jaq vs JSON Hero

jaq is a free jq clone for querying and transforming data, available as both a command-line replacement and a Rust library for compiling and running jq programs. Alongside JSON, it handles YAML, CBOR, TOML, XML, CSV, and TSV, and can convert between those formats while applying a jq filter. Its jaq-core library supports multithreaded use and data types beyond JSON. jaq also accepts arbitrary values as object keys and can process strings containing arbitrary bytes, including invalid UTF-8. The project publishes benchmarks comparing jaq with jq and gojq, and reports faster results on many benchmarks. It states that jaq is memory-safe and prevents input data or filters from initiating I/O, although filters may read files before execution. The project also warns that it does not guard against resource exhaustion, so processing may use unlimited time, memory, or stack space. Binary downloads and installation instructions are provided for Linux, macOS, and Windows, and an online playground is available. jaq is MIT-licensed.

JSON Hero has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.