Python Formatters Beyond Black 2026 | Generated by AI
Question: Besides Black, what other Python formatters are there?
Answer:
Here are the most popular and actively maintained Python code formatters besides Black (as of 2025–2026):
-
ruff format
Extremely fast (written in Rust), very popular in 2024–2026, 90–95% Black-compatible by default, becoming the new de facto standard in many projects. -
isort
Only sorts imports (not a full formatter), but still widely used together with Black or others. -
autopep8
Automatically formats code to conform (mostly) to PEP 8. Conservative, configurable, but slower and less opinionated than Black/ruff. -
yapf
Google’s formatter. Highly configurable — you can make it behave very close to Black, PEP 8, or completely custom style. -
blue
Almost identical to Black, but with 79-character line length (instead of 88) to match older projects / flake8 defaults. -
blacken-docs
Formats code blocks inside documentation (Markdown, RST, etc.) using Black. -
docformatter
Formats docstrings (mostly PEP 257 / Google / NumPy style). -
pyink
Meta’s fork of Black with a few extra defaults/tweaks (used internally at Meta). -
darker
Only formats the changed lines (useful in pre-commit + CI to avoid big reformatting commits).
Quick comparison (2025–2026 popularity & philosophy):
| Formatter | Speed | Opinionated? | Black-compatible? | Main use-case today | Actively maintained |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ruff format | ★★★★★ | Yes | ~95% | Replacing Black in new projects | Very active |
| Black | ★★★★ | Very | — | Still very common baseline | Active |
| yapf | ★★ | No | Configurable | Teams that want full control | Active |
| autopep8 | ★★ | No | No | Legacy / conservative projects | Active |
| blue | ★★★★ | Very | Almost | Projects stuck on 79-char lines | Low activity |
Most common choices in 2026:
- ruff format (often just called ruff) — fastest growing
- Black — still very widely used
- Black + isort (or ruff format + ruff check –select I)
- yapf — mostly in companies with custom style guides
Bottom line in 2026:
If you’re starting a new project → ruff format is currently the strongest default choice for most teams.
References:
- https://github.com/astral-sh/ruff
- https://black.readthedocs.io/
- https://github.com/google/yapf
- https://pypi.org/project/autopep8/