Skip to content
SPECIFICTION
Get listed

jq vs JSON Formatter

jq

jqlang.org

JSON Formatter

json-formatter.org

Side by side

FigurejqJSON Formatter
Price fromFreeFree
Free planYesYes
Free trial——
Open source——
WebYesYes
WindowsYes—
macOSYes—
LinuxYes—
Self-hostedYes—
Plans published11
Spec score · JSON Tools8.8 (#2)7.2 (#22)
Purposejq is a lightweight, flexible command-line JSON processor for slicing, filtering, mapping, and transforming structured data.The browser tool formats, validates, and minifies JSON, and reports syntax errors with their line and column.

Plans

jq

  • jqFree

jq pricing →

JSON Formatter

  • JSON FormatterFree

JSON Formatter pricing →

In their own words

jq

jq is a free command-line processor for selecting and transforming JSON data. A jq filter takes an input and produces output; filters can be combined to access nested attributes, construct objects, gather results into arrays, or make other transformations. It reads whitespace-separated JSON values and writes serialized results separated by whitespace. Each expression runs on each input value and may produce zero or more outputs. For very large inputs, the --stream option parses incrementally. Output options include compact, raw, ASCII, sorted-key, and colored forms. Written in portable C, jq has no runtime dependencies, and a standalone binary can be copied to another machine of the same type. Standalone executables are available for Linux, macOS, and Windows, with packages listed for Linux distributions and package managers including Homebrew, MacPorts, winget, Scoop, and Chocolatey. A Docker image is also available. Release binaries have SHA-256 checksums, and signed release artifacts use jq release keys. The code is licensed under MIT; the documentation uses CC-BY-3.0.

Visit jqlang.org

JSON Formatter

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

Visit json-formatter.org