detekt vs PMD

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.

PMD is a free, extensible static code analyzer that checks source code for programming flaws such as unused variables, empty catch blocks, and unnecessary object creation. It includes more than 400 built-in rules, and teams can write custom rules in Java or XPath. Its bundled CPD tool finds duplicated code across many programming languages. PMD checks source directories from the command line and can run as a Maven, Ant, Gradle, or bld build operation. Supported languages include Java, JavaScript, Salesforce Apex and Visualforce, Kotlin, Swift, Modelica, PL/SQL, Apache Velocity, JSP, WSDL, Maven POM, HTML, XML, and XSL; Scala is supported without Scala rules. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows and requires Java 8 or above. For CI, its GitHub Action can create SARIF reports and fail builds based on violation counts; documentation also covers GitLab, Jenkins, and Bamboo integrations. IDE integrations include Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, and Visual Studio Code, though some listed plugins are not actively maintained. Only the latest major version is actively developed.