detekt vs Flake8
detekt
detekt.devFlake8
flake8.pycqa.orgSide by side
| Figure | detekt | Flake8 |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Spec score · Linters | 7.8 (#16) | 8.8 (#2) |
| Extensibility | Developers can add custom rule sets using detekt's RuleSetProvider and ServiceLoader pattern. | Flake8 supports community plugins, most of which are uploaded to PyPI, and provides guidance for plugin developers. |
| Purpose | detekt is a static code analyzer for Kotlin that helps identify code smells. | Flake8 combines pycodestyle, pyflakes, McCabe, and third-party plugins to check Python code style and quality. |
Plans
In their own words
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.