eslint vs jshint vs standard vs jscs

JavaScript Code Quality and Style Enforcement Tools

eslint, jscs, jshint, and standard are all tools designed to analyze JavaScript code for potential errors, enforce coding conventions, and improve code quality. eslint is a highly configurable linter that supports modern JavaScript and custom rule definitions via plugins. jscs was a code style enforcement tool focused exclusively on formatting but has been deprecated and merged into eslint. jshint is a static analysis tool that flags suspicious code patterns and enforces basic best practices, offering less configurability than eslint. standard is an opinionated JavaScript style guide that wraps eslint with zero-configuration defaults, enforcing consistent style without requiring manual setup.

Package	Downloads	Stars	Size	Issues	Publish	License

eslint	68,037,593	26,667	2.99 MB	117	17 days ago	MIT
jshint	649,720	9,055	3.31 MB	459	-	MIT
standard	611,591	29,383	164 kB	129	a year ago	MIT
jscs	86,000	4,952	-	0	9 years ago	MIT

ESLint vs JSCS vs JSHint vs Standard: Choosing the Right JavaScript Linter

All four tools aim to catch bugs and enforce code quality, but they differ dramatically in philosophy, capabilities, and current relevance. Let’s cut through the noise and compare them as they exist today — not as they were five years ago.

⚠️ The Deprecated Option: JSCS Is Dead

jscs should not be used in any new project. It was officially deprecated in April 2016, and its maintainers merged efforts into eslint. The last version (3.0.7) hasn’t seen updates in nearly a decade. If you’re maintaining a legacy codebase still using jscs, migrate to eslint using the official guide. Continuing to use jscs means missing out on modern JavaScript support, security patches, and ecosystem integrations.

// ❌ Never start a new project with jscs
// There is no npm install jscs justification in 2024+

🔍 Core Capabilities: What Each Tool Actually Does

`jshint`: The Minimalist Guardrail

jshint analyzes code for common mistakes and unsafe patterns. It won’t enforce how your code looks — just whether it’s likely to break.

Catches undeclared variables, unused parameters, and confusing constructs like == vs ===.
Configured via .jshintrc JSON file, but options are limited compared to modern tools.
Doesn’t understand ES2015+ syntax well out of the box (e.g., async/await, modules).

// jshint example: .jshintrc
{
  "esversion": 6,
  "undef": true,
  "unused": true
}

// This triggers 'W098: 'unusedVar' is defined but never used'
function demo() {
  var unusedVar = 42;
}

Good for quick sanity checks, but too rigid for teams needing style control or modern JS support.

`standard`: Zero-Config Opinionated Style

standard isn’t a standalone linter — it’s a preconfigured eslint preset with locked-in rules. You get:

No semicolons (they’re automatically inserted where needed)
2-space indentation
Single quotes for strings
No variable shadowing

There’s no config file. To override rules, you must fork the package — which defeats its purpose.

// standard enforces this style automatically
function greet (name) {
  return 'Hello, ' + name
} // ← no semicolon, and that’s fine

Adopt standard only if your team agrees completely with its choices. Even minor deviations (like preferring semicolons) force you into eslint anyway.

`eslint`: The Full-Power Toolkit

eslint treats code quality and style as separate concerns you can mix and match. Key strengths:

Pluggable architecture: Add React (eslint-plugin-react), TypeScript (@typescript-eslint), Vue, or custom rules.
Fix-on-save: Many rules auto-fix issues (e.g., spacing, quotes).
Granular control: Disable rules per file, line, or block with comments.
Modern JS support: Parses ES2023, JSX, and experimental syntax via parsers like @babel/eslint-parser.

// .eslintrc.js example
module.exports = {
  extends: ['eslint:recommended', 'plugin:react/recommended'],
  parserOptions: { ecmaVersion: 2022, sourceType: 'module' },
  rules: {
    'no-console': 'warn',
    'react/prop-types': 'off'
  }
}

// Auto-fixable: eslint --fix will add missing spaces
if(foo){ bar(); } // → if (foo) { bar(); }

This flexibility makes eslint the backbone of virtually every serious JavaScript project today.

🛠️ Real-World Trade-Offs

Concern	`jshint`	`standard`	`eslint`
Setup time	Low (simple JSON config)	None (zero config)	Medium (config file + plugins)
Style enforcement	None	Rigid, non-negotiable	Fully customizable
Modern JS support	Poor (needs opt-in flags)	Good (via underlying eslint)	Excellent (pluggable parsers)
Team scalability	Low (too inflexible)	Medium (only if team agrees)	High (adapts to any workflow)
Auto-fixing	None	Limited	Extensive (core + plugin support)

🔄 Migration Reality Check

If you’re stuck on jshint or standard and hitting limits:

From jshint: Run npx eslint --init to generate a config that mimics your .jshintrc. Most jshint rules have direct eslint equivalents.
From standard: Install eslint-config-standard and extend it in your .eslintrc. Then selectively override rules:

// .eslintrc.js
module.exports = {
  extends: 'standard',
  rules: {
    semi: ['error', 'always'] // bring back semicolons
  }
}

You keep the familiar baseline but gain escape hatches.

💡 When to Use What — Practical Advice

New greenfield project? Start with eslint. Even if you love standard’s rules, begin with eslint-config-standard so you can evolve later.
Maintaining old jQuery code? jshint might suffice if you’re not adding modern features — but budget time to upgrade to eslint.
Open-source library? standard reduces contributor friction, but eslint with a shared config (like @yourorg/eslint-config) offers more control.
React/TypeScript/Vue app? eslint is non-negotiable — other tools lack plugin ecosystems for these frameworks.

✅ The Bottom Line

jscs: Dead. Migrate immediately.
jshint: Only for tiny scripts or legacy systems frozen in time.
standard: Great for solo devs or teams that never argue about style — but brittle under real-world pressure.
eslint: The only tool that scales from prototypes to enterprise apps, adapts to new language features, and integrates deeply into modern workflows.

In 2024, eslint isn’t just the best choice — it’s the only choice that future-proofs your codebase.

eslint:
Choose eslint when you need maximum flexibility to define or extend linting rules for your team’s specific standards, support for modern ECMAScript features, JSX, TypeScript (via plugins), and integration with editors and CI pipelines. It’s the industry standard for configurable, maintainable linting in large or evolving codebases.
jshint:
Choose jshint if you’re working on a small project or legacy system where you only need basic error detection and minimal configuration, and you don’t require advanced style enforcement or modern syntax support. Avoid it for new applications where eslint provides superior extensibility and community alignment.
standard:
Choose standard when your team values consistency over customization and wants to adopt a widely accepted JavaScript style with zero setup. It’s ideal for open-source projects or startups that want to avoid style debates, but be prepared to accept its non-configurable rules — no semicolons, strict spacing, etc.
jscs:
Do not choose jscs for new projects — it was officially deprecated in 2016 and merged into eslint. If you encounter it in legacy code, migrate to eslint using the official migration path to benefit from active maintenance and broader ecosystem support.

eslint

jshint

standard

jscs

ESLint

ESLint is a tool for identifying and reporting on patterns found in ECMAScript/JavaScript code. In many ways, it is similar to JSLint and JSHint with a few exceptions:

ESLint uses Espree for JavaScript parsing.
ESLint uses an AST to evaluate patterns in code.
ESLint is completely pluggable, every single rule is a plugin and you can add more at runtime.

Installation and Usage

Prerequisites: Node.js (^18.18.0, ^20.9.0, or >=21.1.0) built with SSL support. (If you are using an official Node.js distribution, SSL is always built in.)

You can install and configure ESLint using this command:

npm init @eslint/config@latest

After that, you can run ESLint on any file or directory like this:

npx eslint yourfile.js

pnpm Installation

To use ESLint with pnpm, we recommend setting up a .npmrc file with at least the following settings:

auto-install-peers=true
node-linker=hoisted

This ensures that pnpm installs dependencies in a way that is more compatible with npm and is less likely to produce errors.

Configuration

You can configure rules in your eslint.config.js files as in this example:

import { defineConfig } from "eslint/config";

export default defineConfig([
	{
		files: ["**/*.js", "**/*.cjs", "**/*.mjs"],
		rules: {
			"prefer-const": "warn",
			"no-constant-binary-expression": "error",
		},
	},
]);

The names "prefer-const" and "no-constant-binary-expression" are the names of rules in ESLint. The first value is the error level of the rule and can be one of these values:

"off" or 0 - turn the rule off
"warn" or 1 - turn the rule on as a warning (doesn't affect exit code)
"error" or 2 - turn the rule on as an error (exit code will be 1)

The three error levels allow you fine-grained control over how ESLint applies rules (for more configuration options and details, see the configuration docs).

Version Support

The ESLint team provides ongoing support for the current version and six months of limited support for the previous version. Limited support includes critical bug fixes, security issues, and compatibility issues only.

ESLint offers commercial support for both current and previous versions through our partners, Tidelift and HeroDevs.

See Version Support for more details.

Code of Conduct

ESLint adheres to the OpenJS Foundation Code of Conduct.

Filing Issues

Before filing an issue, please be sure to read the guidelines for what you're reporting:

Frequently Asked Questions

Does ESLint support JSX?

Yes, ESLint natively supports parsing JSX syntax (this must be enabled in configuration). Please note that supporting JSX syntax is not the same as supporting React. React applies specific semantics to JSX syntax that ESLint doesn't recognize. We recommend using eslint-plugin-react if you are using React and want React semantics.

Does Prettier replace ESLint?

No, ESLint and Prettier have different jobs: ESLint is a linter (looking for problematic patterns) and Prettier is a code formatter. Using both tools is common, refer to Prettier's documentation to learn how to configure them to work well with each other.

What ECMAScript versions does ESLint support?

ESLint has full support for ECMAScript 3, 5, and every year from 2015 up until the most recent stage 4 specification (the default). You can set your desired ECMAScript syntax and other settings (like global variables) through configuration.

What about experimental features?

ESLint's parser only officially supports the latest final ECMAScript standard. We will make changes to core rules in order to avoid crashes on stage 3 ECMAScript syntax proposals (as long as they are implemented using the correct experimental ESTree syntax). We may make changes to core rules to better work with language extensions (such as JSX, Flow, and TypeScript) on a case-by-case basis.

In other cases (including if rules need to warn on more or fewer cases due to new syntax, rather than just not crashing), we recommend you use other parsers and/or rule plugins. If you are using Babel, you can use @babel/eslint-parser and @babel/eslint-plugin to use any option available in Babel.

Once a language feature has been adopted into the ECMAScript standard (stage 4 according to the TC39 process), we will accept issues and pull requests related to the new feature, subject to our contributing guidelines. Until then, please use the appropriate parser and plugin(s) for your experimental feature.

Which Node.js versions does ESLint support?

ESLint updates the supported Node.js versions with each major release of ESLint. At that time, ESLint's supported Node.js versions are updated to be:

The most recent maintenance release of Node.js
The lowest minor version of the Node.js LTS release that includes the features the ESLint team wants to use.
The Node.js Current release

ESLint is also expected to work with Node.js versions released after the Node.js Current release.

Refer to the Quick Start Guide for the officially supported Node.js versions for a given ESLint release.

Where to ask for help?

Open a discussion or stop by our Discord server.

Why doesn't ESLint lock dependency versions?

Lock files like package-lock.json are helpful for deployed applications. They ensure that dependencies are consistent between environments and across deployments.

Packages like eslint that get published to the npm registry do not include lock files. npm install eslint as a user will respect version constraints in ESLint's package.json. ESLint and its dependencies will be included in the user's lock file if one exists, but ESLint's own lock file would not be used.

We intentionally don't lock dependency versions so that we have the latest compatible dependency versions in development and CI that our users get when installing ESLint in a project.

The Twilio blog has a deeper dive to learn more.

Releases

We have scheduled releases every two weeks on Friday or Saturday. You can follow a release issue for updates about the scheduling of any particular release.

Security Policy

ESLint takes security seriously. We work hard to ensure that ESLint is safe for everyone and that security issues are addressed quickly and responsibly. Read the full security policy.

Semantic Versioning Policy

ESLint follows semantic versioning. However, due to the nature of ESLint as a code quality tool, it's not always clear when a minor or major version bump occurs. To help clarify this for everyone, we've defined the following semantic versioning policy for ESLint:

Patch release (intended to not break your lint build)
- A bug fix in a rule that results in ESLint reporting fewer linting errors.
- A bug fix to the CLI or core (including formatters).
- Improvements to documentation.
- Non-user-facing changes such as refactoring code, adding, deleting, or modifying tests, and increasing test coverage.
- Re-releasing after a failed release (i.e., publishing a release that doesn't work for anyone).
Minor release (might break your lint build)
- A bug fix in a rule that results in ESLint reporting more linting errors.
- A new rule is created.
- A new option to an existing rule that does not result in ESLint reporting more linting errors by default.
- A new addition to an existing rule to support a newly-added language feature (within the last 12 months) that will result in ESLint reporting more linting errors by default.
- An existing rule is deprecated.
- A new CLI capability is created.
- New capabilities to the public API are added (new classes, new methods, new arguments to existing methods, etc.).
- A new formatter is created.
- eslint:recommended is updated and will result in strictly fewer linting errors (e.g., rule removals).
Major release (likely to break your lint build)
- eslint:recommended is updated and may result in new linting errors (e.g., rule additions, most rule option updates).
- A new option to an existing rule that results in ESLint reporting more linting errors by default.
- An existing formatter is removed.
- Part of the public API is removed or changed in an incompatible way. The public API includes:
  - Rule schemas
  - Configuration schema
  - Command-line options
  - Node.js API
  - Rule, formatter, parser, plugin APIs

According to our policy, any minor update may report more linting errors than the previous release (ex: from a bug fix). As such, we recommend using the tilde (~) in package.json e.g. "eslint": "~3.1.0" to guarantee the results of your builds.

License

MIT License

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.