eslint vs jshint vs jslint vs prettier

JavaScript Code Quality and Formatting Tools

eslint, jshint, and jslint are linters that find errors and enforce style rules, while prettier is a code formatter that automatically fixes layout issues. eslint is the industry standard for customizable linting, supporting modern JavaScript features and plugins. jshint is a simpler linter often used for legacy code or quick checks. jslint is an older tool with rigid rules that is rarely used in modern teams. prettier focuses solely on code appearance, often working alongside a linter to handle style concerns separately.

Npm Package Weekly Downloads Trend

3 Years

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Stat Detail

Package	Downloads	Stars	Size	Issues	Publish	License
Package	Downloads	Stars	Size	Issues	Publish	License
eslint	0	27,221	2.9 MB	110	9 days ago	MIT
jshint	0	9,072	3.31 MB	464	-	MIT
jslint	0	491	-	19	7 years ago	BSD-3-Clause
prettier	0	51,828	8.6 MB	1,469	12 days ago	MIT

ESLint vs JSHint vs JSLint vs Prettier: Code Quality Compared

Keeping JavaScript code clean and error-free requires the right tools. eslint, jshint, and jslint focus on finding bugs and enforcing logic rules, while prettier focuses on fixing code style automatically. Understanding their differences helps you build a workflow that catches errors without slowing down development.

🗂️ Configuration Files: Flexibility vs Rigidity

How you configure these tools defines how much control you have over their behavior.

eslint uses a dedicated config file that supports JavaScript, JSON, or YAML.

You can define rules, environments, and plugins.
Modern versions support eslint.config.js (Flat Config) for better performance.

// eslint: eslint.config.js  
export default [  
  {  
    rules: {  
      "no-unused-vars": "error"  
    }  
  }  
];

jshint uses a JSON file named .jshintrc.

Options are simpler and less extensible.
Good for basic checks without complex setup.

// jshint: .jshintrc  
{  
  "unused": true,  
  "eqeqeq": true  
}

jslint often relies on inline comments or a simple .jslintrc.

Configuration is very limited.
Most settings are hardcoded by the tool author.

// jslint: Inline comment  
/*jslint browser: true, node: true */  
function init() { /*...*/ }

prettier uses .prettierrc for style options only.

You control line width, quotes, and semicolons.
It does not check for logic errors.

// prettier: .prettierrc  
{  
  "semi": true,  
  "singleQuote": true  
}

🚀 Running the Tool: CLI Commands

Each package provides a command-line interface to check or fix your code.

eslint runs via the eslint command.

You can point it at files or folders.
Use --fix to automatically correct some issues.

# eslint: Run on current directory  
npx eslint . --fix

jshint runs via the jshint command.

Similar usage to ESLint but fewer options.
Does not support auto-fixing for most rules.

# jshint: Run on current directory  
npx jshint .

jslint runs via the jslint command.

Output is strict and often verbose.
Rarely used in automated pipelines today.

# jslint: Run on specific file  
npx jslint app.js

prettier runs via the prettier command.

Use --write to save changes directly to files.
Focuses only on formatting, not logic.

# prettier: Format all files  
npx prettier --write .

🚫 Ignoring Files: Excluding Paths

Large projects often need to skip specific folders or generated code.

eslint uses .eslintignore or ignorePatterns in config.

Supports glob patterns for flexible matching.
Can ignore node_modules by default.

# eslint: .eslintignore  
build/
coverage/
*.min.js

jshint uses .jshintignore.

Simple text file with paths.
Less flexible than ESLint but sufficient for most cases.

# jshint: .jshintignore  
vendor/
dist/

jslint lacks a standard ignore file.

You must exclude files via CLI arguments.
This makes automation harder in large projects.

# jslint: Exclude via CLI  
npx jslint app.js --exclude vendor/

prettier uses .prettierignore.

Works similarly to .gitignore.
Ensures generated code is not reformatted.

# prettier: .prettierignore  
build/
*.lock

🛑 Inline Disables: Suppressing Rules

Sometimes you need to bypass a rule for a specific line of code.

eslint allows fine-grained disables with comments.

You can disable all rules or specific ones.
Recommended to use sparingly.

// eslint: Disable line  
// eslint-disable-next-line no-unused-vars  
const unused = 1;

jshint supports inline ignores with comments.

Syntax is simpler but less specific.
Useful for known false positives.

// jshint: Ignore line  
// jshint ignore:line  
const unused = 1;

jslint does not support inline disables well.

The tool expects code to conform strictly.
This rigidity is why many teams avoid it.

// jslint: No standard inline disable  
// Must adjust global settings instead  
const unused = 1; // Will likely trigger error

prettier allows ignoring specific blocks.

Useful for keeping manual formatting in place.
Does not affect logic checks.

// prettier: Ignore format  
// prettier-ignore  
const messy = { a:1,b:2 };

🌐 Modern JavaScript Support

Support for new language features is critical for modern development.

Package	ES6+ Support	JSX/React	TypeScript	Configurable
`eslint`	✅ Full	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ High
`jshint`	⚠️ Partial	⚠️ Limited	❌ No	⚠️ Medium
`jslint`	❌ Low	❌ No	❌ No	❌ Low
`prettier`	✅ Full	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	⚠️ Style Only

⚠️ Deprecation and Maintenance Status

jslint should NOT be used in new projects.

It is considered obsolete for team environments due to lack of flexibility.
Evaluate eslint instead for better long-term support.

jshint is maintained but less active.

Suitable for legacy projects already using it.
New projects should prefer eslint for richer features.

eslint and prettier are actively maintained.

They are the standard choice for modern JavaScript development.
Using them together provides both logic checks and style consistency.

💡 The Big Picture

eslint is the core tool for catching errors and enforcing logic rules. It is flexible enough to adapt to any project size or framework. Use it as your primary quality gate.

prettier is the best choice for handling code style automatically. It removes debates about formatting during code reviews. Pair it with ESLint for complete coverage.

jshint has a place in legacy maintenance but lacks modern features. Use it only if migrating an old project where switching costs are too high.

jslint is historically significant but practically outdated. Avoid it for new work to prevent unnecessary friction with your team.

Final Thought: For most teams, the combination of eslint for logic and prettier for style offers the best balance. This setup catches bugs early while keeping code consistent without manual effort.

How to Choose: eslint vs jshint vs jslint vs prettier

eslint:
Choose eslint for most modern projects where you need flexible rules, support for new JavaScript features, and integration with frameworks like React or Vue. It allows you to catch logic errors and enforce coding standards without sacrificing configurability. The ecosystem is vast, offering plugins for almost any need.
jshint:
Choose jshint if you are maintaining older codebases that already rely on it or need a lightweight checker for simple scripts. It is less configurable than ESLint but requires minimal setup for basic error detection. It works well for projects that do not need complex rule customization.
jslint:
Avoid jslint for new projects because its rules are too strict and cannot be easily changed to fit team preferences. It is mostly relevant for historical context or specific personal preferences aligned with its original author. Modern teams usually find it too restrictive for collaborative work.
prettier:
Choose prettier to automatically handle code formatting so your team does not argue about spaces or semicolons. It works best when paired with a linter like ESLint to handle code quality separately from style. This separation reduces configuration complexity and speeds up code reviews.

Popular Comparisons

eslint

jshint

jslint

prettier

README for eslint

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

To use ESLint, you must have Node.js (^20.19.0, ^22.13.0, or >=24) installed and built with SSL support. (If you are using an official Node.js distribution, SSL is always built in.)

If you use ESLint's TypeScript type definitions, TypeScript 5.3 or later is required.

npm Installation

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.

ESM Dependencies

Since ESLint is a CommonJS package, there are restrictions on which ESM-only packages can be used as dependencies.

Packages that are controlled by the ESLint team and have no external dependencies can be safely loaded synchronously using require(esm) and therefore used in any contexts.

For external packages, we don't use require(esm) because a package could add a top-level await and thus break ESLint. We can use an external ESM-only package only in case it is needed only in asynchronous code, in which case it can be loaded using dynamic import().

These policies don't apply to packages intended for our own usage only, such as eslint-config-eslint.

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.