Best Linters in 2026
Updated
In short: Cppcheck is ranked #1 of 33 as of 3 October 2026, ahead of PMD and Astral. The best-ranked option with a free plan is PMD.
Linters differ in the languages and development workflows they support. The ranking begins with Biome, Ruff, and PMD. Compare languages supported, IDE support, and CI support to see how a tool may fit both editing and automated checks. Custom rules can matter when a project has conventions to enforce, while security rules and autofix offer further points for comparison. The free plan and paid-from price help put those capabilities in cost context. Consider which languages your projects use and where you want checks to run when weighing the entries.
33 linters ranked on what their makers publish — plans and prices, free tiers, platforms and the facts on their own pages.
Recognised 40% · Phone app 26% · Documented 20% · Free plan 14% of the score
- 1 Cppcheck No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.4Free Languages supported: 2Custom rules: Yes
- 2 PMD No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.4Free Languages supported: 16Custom rules: Yes
- 3 Astral No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.3Free Languages supported: 1Autofix: YesCustom rules: No
- 4 Biome No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.3Free Languages supported: 17Autofix: YesCustom rules: Yes
- 5 ESLint No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.3Free Languages supported: 1Autofix: YesCustom rules: Yes
- 6 golangci-lint No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.3Free Languages supported: 1Autofix: YesCustom rules: Yes
- 7 Oxc No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.3Free Languages supported: 2Autofix: YesCustom rules: Yes
- 8 Ruff No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.3Free Languages supported: 1Autofix: YesCustom rules: No
- 9 Stylelint No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.3Free Languages supported: 8Autofix: YesCustom rules: Yes
- 10 Flake8 No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.4 Languages supported: 1Autofix: NoCustom rules: Yes
- 11 PassWeb No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.4 Languages supported: 1Autofix: YesCustom rules: Yes
- 12 PHPMD No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.4 Languages supported: 1Autofix: NoCustom rules: Yes
- 13 RuboCop No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.4 Languages supported: 1Autofix: YesCustom rules: Yes
- 14 Checkstyle No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.3 Languages supported: 1Custom rules: Yes
- 15 clang-tidy No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.3 Languages supported: 3Autofix: YesCustom rules: Yes
- 16 Clippy No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.3 Languages supported: 1Autofix: YesCustom rules: No
- 17 Credo No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.3 Languages supported: 1Custom rules: Yes
- 18 detekt No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.3 Languages supported: 1Autofix: YesCustom rules: Yes
- 19 Hadolint No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.3 Languages supported: 2Custom rules: Yes
- 20 HLint No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.3 Languages supported: 1Autofix: YesCustom rules: Yes
- 21 PHP_CodeSniffer No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.3 Languages supported: 1Autofix: YesCustom rules: Yes
- 22 pycodestyle No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.3 Languages supported: 1Autofix: NoCustom rules: Yes
- 23 Reek No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.3 Languages supported: 1Autofix: No
- 24 revive No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.3 Languages supported: 1Custom rules: Yes
- 25 ShellCheck No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.3 Languages supported: 4Autofix: Yes
Is your app 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 Samsung Mobile US Press?
Cppcheck is ranked #1 of 33 with a score of 6.4. PMD is second and Astral 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 mobile-first: a phone app alongside the web or desktop product, a free tier and the depth of its documentation. Paid placements never change a rank.