Best Linters in 2026
Updated
In short: ESLint is ranked #1 of 33 as of 3 October 2026, ahead of Stylelint and Cppcheck. The best-ranked option with a free plan is Stylelint.
A linter can flag issues during editing or become part of automated checks, so language coverage and workflow support are useful starting points. Compare languages supported, IDE support, and CI support, then look at autofix, custom rules, and security rules for how entries handle corrections and project-specific needs. Free-plan availability and paid-from pricing provide additional context. ESLint, Biome, and Ruff lead the ranking, followed by Astral and PMD. Consider where linting needs to run and which rules matter to your codebase, then weigh those requirements against the features shown for each option.
33 linters ranked on what their makers publish — plans and prices, free tiers, platforms and the facts on their own pages.
| # | Platform | Score | Why | From | Free plan | Paid from | Languages supported | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ESLint | 7.3 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | 1 | View |
| 2 | Stylelint | 7.3 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | 8 | View |
| 3 | Cppcheck | 6.0 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | 2 | View |
| 4 |  PMD | 6.0 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | 16 | View |
| 5 | Astral | 5.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | 1 | View |
| 6 | Biome | 5.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | 17 | View |
| 7 | golangci-lint | 5.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | 1 | View |
| 8 |  Oxc | 5.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | 2 | View |
| 9 | Ruff | 5.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | 1 | View |
| 10 |  Flake8 | 5.6 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | 1 | View |
| 11 |  PassWeb | 5.6 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | 1 | View |
| 12 |  PHPMD | 5.6 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | 1 | View |
| 13 |  Checkstyle | 5.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | 1 | View |
| 14 | Credo | 5.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | 1 | View |
| 15 | detekt | 5.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | 1 | View |
| 16 |  Hadolint | 5.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | 2 | View |
| 17 |  HLint | 5.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | 1 | View |
| 18 |  PHP_CodeSniffer | 5.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | 1 | View |
| 19 |  pycodestyle | 5.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | 1 | View |
| 20 | revive | 5.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | 1 | View |
| 21 | ShellCheck | 5.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | 4 | View |
| 22 | SQLFluff | 5.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | 28 | View |
| 23 |  Staticcheck | 5.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | 1 | View |
| 24 |  yamllint | 5.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | 1 | View |
| 25 | RuboCop | 5.2 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | — | — | 1 | View |
Is your platform on this list?
Numbered spots on this list can be sponsored. They are labelled, and the editorial order and scores never change for payment.
Questions about this list
Which linter is ranked first on Inferse?
ESLint is ranked #1 of 33 with a score of 7.3. Stylelint is second and Cppcheck third.
How many of these have a free plan?
9 of the 25 on this page publish a free plan on their own pricing pages.
How is this list ranked?
Ranked on what each maker publishes, open and connectable first: a public API, open-source code, the depth of its documentation and a free tier to try it on. Model lists are sorted by the figure in their title, exactly as each provider publishes it. Paid placements never change a rank.