The best ast-grep alternatives

3 tools that do a similar job to ast-grep, 3 of them open source. Each entry says what it does and who it suits, so you can pick the one that fits instead of the most famous.

You're replacing

ast-grep

A command-line tool that searches, lints, and rewrites code by its syntax structure, not plain text.

1. 1

   jscodeshift

   Open source · MIT · ★ 10k

   A toolkit for running automated code-rewriting scripts (codemods) across many JavaScript or TypeScript files.

   Best for: Engineers migrating a large JavaScript or TypeScript codebase to a new API or syntax; Teams that need the same mechanical refactor applied consistently across many files

   Full review ast-grep vs jscodeshift
2. 2

   Ruff

   Open source · MIT · ★ 50.4k

   A very fast Python linter and code formatter, written in Rust.

   Best for: Python developers who want one tool for linting and formatting; Teams with large Python codebases where slow checks are a problem

   Full review ast-grep vs Ruff
3. 3

   broot

   Open source · MIT · ★ 13.1k

   A terminal tool to browse, search, and manage directory trees without losing the overview.

   Best for: Developers who work in a terminal and often jump between project folders; People with large directories who find the tree command produces too much output

   Full review ast-grep vs broot

How we pick: tools in the same category that solve the same problem, projects that name each other as alternatives, and open-source projects that describe themselves as an alternative to ast-grep. We don't take payment for placement.