# Black vs SpotBugs

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Black

| Attribute | Black | SpotBugs |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 73.9 (77% (high)) | 54.9 (48% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 75 | 72 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 105,588 | 2,768 |
| adoption.github_stars | 41,918 | 3,954 |
| 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":"An open-source utility that examines Java source code to identify potential programming issues without executing it. It integrates with build tools and IDEs through plugins and supports community-contributed or custom analysis rules. It is indexed under Code Quality Tools.","source":"https://spotbugs.github.io/","question":"What is SpotBugs?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"SpotBugs is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the LGPL-2.1 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://spotbugs.github.io/","question":"Is SpotBugs free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"SpotBugs supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://spotbugs.github.io/","question":"What platforms does SpotBugs support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. SpotBugs can be deployed on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://spotbugs.github.io/","question":"Can SpotBugs be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 6 integrations for SpotBugs, including Maven, Gradle, Eclipse, Ant, fb-contrib and find-sec-bugs. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://spotbugs.github.io/","question":"What does SpotBugs integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. SpotBugs is published under the LGPL-2.1 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/spotbugs/spotbugs","question":"Is SpotBugs open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"on_prem":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. | SpotBugs performs static analysis on Java code to identify potential bugs and code quality issues. |
| 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,"function":"static_analyzer","ci_gating":true,"deployment":"cli_local","open_source":"oss","config_model":"rule_packs","custom_rules":true,"impl_language":"Java","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":"Maven"},{"name":"Gradle"},{"name":"Eclipse"},{"name":"Ant"},{"name":"fb-contrib"},{"name":"find-sec-bugs"},{"name":"VS Code","native":true}]` |
| language.primary | Python | Java |
| license.spdx | MIT | LGPL-2.1 |
| 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":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://spotbugs.github.io/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T08:33:37.010Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | free | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | - |
| release.cadence_days | 31 | 27 |
| 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/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.10.5","date":"2026-10-12T03:43:33Z","type":"stable","version":"4.10.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.10.4","date":"2026-08-20T03:22:34Z","type":"stable","version":"4.10.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.10.3","date":"2026-07-12T23:54:13Z","type":"stable","version":"4.10.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.10.2","date":"2026-06-09T20:24:17Z","type":"stable","version":"4.10.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.10.1","date":"2026-06-08T13:19:51Z","type":"stable","version":"4.10.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.10.0","date":"2026-06-08T01:28:41Z","type":"stable","version":"4.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.9.8","date":"2025-10-18T16:45:29Z","type":"stable","version":"4.9.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.9.7","date":"2025-10-14T22:32:35Z","type":"stable","version":"4.9.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.9.6","date":"2025-09-17T02:07:29Z","type":"stable","version":"4.9.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.9.5","date":"2025-09-15T01:58:47Z","type":"stable","version":"4.9.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.9.4","date":"2025-08-10T00:26:10Z","type":"stable","version":"4.9.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.9.3","date":"2025-03-15T19:18:36Z","type":"stable","version":"4.9.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.9.2","date":"2025-03-01T20:12:52Z","type":"stable","version":"4.9.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.9.1","date":"2025-02-05T16:59:04Z","type":"stable","version":"4.9.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.9.0","date":"2025-01-16T05:16:00Z","type":"stable","version":"4.9.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.8.6","date":"2024-06-18T02:46:58Z","type":"stable","version":"4.8.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.8.5","date":"2024-05-03T23:22:14Z","type":"stable","version":"4.8.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.8.4","date":"2024-04-23T13:33:59Z","type":"stable","version":"4.8.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.8.3","date":"2023-12-12T10:47:36Z","type":"stable","version":"4.8.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/releases/tag/4.8.2","date":"2023-11-29T04:06:02Z","type":"stable","version":"4.8.2"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | 7.5 | 4.5 |
| 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=maven&package_name=com.github.spotbugs%3Aspotbugs-annotations&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Code Quality Tools)

| Capability | Black | SpotBugs |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Function | Formatter | Static analyzer |
| Language scope | Single-language | Single-language |
| Implementation language | Python | Java |
| **Capability** |  |  |
| Autofix | ✓ | ✗ |
| **Config** |  |  |
| Config model | Zero-config | Rule packs |
| **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 2026-10-16T19:03:36.351Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*