ShellCheck vs Clippy

ShellCheck9.0Visit Clippy8.6Visit

Higher score ShellCheck #3 in Linters 9.0/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 2 of 4 features Visit ShellCheck

vs

Clippy #6 in Linters 8.6/10 Open source ✓ 3 of 4 features Visit Clippy

• ShellCheck fits best

  Shell-script quality and portability checks

• Clippy fits best

  Rust developers seeking extensive lint coverage

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Side by side

Feature	ShellCheck 9.0/10 Visit ↗	Clippy 8.6/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.0	8.6
Ranking	#3 in Linters	#6 in Linters
Best for	Shell-script quality and portability checks	Rust developers seeking extensive lint coverage
Pricing model	Free	Free
Starting price	Free plan	Open source
Free plan	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Desktop
Platforms	Web, Windows, macOS, Linux	Windows, macOS, Linux
Support	Community, Docs	Docs, Community
Integrations	9 integrations	3 integrations
Built for	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features ShellCheck 2/4 · Clippy 3/4
Autofix	✓	✓
Custom rules	Not checked yet	—
Security rules	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
CI support	✓	✓
Specs
Languages supported	4 (best)	1
IDE support	Editor	Ide
Our review
Pros	Checks sh, bash, dash, ksh and BusyBox shell dialects Fits editors, CI pipelines and build or test workflows Provides machine-readable output and unified-diff fix suggestions	More than 800 lints across correctness, style, performance, and more Runs with Cargo or clippy-driver for non-Cargo projects Supports configuration, workspace checks, autofix, and CI enforcement
Cons	Does not support custom rules Focused specifically on shell scripts rather than multiple languages Configuration relies on inline directives and shellcheckrc	Supports Rust rather than multiple programming languages Autofix applies only to supported lint suggestions Integrations focus on Rustup, Cargo, and rust-analyzer
Our verdict	ShellCheck is an open-source static analysis and linting tool for shell scripts. It is suited to developers and teams maintaining sh, bash, dash, ksh or BusyBox shell code who want feedback on syntax, semantic, robustness, portability and… Read the review →	Clippy is an open-source Rust linter for developers and teams that want automated checks for common mistakes and idiomatic improvements. It analyzes Cargo projects through the cargo clippy subcommand and can also run through clippy-driver… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• ShellCheck — where it wins

  • Checks sh, bash, dash, ksh and BusyBox shell dialects
  • Fits editors, CI pipelines and build or test workflows
  • Provides machine-readable output and unified-diff fix suggestions

  Where it doesn't

  • Does not support custom rules
  • Focused specifically on shell scripts rather than multiple languages
  • Configuration relies on inline directives and shellcheckrc

• Clippy — where it wins

  • More than 800 lints across correctness, style, performance, and more
  • Runs with Cargo or clippy-driver for non-Cargo projects
  • Supports configuration, workspace checks, autofix, and CI enforcement

  Where it doesn't

  • Supports Rust rather than multiple programming languages
  • Autofix applies only to supported lint suggestions
  • Integrations focus on Rustup, Cargo, and rust-analyzer

• ShellCheck9.0/10 · Free plan

  A free, open-source linter for shell syntax, portability, robustness and security checks.

  Visit ShellCheckFull verdict →
• Clippy8.6/10 · Open source

  A deeply configurable Rust linter with more than 800 checks and CI support.

  Visit ClippyFull verdict →