Should You Leave Depcruise? 679ms Test

On a 116-file JavaScript fixture, Madge 8.0.0 took a median 679 ms and dependency-cruiser 16.10.2 took 1122 ms (~1.65x). Both reported the same 2 circular dependency groups I planted. Madge was the faster circular-only check on this tree.

Short answer: leave dependency-cruiser for Madge when you only need a quick circular-import gate. Keep dependency-cruiser when you want a rule engine (custom forbidden edges, severity, metrics) beyond cycle detection. No affiliate links in this post.

What I tested

• Machine: 8 vCPU Intel Xeon / 15 GB RAM Linux cloud box, Node 20.19.2, tested 5 Oct 2026 (about 23:35 to 23:45 IST). Shared box; tools interleaved each round.
• Fixture: 116 .js files under src/ (layered modules, utils, pages, libs) plus two planted cycles (cycleA → cycleB → cycleC → cycleA and x ↔ y).
• Tools: madge 8.0.0 with --circular --extensions js src; dependency-cruiser 16.10.2 with a .dependency-cruiser.cjs no-circular rule and --output-type err. (dependency-cruiser 18.x required Node 22+, so 16.10.2 was the Node 20-compatible release used here.)
• Timing: one warmup each, then five interleaved warm runs. Median wall-clock of the full CLI call via perf_counter.
• Findings: Madge median 679.023 ms (704 / 679 / 633 / 637 / 703), exit 1, processed 116 files, found 2 circular groups. dependency-cruiser median 1121.753 ms (1122 / 1113 / 1126 / 1156 / 1112), exit 2, cruised 120 modules / 193 dependencies, 2 no-circular errors matching the same cycles.
• One surprise: agreement on the cycles was perfect; the leave-depcruise case on this fixture is speed and simplicity, not detection quality.
• Not tested: TypeScript path mapping, monorepo workspaces, Madge image/graphviz output, dependency-cruiser HTML/metrics reporters in CI, rule sets beyond no-circular, Windows/macOS, false-positive rates on a production repo.

Is Madge faster for circular checks?

Tool	Median	Runs (ms)	Files / modules	Circular groups
Madge 8.0.0	679 ms	704 / 679 / 633 / 637 / 703	116 files	2
dependency-cruiser 16.10.2	1122 ms	1122 / 1113 / 1126 / 1156 / 1112	120 modules, 193 deps	2

On this fixture Madge finished about 1.65x faster and named the same two cycles. If your only CI question is "are there circular imports?", Madge answered it with less wall time here.

Circular checks sit next to unused-code and lint gates. The Knip vs depcheck post covers unused files and exports; the Biome vs ESLint + Prettier post and the oxlint vs ESLint post cover lint/format. This post is only the dependency-graph circular decision.

What do you lose leaving dependency-cruiser?

dependency-cruiser is a configurable rules engine. You lose custom forbidden/orphan rules, severity levels, cruise metrics, and richer reporters if you switch to Madge for cycles only. Teams that encode architecture boundaries as depcruise rules should not drop it because of a 1.65x circular-scan delta.

Also note the Node version floor. dependency-cruiser 18.x wanted Node 22+ on this box; pinning 16.10.2 kept the lab on Node 20. Re-check the engine range before you upgrade either tool in CI.

Should you leave dependency-cruiser for Madge?

Situation	My pick
CI only fails on circular imports	Prefer Madge; re-measure your tree
You maintain custom forbidden-edge rules	Stay on dependency-cruiser
You want one tool for cycles + architecture metrics	Stay on dependency-cruiser
You already run Knip/depcheck for unused code and only need a cycle gate	Madge is the lighter add-on to try
Graphviz image reports are part of review	Madge still fits; compare output needs separately

Bottom line: on 116 JS files, Madge median was 679 ms and dependency-cruiser was 1122 ms, and both found the same 2 cycles. Who should not switch yet: teams that rely on dependency-cruiser's rule engine. Everyone else gating only on circular imports should time both on their own tree.

How this was made: I built the fixture with planted cycles, ran interleaved Madge and dependency-cruiser on the ShopperCove test box, and kept the timing JSON; the write-up was drafted with AI help and checked against that output.

Sources

• https://github.com/pahen/madge
• https://www.npmjs.com/package/madge
• https://github.com/sverweij/dependency-cruiser
• https://www.npmjs.com/package/dependency-cruiser
• https://github.com/sverweij/dependency-cruiser/blob/main/doc/rules-reference.md

Related

• https://www.shoppercove.com/blog/knip-vs-depcheck
• https://www.shoppercove.com/blog/biome-vs-eslint-prettier
• https://www.shoppercove.com/blog/oxlint-vs-eslint
• https://www.shoppercove.com/blog/eslint-10-12-release-october-2026
• https://www.shoppercove.com/blog/dprint-vs-prettier
• https://www.shoppercove.com/blog/pnpm-vs-npm-vs-bun
• https://www.shoppercove.com/blog/typescript-7-should-you-upgrade
• https://www.shoppercove.com/blog/jest-vs-vitest