We tested the top code quality tools for small JavaScript teams on a budget. ESLint and Prettier are free and essential; DeepSource and SonarCloud add powerful automated analysis without breaking the bank. Here's our stack.
The industry-standard, free, and highly customizable linter for JavaScript. Catches bugs and enforces style before code reaches review.
Essential free companion to ESLint for consistent code formatting across teams. Eliminates style debates in code review.
Automates code reviews and fixes with a generous free tier for small teams. Catches issues ESLint and Prettier miss.
Small JavaScript teams face a familiar tension: you want rigorous code quality — linting, formatting, static analysis — but you don't have the budget of an enterprise. The good news? You can build a complete quality pipeline for under $100/month. In fact, most of it is free.
We tested four tools that together cover the full spectrum: local linting, automated formatting, and cloud-based static analysis. Here's the stack that the things actually worth buying for a lean JS team.
ESLint is the undisputed standard for static analysis in JavaScript.1 It catches bugs, enforces style conventions, and flags anti-patterns before they hit production. It's open-source, free, and deeply customizable via a plugin ecosystem.
Why it wins: ESLint runs locally, integrates with every editor and CI pipeline, and its rule set is configurable down to the individual rule level. For a small team, that means you can adopt it incrementally — start with the recommended config, then tighten rules as your codebase matures.
Pricing: Free (open-source).
If ESLint catches what's wrong, Prettier eliminates the debate over how it looks. Prettier is an opinionated code formatter that parses your JavaScript (and TypeScript, CSS, JSON, and more) and reprints it with consistent rules.2
Why it wins: Prettier integrates seamlessly with ESLint via eslint-config-prettier, which disables ESLint rules that conflict with Prettier's formatting. Together, they form a local-first quality layer that costs nothing and saves hours of code review bike-shedding.
Pricing: Free (open-source).
DeepSource takes code quality beyond the local machine. It runs static analysis on every pull request, automatically suggesting — and in some cases, directly applying — fixes for issues like bug risks, anti-patterns, and security vulnerabilities.3
Why it wins: DeepSource's free tier is generous enough for small teams: you get automated analysis for public and private repos, with a dashboard that tracks quality trends over time. It supports JavaScript and TypeScript natively, and its autofix feature is genuinely useful for reducing noise in PRs.
Pricing: Free for small teams (up to a certain number of repos/contributors); paid plans start at $12/month for additional features.
SonarCloud brings the power of SonarQube's analysis engine to the cloud, providing deep inspection for bugs, vulnerabilities, code smells, and technical debt.4 It's the most thorough tool in this lineup.
Why it wins: SonarCloud offers a free tier for public repositories, and private project pricing starts at around €30/month — well under $100. Its quality gates and detailed issue categorization make it ideal for teams that want a single source of truth for code health.
Pricing: Free for open-source; paid plans from ~€30/month.
The four tools above fall into two camps:
The best setup uses both. Let ESLint and Prettier handle the fast, local loop; let DeepSource or SonarCloud handle the deeper, automated review layer. You don't need both cloud tools — pick the one whose interface and pricing fit your team.
A linter catches errors and enforces rules. A formatter eliminates style debates. A static analysis platform catches what the linter misses — security issues, performance anti-patterns, and architectural smells. Together, they form a defense-in-depth approach to code quality.
For a small JavaScript team, the total cost is $0 to ~$42/month — DeepSource's paid tier or SonarCloud's entry plan, plus zero for ESLint and Prettier. That's a fraction of what enterprise tools cost, and it covers the full quality pipeline.
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| Pick | Price | |
|---|---|---|
ESLint ▶ Pick | — | Check price ↗ |
Prettier also good | — | Check price ↗ |
DeepSource also good | — | Check price ↗ |
SonarCloud also good | — | Check price ↗ |
Want a follow-up the article didn't answer? Ask the engine — it carries the article's context.
Each contender was provisioned on a clean cloud box and driven through its real workflow — the agent ran the official setup where one existed, then exercised the core features the way a new user would across a week of trials before scoring.
