Biome vs detekt
Biome
biomejs.devdetekt
detekt.devSide by side
| Figure | Biome | detekt |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Linters | 8.2 (#7) | 7.8 (#16) |
| Purpose | Biome is a toolchain for web projects that provides tools to maintain project health. | detekt is a static code analyzer for Kotlin that helps identify code smells. |
Plans
In their own words
Biome
Biome is a toolchain for maintaining the health of web projects. It formats JavaScript, TypeScript, JSX, TSX, JSON, HTML, CSS, and GraphQL, and provides lint rules for JavaScript, TypeScript, JSX, CSS, and GraphQL. Linting can report diagnostics and apply safe fixes. Its check command can format files, lint them, and organize imports in one run. Biome is distributed as a standalone executable, so it does not require Node.js. Installation instructions cover npm, pnpm, bun, deno, and yarn. First-party editor extensions are available for VS Code, IntelliJ, and Zed; community extensions include Vim, Neovim, and Sublime Text. The getting-started guide links to CI integrations for GitHub Actions and GitLab CI. Biome describes itself as open source and lists MIT or Apache 2.0 licensing. The open-source toolchain is free. Contributors may offer commercial support, but requests depend on their availability.
detekt
detekt is a free static code analyzer for Kotlin that helps identify code smells. It supports Android, JVM, JS, Native, and Multiplatform projects, and runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Developers can configure rule sets, create baselines for existing issues, and suppress findings with @Suppress annotations. Reports can be generated as HTML, Markdown, SARIF, Checkstyle XML, or custom formats; complexity reports can include lines of code, cyclomatic complexity, and code smell counts. The project provides a Gradle plugin and documents use with Gradle, Maven, and Bazel builds. Its Gradle plugin requires Gradle 6.8.3 or higher. Custom rule sets can be added through detekt's RuleSetProvider and ServiceLoader pattern, and the marketplace lists community rules, extensions, and plugins. CLI installation guidance covers Homebrew on macOS, Scoop on Windows, SDKMAN on Unix-like systems, and NixOS. detekt supports autofix, IDE use, and CI. Its security policy says patches are applied up to the current minor version, with earlier versions handled case by case.