CodeRifts vs Spectral
| Capability | CodeRifts | Spectral |
|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | Full API governance | API design linting |
| Setup | One-click GitHub App | CLI install + ruleset file |
| API design linting | Built-in rules | Highly customizable rulesets |
| Custom linting rules | Via .coderifts.yml |
Full JS/TS custom functions |
| Breaking change detection | Yes | No (lint only) |
| Change intent classification | Structural / Behavioral / Security / Performance tags | No |
| Detection confidence scoring | High / Medium / Low | No |
| Risk scoring (0–100) | 4-dimension model | No |
| Policy enforcement | Budgets, freeze, approvals | No |
| Security analysis | Yes | No |
| Governance health score | Yes | No |
| Generator-aware risk | Yes | No |
| PR comment report | 20+ sections | Via CI integration |
| AsyncAPI support | Not yet | Yes |
| OpenAPI 3.0 / 3.1 | Yes | Yes |
| CLI tool | npm | npm |
| REST API | Yes | No |
| Pricing | Free + Pro $49/mo | Free (Apache-2.0) |
Key difference#
Spectral answers: "Does this spec follow our design standards?" — it validates a single spec against a ruleset. CodeRifts answers: "What changed between the old and new spec, how risky is it, and should we allow it?" — it compares two versions and provides governance. Many teams use both: Spectral for design-time linting, CodeRifts for merge-time governance.
When to choose Spectral#
- You need deeply customizable linting rules written in JavaScript or TypeScript
- You work with AsyncAPI specs and need linting support for event-driven APIs
- You only need design-time validation, not merge-time breaking change detection
- You want a free, self-hosted tool with no vendor dependency
When to choose CodeRifts#
- You need breaking change detection, not just linting — Spectral does not diff specs
- You want risk scoring and policy enforcement to prevent high-risk changes from merging
- You want a zero-config GitHub App instead of maintaining CI pipelines and ruleset files
- You need security analysis, migration cost estimation, and governance health scoring
- You want both linting and governance in a single tool