How To Install Node.JS on Ubuntu 18.04

Node.js is a JavaScript platform for general-purpose programming that allows users to build network applications quickly. By leveraging JavaScript on both the front and backend, Node.js makes development more consistent and integrated.

Prerequisites

This tutorial assumes that you are using Ubuntu 18.04. Before you begin, you should have a non-root user account with sudo privileges set up on your system. You can learn how to do this by following the basic server setup guide for Ubuntu 18.04.

Installation instructions
Node.js v12.x:

# Using Ubuntu
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_12.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

# Using Debian, as root
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_12.x | bash -
apt-get install -y nodejs

Node.js v11.x:

# Using Ubuntu
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_11.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

# Using Debian, as root
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_11.x | bash -
apt-get install -y nodejs

Node.js v10.x:

# Using Ubuntu
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_10.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

# Using Debian, as root
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_10.x | bash -
apt-get install -y nodejs

Node.js v8.x:

# Using Ubuntu
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_8.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

# Using Debian, as root
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_8.x | bash -
apt-get install -y nodejs

Node.js v6.x:

# Using Ubuntu
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_6.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

# Using Debian, as root
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_6.x | bash -
apt-get install -y nodejs

Optional: install build tools

To compile and install native addons from npm you may also need to install build tools:

# use `sudo` on Ubuntu or run this as root on debian
apt-get install -y build-essential

Wrapping up

There are a quite a few ways to get up and running with Node.js on your Ubuntu 18.04 server. Your circumstances will dictate which of the above methods is best for your needs.