Tree view and JSON Path; JSON only, data goes to its servers.
On this page
Scores
Updated
Out of 5, from what each tool does. The reasons are in the reviews below.
Tool
Privacy
Features
Price
Aarrange
5
4
5
CodeBeautify
1
4
5
JSONFormatter.org
1
3
5
Three tools, one purpose
CodeBeautify, JSONFormatter.org and Aarrange all do the same job: format, validate and convert structured data. Most developers use tools like these many times a week. Paste in an API response to make it readable, check a config file before deploying, convert JSON to YAML.
They are not built the same way, though. The biggest difference is architecture, not features. CodeBeautify and JSONFormatter.org send your data to their servers. Aarrange does the work in your browser, and what you paste is never sent anywhere. That difference became much harder to ignore after November 2025.
November 2025: saved snippets exposedOn 25 November 2025, watchTowr Labs reported that JSONFormatter.org and CodeBeautify exposed content that users had stored with the sites' Save button. Both sites list saved items on a public Recent Links page, and the researchers collected more than 80,000 saved submissions, over 5 GB of data, covering about five years of JSONFormatter.org and one year of CodeBeautify. The saved data included Active Directory credentials, database and cloud credentials, code repository keys, private keys, CI/CD credentials, payment gateway credentials and personal data. The researchers did not describe it as a hack: the content was reachable through the sites' own features. If you ever saved anything containing secrets on either site, rotate those secrets.
We tested all three tools on features, language support, editor quality, privacy and speed, using real payloads from small configs up to API responses of more than 50,000 lines.
Nine formats and a tree view; no diff or JSON Path
Price
Free, no ads, no limits
Pros
Every tool runs in your browser, so what you paste never leaves your machine
23 free tools in one place: formatters for JSON, SQL, HTML, CSS, YAML, TOML, XML, CSV and Markdown, plus converters
JSON Schema validation with Ajv (drafts 07, 2019-09 and 2020-12), and it can generate a schema or a sample
The JSON Validator gives the exact error line and column with a hint on how to fix it, and has a tree view
No account, no usage limits, no ads
Fast CodeMirror 6 editor
Cons
Newer site with a much smaller community than the other two
No diff tool, no JSON Path evaluator and no JavaScript formatter
No JSON to CSV conversion
No dark mode or themes
Aarrange runs entirely in your browser. What you paste is not sent to a server, and the only thing the site measures is anonymous page views through Vercel Analytics. After the November 2025 exposure of saved snippets on CodeBeautify and JSONFormatter.org, that matters more than it used to.
It covers more formats than either competitor: JSON, SQL, HTML, CSS, YAML, TOML, XML, CSV and Markdown, across 23 free tools. The JSON Validator points to the exact line and column of an error with a fix hint, formats, minifies, sorts keys and shows the data as a tree. The JSON Schema Validator uses Ajv and supports drafts 07, 2019-09 and 2020-12. The CodeMirror 6 editor holds up well with large files.
It is still a small site. It has no diff tool, no JSON Path, no dark mode and no JavaScript formatter. But if you regularly paste API keys, internal configs or customer records into a formatter, Aarrange is the only option here that keeps that data on your machine.
02
CodeBeautify
Most tools of the three; your data goes to its servers.
Large collection of 50+ formatting and conversion tools
Supports many languages: JSON, XML, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL, YAML and more
Built-in diff viewer and data converters
Well-known brand with years of search presence
Cons
Data is sent to their servers for processing
Saved snippets were publicly listed and collected by researchers in November 2025
Heavy ad load that slows page rendering and clutters the interface
Outdated editor, without the features of CodeMirror 6 or Monaco
No offline use
CodeBeautify has more than 50 tools, covering JSON formatting, image conversion and plenty in between. For years it was a reliable bookmark for quick formatting jobs.
That reputation took a hit in November 2025, when watchTowr Labs showed that content saved with CodeBeautify's Save button was listed on a public Recent Links page. Their haul covered about a year of CodeBeautify submissions, alongside five years from JSONFormatter.org, and included credentials and private keys. Because CodeBeautify works on its servers, your data leaves your machine every time you use it.
Apart from that, the site carries heavy advertising that slows the interface noticeably, and the editor feels outdated next to tools built on CodeMirror 6 or Monaco. If you ever saved anything containing secrets on CodeBeautify, rotate those credentials.
03
JSONFormatter.org
Tree view and JSON Path; JSON only, data goes to its servers.
Built-in tree view for exploring nested structures
JSON Path evaluator for querying data
Conversion to XML, CSV and YAML
Cons
Data is sent to their servers for processing
Saved snippets from about five years were publicly listed and collected by researchers in November 2025
JSON only, with no support for SQL, HTML, CSS or other languages
Ad-heavy interface with frequent pop-ups
Slower with large files than tools that work in the browser
No offline use
JSONFormatter.org gets a lot of traffic, mostly from years of search momentum and a clean, focused interface. It handles JSON formatting, validation, tree viewing, a JSON Path evaluator and conversion to XML, CSV and YAML.
The problem is the same one CodeBeautify has: your data goes to their servers. In November 2025, watchTowr Labs reported that about five years of content saved on JSONFormatter.org was reachable through its public Recent Links page, including passwords, API keys and private keys.
It only supports JSON, so if you also work with SQL, HTML, CSS or YAML you need another tool. The ads are heavy and the editor lacks keyboard shortcuts. For throwaway, non-sensitive JSON it still works fine. For production data, it is too risky.
Search interest
How often people search Google for each tool by name, month by month over five years. It shows which names people know, not how many people use the tool.
Source: Google Trends, worldwide web search, Oct 2021 to Oct 2026 (Oct 2026 is a part month). This is search interest, not visits: 100 is the busiest month of any name in this chart, and the table shows averages. Fetched 2026-10-14.
Full feature comparison
Feature
Aarrange
CodeBeautify
JSONFormatter.org
Core features
Format / beautify
Yes
Yes
Yes
Validate
Yes
Yes
Yes
Minify
Yes
Yes
Yes
Tree view
Yes
Partly
Yes
Diff / compare
No
Yes
No
JSON Schema validation
Yes
No
No
JSON Path evaluator
No
No
Yes
Language support
JSON
Yes
Yes
Yes
SQL
Yes
Yes
No
HTML
Yes
Yes
No
CSS
Yes
Yes
No
JavaScript
No
Yes
No
YAML
Yes
Yes
No
TOML
Yes
No
No
XML
Yes
Yes
No
CSV
Yes
Yes
No
Markdown
Yes
No
No
Conversion
JSON to YAML
Yes
Yes
Yes
JSON to XML
Yes
Yes
Yes
JSON to CSV
No
Yes
Yes
YAML to JSON
Yes
Yes
No
XML to JSON
Yes
Yes
No
CSV to JSON
Yes
Yes
No
Editor features
Syntax highlighting
Yes
Partly
Partly
Dark mode
No
No
No
Customizable themes
No
No
No
Keyboard shortcuts
Yes
Partly
No
Line numbers
Yes
Yes
Yes
Code folding
No
Partly
No
Error highlighting
Yes
Partly
Partly
Auto-indentation
Yes
Partly
No
Privacy and security
Processing in the browser
Yes
No
No
No data sent to a server
Yes
No
No
Works offline
Partly
No
No
No account required
Yes
Yes
Yes
No reported exposure of user data
Yes
No
No
Ad-free interface
Yes
No
No
Performance
Large files (10 MB+)
Yes
Partly
Partly
Instant formatting (no server round trip)
Yes
No
No
Mobile responsive
Yes
Partly
Partly
No ads slowing page load
Yes
No
No
The privacy question
Before November 2025, privacy in a formatting tool felt like a nice extra. After the watchTowr findings, it became a practical concern. Here is how the three tools differ.
In the browser: AarrangeAarrange does all the work in your browser with JavaScript. What you paste is not sent over the network. You can check this in the Network tab of your browser's DevTools: the only outbound request is anonymous page-view analytics, never your input. Even if Aarrange's servers were compromised, your data would be safe, because it was never sent there.
On the server: CodeBeautifyCodeBeautify sends your data to its servers. In November 2025, watchTowr Labs showed that snippets saved there were listed on a public Recent Links page, and found credentials and private keys among them. Whatever the site changes afterwards, the basic risk stays: your data leaves your machine and lands on infrastructure you do not control.
On the server: JSONFormatter.orgJSONFormatter.org also processes data on its servers. It was part of the same watchTowr findings, with about five years of saved snippets reachable through Recent Links, including production credentials and private keys. As long as data goes to a server, a future mistake or compromise can expose it again.
If you work with production data, internal APIs or anything that might contain secrets, processing in the browser removes a whole category of risk. The November 2025 findings showed that even well-known tools can expose what users give them. When the data stays in the browser, there is nothing on the server to expose.
Performance and speed
We tested formatting speed with a 5 MB JSON file (about 100,000 lines) in all three tools.
Aarrange formatted the file in under 2 seconds. The work happens locally in your browser, so there is no network latency. The CodeMirror 6 editor handles large files without freezing, and syntax highlighting stays responsive while you edit.
CodeBeautify took about 6 to 8 seconds with the same file. The delay includes uploading the data to their server, processing it and returning the result. With large files, the upload alone can take several seconds on a slow connection. The editor also struggles with files above 10 MB and gets sluggish when scrolling and editing.
JSONFormatter.org showed similar delays of 5 to 9 seconds, with the same server round trip. The tree view is useful for small files but becomes unusable above 50,000 lines because of the amount of DOM it renders. The editor has no code folding or keyboard shortcuts, which makes large files tedious to navigate.
The gap grows with file size and with slower connections. A tool that works in the browser does not depend on the network: your speed depends only on your device, which in practice is almost always faster than a server round trip.
Our verdict
Aarrange comes out ahead in this comparison. It matches CodeBeautify and JSONFormatter.org on core features, adds JSON Schema validation and a tree view, supports more formats than either, and runs on a modern CodeMirror 6 editor.
Privacy is the biggest difference. After the November 2025 findings showed that saved snippets on both CodeBeautify and JSONFormatter.org were publicly reachable, sending data to a server carries real, proven risk. Aarrange does everything in your browser. Your data never leaves your machine: no server logs, no stored requests, nothing to expose.
CodeBeautify still has value if you need its 50+ tools or a diff viewer, and JSONFormatter.org's JSON Path evaluator is useful for querying data. But neither should get sensitive data. Pasting API keys, database credentials or internal configs into a server-side formatter is a risk the 2025 findings already proved real.
If data security matters to you, Aarrange is a good default: free, fast, private, and it covers the formats you are most likely to need.
FAQ
Were CodeBeautify and JSONFormatter.org hacked in 2025?
Not according to the researchers. In November 2025, watchTowr Labs reported that content users had saved with the Save button was listed on the sites' public Recent Links pages. They collected more than 80,000 saved submissions, including credentials and private keys. The exposure came from the sites' own features, not from a break-in.
What should I do if I saved secrets on CodeBeautify or JSONFormatter.org?
Treat them as exposed and rotate them: API keys, passwords, database credentials, private keys and tokens. The research covered about five years of JSONFormatter.org and one year of CodeBeautify.
Does Aarrange send my data to a server?
No. All 17 Aarrange tools run in your browser, and what you paste is never sent anywhere. The site only counts anonymous page views with Vercel Analytics. There is no sign-up and there are no ads.
Which of the three supports the most languages?
Aarrange formats JSON, SQL, HTML, CSS, YAML, TOML, XML, CSV and Markdown. CodeBeautify covers many of the same plus JavaScript, but not TOML or Markdown. JSONFormatter.org handles JSON only.
Which tool has a tree view?
JSONFormatter.org and Aarrange both have one; Aarrange's is the Tree tab in the JSON Validator. CodeBeautify has partial support through its viewers. In our tests, JSONFormatter.org's tree view became unusable above about 50,000 lines.
What can CodeBeautify or JSONFormatter.org do that Aarrange cannot?
CodeBeautify has a diff tool, a JavaScript formatter and more than 50 tools in total. JSONFormatter.org has a JSON Path evaluator. Both convert JSON to CSV, which Aarrange does not.
Aarrange
CodeBeautify
JSONFormatter.org
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