Oxlint vs Biome
A comparison of Oxlint, the extremely fast, ESLint-compatible linting accelerator from the Oxc project, and Biome, the all-in-one Rust-powered linter and formatter, covering their different philosophies and typical use cases.
Quick Answer
Oxlint is designed to run alongside ESLint as a very fast pre-check catching common mistakes in milliseconds, with broader ESLint rule-compatibility coverage; Biome is designed to fully replace both ESLint and Prettier as one unified tool. Choose Biome if you want one tool handling both linting and formatting; choose Oxlint specifically as a speed layer if you already have formatting covered and want the fastest possible correctness pass.
Reviewed by TechLogHub Engineering Team. Last updated October 7, 2026. Reflects Oxlint's 2026 growth to 787 rules with type-aware linting via tsgo, and its adoption as the default linter in Vite 8.
| Feature | Oxlint | Biome |
|---|---|---|
| Core Purpose | Linting only — no formatter | Linting and formatting combined |
| Positioning | Speed layer, complementary to ESLint | Direct replacement for ESLint + Prettier |
| Rule Count | 787 rules, 111 default-on (correctness-focused) | Smaller than Oxlint, curated built-in set |
| Type-Aware Linting Approach | Via tsgo (Go port of TypeScript compiler), 2026 addition 8/10 | Custom inference engine (Biome v2) 7/10 |
| Backed By | VoidZero (also behind Vite, Rolldown) | Independent open-source community (Rome fork) |
| Framework Default Status | Default linter in Vite 8 | Not tied to a specific framework's default |
Oxlint
An extremely fast JavaScript/TypeScript linter, part of the Oxc (Oxidation Compiler) project backed by VoidZero — the same organization behind Vite and the Rolldown bundler — designed to run alongside ESLint as a speed layer rather than fully replace it.
Pros
- The fastest linting option available — checks a 100k-line-of-code monorepo in under 2 seconds compared to 45-90 seconds for ESLint with type-aware rules
- 787 rules with broad ESLint plugin-compatibility coverage (React, Jest, Vitest, Import, Unicorn, jsx-a11y, TypeScript ports)
- 2026 additions include type-aware linting via tsgo (the Go port of the TypeScript compiler) and multi-file analysis as first-class features
- Now the default linter in Vite 8, reflecting deep integration with the broader VoidZero toolchain (Vite, Rolldown, Oxc)
- Built-in ESLint config migration tool lowers the barrier to adoption for teams with existing ESLint setups
Cons
- Explicitly a linter only — no built-in formatter, unlike Biome which bundles both
- Positioned as complementary to ESLint rather than a full standalone replacement, so many teams run it alongside ESLint rather than instead of it
- 787 rules is broad but still narrower than the combined ESLint plugin ecosystem for the most niche or highly specific linting needs
- As a newer tool experiencing very rapid development, its rule set and feature surface are still evolving quickly
Best For
Teams that already have formatting covered (via Prettier or another tool) and want the fastest possible correctness/performance linting pass, particularly as a pre-check layer running before or alongside a fuller ESLint setup.
Biome
A Rust-powered tool combining linting and formatting into a single binary, forked from Meta's abandoned Rome project, positioned as a direct, full replacement for the combined ESLint + Prettier setup.
Pros
- Combines linting and formatting in one tool — a genuine, direct replacement for the ESLint + Prettier combination, not just a speed layer
- Zero-config drop-in experience for most common setups, with one config file rather than coordinating multiple tools
- Biome v2's custom type inference engine provides meaningful type-aware linting coverage without needing a separate TypeScript compiler pass
- Simpler mental model for teams wanting to minimize the number of separate tools in their toolchain
- Also very fast (Rust-compiled), though independent benchmarks show Oxlint as roughly 2x faster specifically for linting throughput
Cons
- Fewer total rules than Oxlint's 787, though Biome's are more curated toward common needs rather than maximizing ESLint plugin-rule coverage
- Slightly slower raw linting speed than Oxlint specifically, according to OXC's own public benchmark comparisons
- As a monolithic tool, less composable than the Oxlint + separate-formatter approach for teams wanting to mix and match best-of-breed tools
- Type-aware linting, while improved, still isn't at full parity with the most complete compiler-backed approaches
Best For
Teams wanting a single, unified tool replacing both their linter and formatter entirely, particularly new projects that don't already have a formatting solution in place.
Different Philosophies, Same Underlying Toolchain Family
Both tools are part of the broader Rust-based JavaScript tooling movement, but they take genuinely different approaches to scope. Biome wants to be the one tool that replaces your entire ESLint + Prettier setup — a monolithic, all-in-one binary. Oxlint, part of the Oxc project alongside the Rolldown bundler, is explicitly positioned as complementary rather than a full replacement: it catches the majority of common mistakes extremely fast, then hands off to ESLint (or another tool) for anything outside its current rule coverage.
Raw Speed: Oxlint Has a Measurable Edge
According to OXC's own public benchmark repository, Oxlint is approximately 2x faster than Biome on equivalent codebases for pure linting throughput — a genuine, measured difference that comes partly from Oxlint's narrower focus (it isn't also handling formatting the way Biome is in the same pass). For most projects, both tools are so fast that this difference is academic; it becomes meaningful specifically at the scale of monorepos with 10,000+ files or CI pipelines where every second of linting time compounds across many runs per day.
Type-Aware Linting: Two Different Approaches to the Same Problem
Both tools have moved to address type-aware linting — historically ESLint's clearest advantage via typescript-eslint — but through different mechanisms. Oxlint's 2026 addition uses tsgo, the Go port of the TypeScript compiler (also known as TypeScript 7), providing full TypeScript compatibility and the same type system behavior as the actual tsc compiler. Biome v2 instead built its own custom type inference engine that avoids running the full compiler, trading some accuracy (currently around 75% parity on floating-promise detection, per Biome's own testing) for lower overhead.
Avoiding Redundant Tooling
A genuine risk when evaluating these tools is adopting both without a clear reason — if you've already committed to Biome for formatting, adding Oxlint purely because it benchmarks faster for linting specifically doesn't make sense unless you've first confirmed Biome's built-in rules genuinely don't catch enough of your actual bugs. The right sequence is: decide whether Biome's rule coverage meets your needs first, and only add Oxlint as an additional speed layer if there's a genuine coverage or performance gap Biome alone doesn't close.
Verdict
Choose Biome if you want one unified tool replacing both your linter and formatter entirely — it's the more practical 'replace ESLint + Prettier' choice for most teams. Choose Oxlint specifically if you already have formatting covered (via Prettier, Biome's formatter alone, or another tool) and want the fastest possible correctness-focused linting pass, either as a standalone linter or as a speed layer running alongside a fuller ESLint setup for rules Oxlint doesn't yet cover. Avoid the mistake of adopting both without first checking whether Biome's built-in rules alone already catch what you need — running Oxlint on top just because it's faster, without evaluating actual rule coverage, adds redundant tooling rather than genuine additional value.