autopep8 vs Black
autopep8
github.comBlack
black.readthedocs.ioSide by side
| Figure | autopep8 | Black |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 1 |
| Spec score · Code formatters | 7.6 (#9) | 8.7 (#1) |
| Spec score · Code Formatting Tools | 7.6 (#19) | 8.7 (#1) |
| Installation | The project documents installation with `pip install --upgrade autopep8`. | Black installs with pip or pipx and requires Python 3.10 or later to run. |
| License | PyPI identifies the project license as MIT License. | Black is licensed under the MIT license. |
| Purpose | autopep8 automatically formats Python code to conform to the PEP 8 style guide. | Black is an opinionated formatter for Python code that follows PEP 8. |
Plans
In their own words
Black
Black is a free, MIT-licensed formatter for Python code that follows PEP 8. It reformats whole files in place and uses a default line length of 88 characters. Its limited style choices are intended to keep code consistent across projects; indentation style cannot be configured. After formatting, Black checks whether the abstract syntax tree remains effectively equivalent and raises an error if the check fails. Install it with pip; it requires Python 3.10 or newer. The documentation lists editor integrations including Emacs, PyCharm, IntelliJ IDEA, Vim, Neovim, Visual Studio Code and Sublime Text, as well as GitHub Actions and doctest workflows. Notebook formatting is available with the jupyter extra, though Black skips cells containing certain magics or invalid syntax. It also includes blackd, an HTTP server that binds to localhost by default. Black is primarily a command-line tool and does not provide a Python interface. Stable releases preserve formatting within the same calendar year when the options match.