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Comparison

chalk vs ansi-escapes

CLI tools and terminal utilitiesPackage data 25 Sept 2026
chalkv6.0.0, 26 Jul 2026

Terminal string styling done right

$ npm install chalk
ansi-escapesv7.3.0, 4 Feb 2026

ANSI escape codes for manipulating the terminal

$ npm install ansi-escapes
Metricchalkansi-escapesDifference
Weekly downloads411,482,63294,983,214chalk 4.3x higher
12-month download growth+34%+45%ansi-escapes +11 pts
Gzip size---
Minified size---
Dependencies01ansi-escapes 1 more
Unpacked size55 kB22 kBansi-escapes 2.5x smaller
Latest release6.0.0, 26 Jul 20267.3.0, 4 Feb 2026chalk 6 months more recent
Releases, last 12 months12ansi-escapes 1 more
First published3 Aug 201314 Aug 2015chalk 2.0 years earlier
GitHub stars23,319552chalk 42.2x higher
Open issues01ansi-escapes 1 more
Open pull requests00Same
Contributors6718chalk 3.7x higher
Commits, last 52 weeks106chalk 1.7x higher
TypeScript typesBundledBundledSame
Module formatESM onlyESM onlySame
RuntimesNode.js--
LicenseMITMITSame

Green marks the smaller size or the more recent release. Bold marks the higher count, with no judgement implied. Sizes are for the whole package per Bundlephobia. Growth compares the average of the last 4 weeks with the first 4 weeks of the 52-week series.

chalk415.6m latest weekansi-escapes95m latest week
Week of 23 Sept 2025Week of 15 Sept 2026
Weekly npm downloads, 52 weeks. Y axis starts at zero. Values are not smoothed.

chalk

Major versions
  1. 0.1.03 Aug 2013
  2. 1.0.023 Feb 2015
  3. 2.0.029 Jun 2017
  4. 3.0.09 Nov 2019
  5. 4.0.02 Apr 2020
  6. 5.0.026 Nov 2021
  7. 6.0.026 Jul 2026
Last 5 releases
  1. 6.0.026 Jul 2026
  2. 5.6.28 Sept 2025
  3. 5.6.017 Aug 2025
  4. 5.5.03 Aug 2025
  5. 5.4.121 Dec 2024
42 releases in total, 1 in the last 12 months

ansi-escapes

Major versions
  1. 1.0.014 Aug 2015
  2. 2.0.023 Apr 2017
  3. 3.0.05 Sept 2017
  4. 4.0.019 Mar 2019
  5. 5.0.018 Apr 2021
  6. 6.0.021 Sept 2022
  7. 7.0.02 May 2024
Last 5 releases
  1. 7.3.04 Feb 2026
  2. 7.2.04 Nov 2025
  3. 7.1.123 Sept 2025
  4. 7.1.09 Sept 2025
  5. 7.0.02 May 2024
28 releases in total, 2 in the last 12 months
chalk

Chainable style methods for terminal output

ansi-escapes

-

chalk
  • Chalk 5 is ESM; Chalk 4 is recommended for TypeScript or build tools.
  • Chalk is used by ~115,000 packages as of July 4, 2024.
  • Supports 256 colors and Truecolor (16 million colors).
  • No dependencies.
ansi-escapes

-

  • Need no runtime dependencieschalk (chalk has 0, ansi-escapes has 1)
  • Module formatBoth ESM only
  • Need TypeScript types in the package itselfBoth
  • Node.js version requirementchalk: >=22; ansi-escapes: >=18 (engines field in package.json)
  • Need the more recent releasechalk (6.0.0 on 26 Jul 2026 vs 7.3.0 on 4 Feb 2026)
  • Higher weekly npm downloadschalk (411.5m vs 95m)

Each line is generated from the data above.

Indexability: Indexed: 0 US searches/month across both orderings ("chalk vs ansi-escapes", "ansi-escapes vs chalk").