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Vale review

Freemium#2 of 29 in Writing Style Checkers

A programmable prose linter with YAML rules, editor diagnostics, and CI workflows.

9.2/10Editor score
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Vale9.2 Visit Vale

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Vale is an open-source command-line prose linter for writers, documentation teams, and developers. It checks Markdown, HTML, AsciiDoc, reStructuredText, and other formats against YAML-based rules. Teams can define terminology, vocabulary, and editorial guidance, or use pre-packaged style guides such as Microsoft, Google, and Red Hat. The core CLI runs offline on Windows, macOS, and Linux, while editor integrations bring diagnostics and quick fixes into writing and development workflows.

The pricing separates the free CLI from Vale CMS, the hosted authoring layer. The Free plan costs $0 per month and supports opening folders and ZIP files, live linting against the Vale engine, and a read-only sample project. Pro costs $19 per user per month and adds the full editor for rules, vocabularies, dictionaries, filters, views, and templates; editing and shipping GitHub or GitLab repositories; a hosted MCP server; and Discord support. Site costs $1,000 per year and includes everything in Pro for every address at a domain, with no seat count, MCP for CI and agent accounts, and private Discord support.

Vale fits teams that need style enforcement inside existing technical writing and software workflows. Its integrations cover VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Neovim, Sublime Text, Zed, Emacs, JetBrains IDEs, Obsidian, Oxygen XML, Qt Creator, Vim ALE, GitHub Actions, pre-commit, and Mintlify. Markup-aware, scope-specific linting helps rules apply to supported document structures, while command-line checks can run in repositories and CI. Teams wanting programmable checks, blocking actions, and broad editor coverage should consider Vale. Teams seeking a hosted authoring experience without a paid CMS tier should look elsewhere.

Vale pros and cons

  • Where it wins
    • Custom YAML rules enforce terminology, vocabulary, and editorial guidance
    • Works across editors, repositories, CI pipelines, and pre-commit hooks
    • Free open-source CLI with markup-aware linting and blocking actions
  • Where it doesn't
    • The hosted authoring layer requires a paid CMS plan
    • The Free plan includes a read-only sample project
    • Advanced repository editing and support start with the Pro plan

Vale fact sheet, pricing and score →

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