Black

The uncompromising Python code formatter — produces consistent, deterministic output with minimal config.

linting-and-formatting-frameworksRecently released
75
Hero Score
Popularity
88
Performance
45
Ecosystem
50
Maturity
92
Dev Experience
100
⭐ 41,524 stars⬇ 29.3M downloads/wkFirst release: Mar 2018Last release: May 2026
Async Support: NoPlugin Extensions: MediumSpeed: FastDoc Quality: Very highLearning Curve: Very easy

Pros

  • Opinionated and deterministic — eliminates style debates by enforcing a single consistent format across the codebase
  • Near-zero configuration; works out of the box and integrates cleanly with editors, pre-commit, and CI pipelines
  • Massive adoption across the Python ecosystem with battle-tested PEP 8 compliance

Cons

  • Limited configurability by design — teams that want custom style rules will find it inflexible
  • Slower than Rust-based alternatives like ruff format on very large codebases
  • Only formats; does not lint or catch logical errors, so it must be paired with a linter

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