# ast-grep vs Black

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Black

| Attribute | ast-grep | Black |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 54.8 (35% (low)) | 73.9 (77% (high)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 33 | 75 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 177 | 105,588 |
| adoption.github_stars | 16,225 | 41,918 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | - | 27,633,532 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A structural code search and rewriting tool that uses AST analysis to locate and modify code patterns across thousands of files, with support for linting and programmatic access via Node.js bindings. It is indexed under Code Quality Tools.","source":"https://ast-grep.github.io","question":"What is ast-grep?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"ast-grep is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the MIT licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://ast-grep.github.io","question":"Is ast-grep free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"ast-grep supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://ast-grep.github.io","question":"What platforms does ast-grep support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. ast-grep can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://ast-grep.github.io","question":"Can ast-grep be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. ast-grep is published under the MIT licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep","question":"Is ast-grep open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"An opinionated Python code formatter that automatically reformats code according to a standardized style. It produces minimal diffs for cleaner code review and reduces developer cognitive load by removing formatting decisions, allowing focus on code logic. It is indexed under Code Quality Tools.","source":"https://black.readthedocs.io/en/stable/","question":"What is Black?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Black is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the MIT licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://black.readthedocs.io/en/stable/","question":"Is Black free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Black supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://black.readthedocs.io/en/stable/","question":"What platforms does Black support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Black can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://black.readthedocs.io/en/stable/","question":"Can Black be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 8 integrations for Black, including Neovim, conform.nvim, ALE, SublimeText, Pre-commit, Jupyter Notebooks, blacken-docs and blackdoc. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://black.readthedocs.io/en/stable/","question":"What does Black integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Black is published under the MIT licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/psf/black","question":"Is Black open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | Find and modify code patterns using abstract syntax tree analysis. Useful for linting, refactoring, and enforcing coding standards. | A Python code formatter that automatically reformats entire files to enforce consistent styling. It produces minimal diffs to accelerate code review and ensures uniform appearance across projects. |
| features.capabilities | `{"autofix":true,"function":"static_analyzer","deployment":"cli_local","open_source":"oss","config_model":"rule_packs","custom_rules":true,"impl_language":"Rust","pricing_model":"free","language_scope":"multi_language","editor_integration":true}` | `{"autofix":true,"metrics":false,"function":"formatter","ci_gating":true,"deployment":"both","incremental":false,"open_source":"oss","config_model":"zero_config","custom_rules":false,"impl_language":"Python","pricing_model":"free","language_scope":"single_language","editor_integration":true}` |
| integrations.count | - | 5 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"Neovim"},{"name":"conform.nvim"},{"name":"ALE"},{"name":"SublimeText"},{"name":"Pre-commit"},{"name":"Jupyter Notebooks"},{"name":"blacken-docs"},{"name":"blackdoc"},{"name":"Vim","native":true},{"name":"Visual Studio Code","native":true,"category":"editor","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"GitHub Actions","native":true,"category":"ci","direction":"inbound"}]` |
| language.primary | Rust | Python |
| license.spdx | MIT | MIT |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"cli":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Free and open source","sourceUrl":"https://ast-grep.github.io","retrievedAt":"2026-10-13T13:48:30.935Z"}` | `{"type":"free","summary":"Free and open source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://black.readthedocs.io/en/stable/","retrievedAt":"2026-09-14T09:28:09.046Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | free |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | - | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 15 | 31 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.50.0","date":"2026-10-09T14:19:44Z","type":"stable","version":"0.50.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.45.3","date":"2026-08-31T01:42:23Z","type":"stable","version":"0.45.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.45.2","date":"2026-08-23T19:48:48Z","type":"stable","version":"0.45.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.45.1","date":"2026-08-07T15:13:34Z","type":"stable","version":"0.45.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.45.0","date":"2026-07-23T16:07:00Z","type":"stable","version":"0.45.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.44.1","date":"2026-07-04T14:06:40Z","type":"stable","version":"0.44.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.44.0","date":"2026-06-22T01:49:47Z","type":"stable","version":"0.44.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.43.0","date":"2026-05-25T17:54:30Z","type":"stable","version":"0.43.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.42.3","date":"2026-05-19T15:18:18Z","type":"stable","version":"0.42.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.42.2","date":"2026-05-10T21:58:34Z","type":"stable","version":"0.42.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.42.1","date":"2026-04-04T16:01:20Z","type":"stable","version":"0.42.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.42.0","date":"2026-03-16T03:29:14Z","type":"stable","version":"0.42.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.41.1","date":"2026-03-10T14:04:27Z","type":"stable","version":"0.41.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.41.0","date":"2026-02-22T18:57:13Z","type":"stable","version":"0.41.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.40.5","date":"2026-01-10T17:57:43Z","type":"stable","version":"0.40.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.40.4","date":"2026-01-05T01:22:05Z","type":"stable","version":"0.40.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.40.3","date":"2025-12-15T15:38:42Z","type":"stable","version":"0.40.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.40.2","date":"2025-12-14T22:38:05Z","type":"stable","version":"0.40.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.40.1","date":"2025-12-11T05:41:28Z","type":"stable","version":"0.40.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep/releases/tag/0.40.0","date":"2025-11-16T04:57:10Z","type":"stable","version":"0.40.0"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/26.10.1","date":"2026-10-10T04:11:33Z","type":"stable","version":"26.10.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/26.10.0","date":"2026-10-04T16:50:23Z","type":"stable","version":"26.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/26.5.1","date":"2026-05-18T16:52:38Z","type":"stable","version":"26.5.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/26.5.0","date":"2026-05-16T17:56:23Z","type":"stable","version":"26.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/26.3.1","date":"2026-03-12T03:35:15Z","type":"stable","version":"26.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/26.3.0","date":"2026-03-06T17:41:48Z","type":"stable","version":"26.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/26.1.0","date":"2026-01-18T04:49:25Z","type":"stable","version":"26.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/26.1a1","date":"2025-12-08T01:46:21Z","type":"prerelease","version":"26.1a1"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/25.12.0","date":"2025-12-08T01:40:32Z","type":"stable","version":"25.12.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/25.11.0","date":"2025-11-10T01:53:31Z","type":"stable","version":"25.11.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/25.9.0","date":"2025-09-19T00:27:15Z","type":"stable","version":"25.9.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/25.1.0","date":"2025-01-29T04:15:11Z","type":"stable","version":"25.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/24.10.0","date":"2024-10-07T19:20:06Z","type":"stable","version":"24.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/24.8.0","date":"2024-08-02T17:42:53Z","type":"stable","version":"24.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/24.4.2","date":"2024-04-26T00:31:27Z","type":"stable","version":"24.4.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/24.4.1","date":"2024-04-24T15:17:30Z","type":"stable","version":"24.4.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/24.4.0","date":"2024-04-12T20:13:48Z","type":"stable","version":"24.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/24.3.0","date":"2024-03-15T19:35:14Z","type":"stable","version":"24.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/24.2.0","date":"2024-02-12T20:20:40Z","type":"stable","version":"24.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/psf/black/releases/tag/24.1.1","date":"2024-01-28T05:28:09Z","type":"stable","version":"24.1.1"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | - | 7.5 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=%40ast-grep%2Fnapi&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":2,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=black&per_page=100","last_12m":1,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` |

## Capabilities (Code Quality Tools)

| Capability | ast-grep | Black |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Function | Static analyzer | Formatter |
| Language scope | Multi-language | Single-language |
| Implementation language | Rust | Python |
| **Capability** |  |  |
| Autofix | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Config** |  |  |
| Config model | Rule packs | Zero-config |
| **Extensibility** |  |  |
| Custom rules | ✓ | ✗ |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Deployment | CLI-local | Both |
| **Delivery** |  |  |
| Editor integration | ✓ | ✓ |
| CI / VCS gating | - | ✓ |
| **Insight** |  |  |
| Code metrics | - | ✗ |
| **Performance** |  |  |
| Incremental / monorepo aware | - | ✗ |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Open-source | OSS | OSS |
| **Commercial** |  |  |
| Pricing model | Free | Free |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T18:31:43.159Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*