCode and host language servers.

nvim-treesitter - Nvim Treesitter configurations and abstraction layer

null-ls.nvim - Use Neovim as a language server to inject LSP diagnostics, code actions, and more via Lua.

nvim-lspconfig - Quickstart configs for Nvim LSP

omnisharp-vim - Vim omnicompletion (intellisense) and more for C#

paq-nvim - 🌚 Neovim package manager

formatter.nvim

gruvbox.nvim - Lua port of the most famous vim colorscheme

neoformat - :sparkles: A (Neo)vim plugin for formatting code.