eslint vs prettier vs stylelint vs sass-lint
Code Quality and Formatting Tools Comparison
1 Year
eslintprettierstylelintsass-lintSimilar Packages:
What's Code Quality and Formatting Tools?

Code quality and formatting tools are essential in modern web development to ensure that code adheres to specified standards, is free of errors, and is consistently formatted. These tools help maintain a clean codebase, facilitate collaboration among developers, and reduce the likelihood of bugs. By integrating these tools into the development workflow, teams can enforce coding standards, automate formatting, and improve overall code readability and maintainability.

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eslint48,995,31225,5563.39 MB893 days agoMIT
prettier46,431,57449,9417.88 MB1,442a day agoMIT
stylelint5,270,54211,1421.59 MB17018 days agoMIT
sass-lint85,2401,764-2746 years agoMIT
Feature Comparison: eslint vs prettier vs stylelint vs sass-lint

Language Support

  • eslint:

    ESLint is designed specifically for JavaScript and TypeScript, providing comprehensive linting capabilities for both languages. It supports ES6+ features and can be configured to enforce specific coding styles and best practices.

  • prettier:

    Prettier supports multiple languages, including JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML, CSS, JSON, and more. It focuses on formatting rather than linting, ensuring consistent code style across various file types.

  • stylelint:

    Stylelint is a powerful linter for CSS and its preprocessors, including Sass and Less. It supports a wide range of CSS features and methodologies, making it versatile for various styling approaches.

  • sass-lint:

    Sass-lint is specifically built for Sass, providing linting capabilities tailored to the Sass syntax and its unique features. It helps enforce best practices and coding standards in Sass files.

Customization

  • eslint:

    ESLint offers extensive customization options, allowing developers to create their own rules or extend existing ones through plugins. This flexibility enables teams to enforce specific coding standards that suit their project needs.

  • prettier:

    Prettier has limited customization options as it follows opinionated formatting rules. While you can configure some settings (like tab width and single vs. double quotes), its primary goal is to provide a consistent style without much debate.

  • stylelint:

    Stylelint is highly customizable, allowing developers to define their own rules and extend functionality with plugins. This makes it suitable for various CSS methodologies and team preferences.

  • sass-lint:

    Sass-lint allows for customization of rules specific to Sass, enabling developers to tailor the linting process to their project's style guidelines. You can enable or disable specific rules based on team preferences.

Integration

  • eslint:

    ESLint integrates seamlessly with most code editors and build tools, providing real-time feedback on code quality as you write. It can be easily integrated into CI/CD pipelines to enforce linting rules before code is merged.

  • prettier:

    Prettier can be integrated into various code editors and build systems, allowing for automatic formatting on save or during the build process. This ensures that code is consistently formatted without manual intervention.

  • stylelint:

    Stylelint integrates well with popular code editors and build tools, providing real-time linting feedback for CSS and preprocessors. It can also be incorporated into CI/CD workflows to enforce style rules.

  • sass-lint:

    Sass-lint can be integrated into build processes and CI/CD pipelines, ensuring that Sass code adheres to defined linting rules before deployment. It can also be set up in code editors for real-time feedback.

Community and Ecosystem

  • eslint:

    ESLint has a large and active community, providing a wealth of plugins, configurations, and resources. This extensive ecosystem allows developers to find solutions and best practices easily.

  • prettier:

    Prettier has gained significant popularity and has a strong community backing. It is widely adopted in the industry, and many projects include it as part of their development workflow.

  • stylelint:

    Stylelint has a growing community and a rich ecosystem of plugins. It is well-supported and frequently updated, making it a reliable choice for CSS linting.

  • sass-lint:

    Sass-lint has a smaller community compared to ESLint and Prettier, but it is still valuable for teams focused on Sass. However, it may not have as many plugins or resources available.

Performance

  • eslint:

    ESLint is efficient in linting JavaScript and TypeScript code, but performance can vary based on the number of rules and plugins used. Proper configuration can help optimize its performance in larger codebases.

  • prettier:

    Prettier is designed for speed and efficiency, quickly formatting code without significant performance overhead. It is optimized for large codebases and can handle multiple files in a single run.

  • stylelint:

    Stylelint performs well with CSS and preprocessors, but like other linters, performance can be affected by the complexity of the stylesheets and the number of rules enforced.

  • sass-lint:

    Sass-lint performance is generally good, but it may slow down with a large number of rules or complex Sass files. It is essential to balance rule enforcement with performance considerations.

How to Choose: eslint vs prettier vs stylelint vs sass-lint
  • eslint:

    Choose ESLint if you are primarily focused on JavaScript or TypeScript linting. It provides extensive customization options and supports a wide range of plugins to enforce coding standards and catch potential errors early in the development process.

  • prettier:

    Choose Prettier if you want an opinionated code formatter that automatically formats your code according to a set of rules. It is especially useful for teams that want to maintain consistent code style without debating formatting preferences.

  • stylelint:

    Choose Stylelint if you are looking for a powerful and flexible linter for CSS and its preprocessors (like Sass and Less). It supports a wide range of rules and can be easily extended with plugins, making it suitable for various CSS methodologies.

  • sass-lint:

    Choose Sass-lint if you are working specifically with Sass stylesheets and need a tool to enforce style guidelines and catch errors in your Sass code. It is tailored for Sass and provides rules specific to its syntax and best practices.

README for eslint

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ESLint

Website | Configure ESLint | Rules | Contribute to ESLint | Report Bugs | Code of Conduct | Twitter | Discord | Mastodon | Bluesky

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.

Table of Contents

  1. Installation and Usage
  2. Configuration
  3. Version Support
  4. Code of Conduct
  5. Filing Issues
  6. Frequently Asked Questions
  7. Releases
  8. Security Policy
  9. Semantic Versioning Policy
  10. License
  11. Team
  12. Sponsors
  13. Technology Sponsors

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:

export default [
    {
        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:

  1. The most recent maintenance release of Node.js
  2. The lowest minor version of the Node.js LTS release that includes the features the ESLint team wants to use.
  3. 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

Copyright OpenJS Foundation and other contributors, <www.openjsf.org>

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.

Team

These folks keep the project moving and are resources for help.

Technical Steering Committee (TSC)

The people who manage releases, review feature requests, and meet regularly to ensure ESLint is properly maintained.

Nicholas C. Zakas's Avatar
Nicholas C. Zakas
Francesco Trotta's Avatar
Francesco Trotta
Milos Djermanovic's Avatar
Milos Djermanovic

Reviewers

The people who review and implement new features.

唯然's Avatar
唯然
Nitin Kumar's Avatar
Nitin Kumar

Committers

The people who review and fix bugs and help triage issues.

Josh Goldberg ✨'s Avatar
Josh Goldberg ✨
Tanuj Kanti's Avatar
Tanuj Kanti

Website Team

Team members who focus specifically on eslint.org

Amaresh  S M's Avatar
Amaresh S M
Strek's Avatar
Strek
Percy Ma's Avatar
Percy Ma

Sponsors

The following companies, organizations, and individuals support ESLint's ongoing maintenance and development. Become a Sponsor to get your logo on our READMEs and website.

Platinum Sponsors

Automattic Airbnb

Gold Sponsors

Qlty Software trunk.io

Silver Sponsors

Vite JetBrains Liftoff American Express

Bronze Sponsors

Cybozu Anagram Solver Icons8 Discord GitBook Neko Nx Mercedes-Benz Group HeroCoders

Technology Sponsors

Technology sponsors allow us to use their products and services for free as part of a contribution to the open source ecosystem and our work.

Netlify Algolia 1Password