# Black vs flake8

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Black

| Attribute | Black | flake8 |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 73.9 (77% (high)) | 64 (66% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 75 | 21 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 105,588 | 153,063 |
| adoption.github_stars | 41,918 | 3,828 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 27,633,532 | 9,519,717 |
| content.faq | `[{"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}]` | `[{"answer":"flake8 is an open-source Python linter that combines multiple style-checking tools to verify code compliance with PEP 8 and detect errors. It uses a plugin architecture for extensibility and is commonly integrated into development workflows and CI/CD pipelines. It is indexed under Code Quality Tools.","source":"https://flake8.pycqa.org/","question":"What is flake8?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"flake8 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://flake8.pycqa.org/","question":"Is flake8 free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"flake8 supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://flake8.pycqa.org/","question":"What platforms does flake8 support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. flake8 can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://flake8.pycqa.org/","question":"Can flake8 be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 3 integrations for flake8, including pycodestyle, pyflakes and mccabe. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://flake8.pycqa.org/","question":"What does flake8 integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. flake8 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://pypi.org/pypi/flake8/json","question":"Is flake8 open source?","confidence":0.9}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | flake8 is an open-source Python linter that combines multiple style-checking tools to verify code compliance with PEP 8 and detect errors. It uses a plugin architecture for extensibility and is commonly integrated into development workflows and CI/CD pipelines. |
| features.capabilities | `{"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}` | `{"autofix":false,"metrics":true,"function":"linter","ci_gating":true,"deployment":"cli_local","open_source":"oss","config_model":"config_file","custom_rules":true,"impl_language":"Python","pricing_model":"free","language_scope":"single_language","editor_integration":true}` |
| integrations.count | 5 | 3 |
| 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"}]` | `[{"name":"pycodestyle"},{"name":"pyflakes"},{"name":"mccabe"},{"name":"pre-commit","native":true,"category":"ci","direction":"inbound"}]` |
| language.primary | Python | Python |
| license.spdx | MIT | MIT |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"cli":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"free","summary":"Free and open source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://black.readthedocs.io/en/stable/","retrievedAt":"2026-09-14T09:28:09.046Z"}` | `{"type":"free","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://flake8.pycqa.org/","retrievedAt":"2026-09-10T16:03:57.147Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | free | free |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 31 | - |
| release.history | `[{"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 | 5 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":2,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=black&per_page=100","last_12m":1,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=flake8&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Code Quality Tools)

| Capability | Black | flake8 |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Function | Formatter | Linter |
| Language scope | Single-language | Single-language |
| Implementation language | Python | Python |
| **Capability** |  |  |
| Autofix | ✓ | ✗ |
| **Config** |  |  |
| Config model | Zero-config | Config file |
| **Extensibility** |  |  |
| Custom rules | ✗ | ✓ |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Deployment | Both | CLI-local |
| **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 2026-10-16T07:53:26.115Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*