Developer Tools · head to head
ESLint vs Syft
Syft
Cybersecurity
Generates a software bill of materials from images, filesystems and archives
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
The short version
- Each has a real cost: ESLint slow performance on large codebases compared to newer tools like Oxlint and Biome; Syft lockfile parsing can drop packages silently. An open issue filed in August 2026 reports the yarn v1 cataloguer returning 118 of 745 packages with no error raised, which means a complete bill of materials and an 84 percent incomplete one look identical to the caller.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which ESLint and Syft actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in ESLint
Nothing recorded that Syft does not also cover.
Only in Syft
- Multi-format output
- Broad ecosystem coverage
- Binary classifiers
- In-toto attestations
- Library and CLI
- Pairs with Grype
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
ESLint
- Statically analysing JavaScript and JSX to find problems before runtimenot Syft
- Automatically fixing issues with syntax-aware rewritesnot Syft
- Enforcing a consistent code style across a teamnot Syft
- Running as a CI step to block non-conforming codenot Syft
- Writing custom rules for project-specific conventionsnot Syft
Syft
- Producing a bill of materials for a customer or regulator that requires onenot ESLint
- Feeding an inventory into a vulnerability scanner rather than scanning images directlynot ESLint
- Recording what shipped in a build so a future disclosure can be answered quicklynot ESLint
- Public sector work where an SBOM is a contractual deliverablenot ESLint
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
ESLint
- Slow performance on large codebases compared to newer tools like Oxlint and Biome
- Complexity in configuration from scratch, particularly for TypeScript support
- Limited built-in TypeScript support, requiring separate parsers and coordination with new TypeScript features
Syft
- Lockfile parsing can drop packages silently. An open issue filed in August 2026 reports the yarn v1 cataloguer returning 118 of 745 packages with no error raised, which means a complete bill of materials and an 84 percent incomplete one look identical to the caller.
- Fidelity varies sharply by ecosystem. Conan for C and C++, Haskell and Terraform get cataloguer support with no licence data, no dependency relationships and no file ownership, so a C and C++ shop gets the least from it.
- Binary classification yields no licence or dependency metadata, and vendored or statically linked code is exactly where supply chain risk hides, so the blind spot and the risk overlap.
- Incorrect CPE values and CPE collisions are recorded as open issues, and since Grype matches on CPE and PURL, an inventory error becomes a false negative in the security report downstream.
- An inventory is not a risk assessment. Even a perfect bill of materials says a vulnerable version is present, never that the vulnerable function is called, and the triage burden lands entirely on the reader.
Pricing, plan by plan
ESLint
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the ESLint review.
Syft
Free- SyftFree
- Apache-2.0
- No usage limits
- Community support
- Anchore Enterprise$undefined/year
- Policy enforcement and reporting
- Federal and commercial tiers
- Pricing not published, quoted on request
Which should you pick?
Choose ESLint if
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Browser-based JavaScript, Node.js, Any JavaScript environment.
Choose Syft if
- You need multi-format output.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker.
- You also want broad ecosystem coverage.
Questions people ask
- Is ESLint or Syft better?
- Neither clearly leads. ESLint starts at Free and Syft at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, ESLint or Syft?
- ESLint starts at Free and Syft at Free.
- Does ESLint or Syft run on more platforms?
- ESLint runs on Browser-based JavaScript, Node.js, Any JavaScript environment. Syft runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker.
- Can I use ESLint for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is ESLint best used for?
- ESLint is most often used for statically analysing javascript and jsx to find problems before runtime, automatically fixing issues with syntax-aware rewrites, enforcing a consistent code style across a team, running as a ci step to block non-conforming code. Of those, statically analysing javascript and jsx to find problems before runtime and automatically fixing issues with syntax-aware rewrites are not what Syft is typically brought in for.
- What can ESLint do that Syft cannot?
- Syft covers Multi-format output, Broad ecosystem coverage, Binary classifiers, In-toto attestations.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
ESLint: Does ESLint automatically fix code issues?
Many problems ESLint finds can be automatically fixed via the --fix flag. ESLint fixes are syntax-aware so you won't experience errors introduced by traditional find-and-replace algorithms.
SourceSyft: Does Syft find vulnerabilities?
No. It produces an inventory. Grype, from the same company, matches that inventory against vulnerability feeds. They are separate tools and the distinction is frequently lost.
ESLint: How much does ESLint cost?
ESLint is completely free and open-source software maintained by the OpenJS Foundation. The project accepts voluntary donations from sponsors.
SourceSyft: Does anything in the Anchore stack do reachability analysis?
No. Neither Syft, Grype nor the commercial Anchore platform performs call graph or reachability analysis, so none of them tells you whether a vulnerable code path is actually invoked.
ESLint: Can I write custom ESLint rules?
Yes. You can develop custom rules that work alongside built-in functionality through ESLint's plugin system, allowing complete customization for your project needs.
SourceSyft: Is it a CNCF or OpenSSF project?
No. It is single-vendor open source owned by Anchore, with no foundation governance. That is a different licence risk profile from Sigstore.
Syft: What does Anchore Enterprise cost?
Not published. The pricing page is contact-sales only, with named but unpriced commercial and federal tiers.
Syft: How do I know my SBOM is complete?
You largely cannot, which is the honest answer. Silent partial parsing is a known open defect, so a bill of materials used for compliance should be spot-checked against a known dependency list.
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- Syft vs Buildkite
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- Syft vs Eclipse IDE
- Syft vs Moonrepo
- Syft vs Nx Cloud
- Syft vs Pants Build
- Syft vs Cosign
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- Syft vs Trivy
- Syft vs Chainguard
- Syft vs Metasploit
- Syft vs Wireshark
- Syft vs Semgrep
- Syft vs Legit Security
- Syft vs OWASP ZAP
- Syft vs HashiCorp Vault
- Syft vs Bitwarden
- Syft vs Infisical
- Syft vs Tenable Nessus
- Syft vs Transmit Security
- Syft vs TrustArc
- Syft vs Varonis Data Security Platform
- Syft vs VMware Carbon Black