Checkstyle vs yamllint
Checkstyle
checkstyle.orgyamllint
yamllint.readthedocs.ioSide by side
| Figure | Checkstyle | yamllint |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Linters | 8.0 (#9) | 6.9 (#31) |
| Configuration | Users can choose supplied Google Java Style, Sun Conventions, OpenJDK Style, or Doc Style configurations, or create their own. | It includes default and relaxed configurations and supports custom configuration files. |
| License | The project license is LGPL-2.1-or-later. | The GitHub repository identifies the project license as GPL-3.0. |
| Purpose | Checkstyle analyzes Java source code against configurable rules to help teams enforce coding standards. | yamllint checks YAML syntax and issues such as duplicate keys, line length, trailing spaces, and indentation. |
Plans
In their own words
Checkstyle
Checkstyle is a free Java source-code analyzer for programmers who follow a coding standard. It checks naming, imports, Javadoc, formatting, class design, and coding practices against configurable rules. You can select supplied Google Java Style, Sun Conventions, OpenJDK Style, or Doc Style configurations, or create your own. Checkstyle runs from its command-line tool or as an Ant task, with documented Maven and Gradle integrations. Listed IDE and CI integrations include Eclipse, Bamboo, GitHub Actions, Codacy, and Code Climate. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. The current site says it parses Java features through Java 25; versions 13.x and 14.x require Java runtime 21 or newer. Analysis is single-file and source-level, without expression-type determination or a full inheritance hierarchy. Releases are available through GitHub releases and Maven Central, including a standalone all-in-one JAR. It is licensed under LGPL-2.1-or-later and supports only the latest version.
yamllint
yamllint has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.