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Developer Tools · head to head

pnpm vs Very Good Security

pnpm logo

pnpm

Developer Tools

Fast, disk space efficient package manager

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Very Good Security logo

Very Good Security

Cybersecurity

Tokenisation proxy that keeps card and personal data out of your own systems and out of PCI scope

From
$1000/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only pnpm has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: pnpm requires command-line proficiency to use; Very Good Security vGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which pnpm and Very Good Security actually diverge.

Attributes where pnpm and Very Good Security differ
AttributepnpmVery Good Security
Starting priceFree$1000/month
Pricing modelUnknownPer month
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Windows, macOSWeb, API
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity
Founded2017Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in pnpm

Nothing recorded that Very Good Security does not also cover.

Only in Very Good Security

  • Aliasing proxy
  • PCI scope reduction
  • Network tokenisation
  • Processor optionality
  • Card issuing data
  • Vault and access controls
  • Data residency options
  • Compliance artefacts

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

pnpm

  • Installing dependencies faster than npm in monorepo workspacesnot Very Good Security
  • Sharing common dependencies across multiple projects to save disk spacenot Very Good Security
  • Preventing dependency version conflicts in workspace environmentsnot Very Good Security
  • Managing workspaces with many interdependent packagesnot Very Good Security

Very Good Security

  • A marketplace facing its first PCI DSS Level 1 assessment that wants to keep card data off its own estate rather than harden a dozen servicesnot pnpm
  • A merchant negotiating with a second acquirer that needs card credentials portable so the negotiation is real rather than theoreticalnot pnpm
  • A fintech collecting bank account and identity documents that wants sensitive fields absent from logs, backups and analytics warehouses by constructionnot pnpm
  • A card issuer that must display a full PAN in its own mobile app without the app or its backend touching cardholder datanot pnpm

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

pnpm

  • Requires command-line proficiency to use
  • Community-driven support only

Very Good Security

  • VGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • Token portability is the whole selling point yet leaving VGS means migrating tokens back out, a project the vendor has no incentive to streamline, so the lock-in you removed from your acquirer partly moves to VGS.
  • Entry pricing at around one thousand US dollars a month is real money for a pre-revenue fintech, and it buys volume-limited throughput, so cost scales with exactly the growth that made you buy it.
  • Scope reduction is not scope elimination: your QSA still assesses how you integrate, and teams regularly discover that a support tool or an internal admin screen pulled plaintext back in and dragged systems into scope again.
  • Proxy-based interception constrains how you design request flows, and non-standard payloads, streaming uploads or binary formats often need custom routing rules that make debugging production issues noticeably harder.

Pricing, plan by plan

pnpm

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the pnpm review.

Very Good Security

$1000/month
  • Starter$1000/month
    • Aliasing proxy
    • Vault storage
    • PCI scope reduction
  • Growth$undefined/month
    • Network tokenisation
    • Multiple processors
    • Data residency options
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom vault architecture
    • Dedicated support and SLA
    • Contractual compliance coverage

Which should you pick?

Choose pnpm if

  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, macOS.
pnpm review

Choose Very Good Security if

  • You need aliasing proxy.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want pci scope reduction.
Very Good Security review

Questions people ask

Is pnpm or Very Good Security better?
Neither clearly leads. pnpm starts at Free and Very Good Security at $1000/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, pnpm or Very Good Security?
pnpm has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for pnpm and $1000/month for Very Good Security.
Does pnpm or Very Good Security run on more platforms?
pnpm runs on Linux, Windows, macOS. Very Good Security runs on Web, API.
Can I use pnpm for free?
Yes. pnpm has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Very Good Security starts at $1000/month.
What is pnpm best used for?
pnpm is most often used for installing dependencies faster than npm in monorepo workspaces, sharing common dependencies across multiple projects to save disk space, preventing dependency version conflicts in workspace environments, managing workspaces with many interdependent packages. Of those, installing dependencies faster than npm in monorepo workspaces and sharing common dependencies across multiple projects to save disk space are not what Very Good Security is typically brought in for.
What can pnpm do that Very Good Security cannot?
Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy, PCI scope reduction, Network tokenisation, Processor optionality.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

pnpm: Is pnpm free and open source?

Yes. pnpm is free and open source software developed for Node.js. Version 10 and 11 are currently available.

Source
Very Good Security: Does VGS make me PCI compliant?

No. It removes cardholder data from your systems so your assessment covers a far smaller boundary, but you still complete an assessment and your integration is part of it.

pnpm: How does pnpm save disk space?

pnpm uses a content-addressable store with hard linking and symlinks to avoid duplication. All files are saved in a single place on disk and hard-linked to individual projects, dramatically reducing storage requirements compared to npm.

Source
Very Good Security: Can I move to another processor without re-collecting cards?

Yes, that is a core reason people buy it. The vault reveals stored credentials to whichever processor you route to.

pnpm: Is pnpm faster than npm?

Yes. pnpm performs installation in three stages: dependency resolution, directory structure calculation, and linking. Packages are fetched and linked as soon as possible, making it significantly faster than npm's sequential approach.

Source
Very Good Security: What does it cost?

Published entry pricing is about one thousand US dollars per month; growth and enterprise tiers are quoted.

pnpm: Does pnpm support monorepos?

Yes. pnpm has built-in support for monorepositories. You can create a workspace using pnpm-workspace.yaml to unite multiple projects in a single repository.

Source
Very Good Security: Is it only for card data?

No. The proxy handles any sensitive field, including bank details, national identifiers and documents, though payments is where the product is now focused.

pnpm: How does pnpm handle node_modules differently than npm?

pnpm uses symlinks to add only direct dependencies to node_modules root, preventing accidental access to undeclared dependencies. This encourages more explicit dependency management compared to npm's flattened node_modules structure.

Source
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