# Black vs Pylint

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Black

| Attribute | Black | Pylint |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 73.9 (77% (high)) | 65.6 (49% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 75 | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 105,588 | 117,361 |
| adoption.github_stars | 41,918 | 5,738 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 27,633,532 | - |
| 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":"Pylint automatically scans Python source code to identify problems with coding standards compliance, detect runtime errors, and suggest refactoring improvements. It supports extensive customization through configuration files and plugins. It is indexed under Code Quality Tools.","source":"https://www.pylint.org/","question":"What is Pylint?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Pylint offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.pylint.org/","question":"Is Pylint free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Pylint supports Windows, macOS, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.pylint.org/","question":"What platforms does Pylint support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Pylint can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.pylint.org/","question":"Can Pylint be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 10 integrations for Pylint, including Vim, Emacs, Eclipse, TextMate, PyDev, Spyder, Editra and Jenkins, plus 2 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.pylint.org/","question":"What does Pylint integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Pylint is published under the GPL-2.0 licence, a copyleft licence, so check its terms before embedding it in a closed-source product. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint","question":"Is Pylint open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| 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. | Pylint analyzes Python code without running it to identify errors, enforce coding standards, detect problematic patterns, and recommend improvements through configurable checks. |
| 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":true,"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 | 10 |
| 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":"Vim"},{"name":"Emacs"},{"name":"Eclipse"},{"name":"TextMate"},{"name":"PyDev"},{"name":"Spyder"},{"name":"Editra"},{"name":"Jenkins"},{"name":"Hudson"},{"name":"Apycot"},{"name":"Azure DevOps","native":true,"category":"ci","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"GitLab CI","native":true,"category":"ci","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"GitHub Actions","native":true,"category":"ci","direction":"outbound"}]` |
| language.primary | Python | Python |
| license.spdx | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| 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","summary":"Free and open source. Commercial support services available.","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.pylint.org/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T11:08:27.719Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | free | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 31 | 16 |
| 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"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v4.1.3","date":"2026-10-11T07:41:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v4.1.2","date":"2026-10-02T22:13:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v4.1.1","date":"2026-09-29T21:09:11Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v4.1.0","date":"2026-09-29T20:00:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v4.0.10","date":"2026-09-29T15:47:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v4.0.9","date":"2026-09-23T15:25:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v4.0.8","date":"2026-08-29T12:21:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v4.0.7","date":"2026-08-09T19:12:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v4.0.6","date":"2026-06-14T14:42:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v4.0.5","date":"2026-02-20T09:06:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v4.0.4","date":"2025-11-30T13:28:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v4.0.3","date":"2025-11-13T15:53:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v4.0.2","date":"2025-10-20T13:01:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v4.0.1","date":"2025-10-15T05:40:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v4.0.0","date":"2025-10-12T15:16:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v3.3.9","date":"2025-10-05T18:37:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.3.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v3.3.8","date":"2025-08-09T09:12:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.3.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v3.3.7","date":"2025-05-04T17:07:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.3.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v3.3.6","date":"2025-03-20T11:24:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.3.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint/releases/tag/v3.3.5","date":"2025-03-09T06:47:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.3.5"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | 7.5 | 8 |
| 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=pylint&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Code Quality Tools)

| Capability | Black | Pylint |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **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 2026-10-16T19:19:22.629Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*