Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

JSON Server VS FormatJSONOnline

Compare JSON Server VS FormatJSONOnline and see what are their differences

JSON Server logo JSON Server

Get a full fake REST API with zero coding in less than 30 seconds. For front-end developers who need a quick back-end for prototyping and mocking

FormatJSONOnline logo FormatJSONOnline

Easily format, validate, and beautify JSON data with our free online tool. Includes powerful JSON conversion features for seamless data management
  • JSON Server Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-01
  • FormatJSONOnline Home page
    Home page //
    2025-05-22

Format JSON Online is a fast, free, and privacy-focused tool to format, validate, minify, and beautify JSON data directly in your browser. Built for developers and API testers, it offers support for large JSON files without requiring login or sending data to a server. Additional features like JSON-to-CSV, JSON-to-XML, and cURL conversion make it a versatile tool for debugging, transforming, and visualizing JSON. Light ads may be introduced in the future to support development, but user privacy and experience will always be top priorities.

JSON Server features and specs

  • Ease of Setup
    JSON Server can be set up quickly with minimal configuration, making it ideal for prototyping and rapid development. It allows developers to have a fully functioning REST API within minutes.
  • RESTful API
    It provides a standard RESTful API out of the box, allowing developers to perform all CRUD operations. This is helpful for simulating a real-world server while testing client-side applications.
  • Customization
    JSON Server supports middlewares, routes, and custom rules, allowing developers to customize the behavior and structure of the API to better suit their needs.
  • Fakes Backend Data
    It's great for simulating backend responses without needing a real backend setup, useful in front-end development to test components and interactions.
  • Lightweight
    As a lightweight server, it requires fewer resources and is quite simple compared to setting up a full-fledged backend server.

Possible disadvantages of JSON Server

  • Not for Production
    JSON Server is designed for development and testing. It is not suitable for production use due to performance limits and lack of robust security features.
  • Limited Functionality
    While JSON Server is great for basic CRUD operations, it lacks advanced features like authentication, authorization, and complex querying.
  • Data Persistence
    Data is stored in a JSON file, and while this is convenient for testing, it is not suitable for applications that require persistent and scalable data storage.
  • In-memory Limitations
    Being an in-memory server, it may have issues with handling large datasets or complex data structures efficiently.
  • Manual Data Reset
    Any changes made to the JSON file while the server is running require manual resets or reloads to reflect in the API, which can be cumbersome during continuous development cycles.

FormatJSONOnline features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

JSON Server videos

Angular CRUD with Web API Tutorial Part #3 - Setup Local JSON Server and Mock API Endpoints

FormatJSONOnline videos

No FormatJSONOnline videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to JSON Server and FormatJSONOnline)
Development
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
61 61%
39% 39
JSON
0 0%
100% 100
API Tools
100 100%
0% 0

Questions and Answers

As answered by people managing JSON Server and FormatJSONOnline.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

FormatJSONOnline's answer:

FormatJSONOnline is used by developers and teams across companies and institutions, though exact names arenโ€™t tracked due to privacy-first architecture. However, notable daily users include:

Developers from GitHub

Engineers at Microsoft (based on public traffic data)

API testers from Postman community

Students from Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)

Indie hackers and open-source contributors

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

FormatJSONOnline's answer:

React.js (for UI and client-side rendering)

Tailwind CSS (for fast and clean styling)

Next.js (for performance and SEO)

Vercel (for deployment and CDN optimization)

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

FormatJSONOnline's answer:

Unlike many JSON tools that are bloated, ad-heavy, or slow, FormatJSONOnline is:

Blazing fast, even for large (20MB+) files

Privacy-focused, with zero data sent to any server

Minimalist and distraction-free

Mobile and tablet responsive Itโ€™s designed specifically for developers who value performance and simplicity.

What's the story behind your product?

FormatJSONOnline's answer:

The idea came while working on multiple API integrations where formatting large JSON responses quickly became frustrating. Most existing tools either lagged, required uploading sensitive data, or were filled with ads. FormatJSONOnline was built as a clean, fast, and secure alternative that works instantly, with no signup, no tracking, and no BS.

How would you describe your primary audience?

FormatJSONOnline's answer:

The primary audience includes:

Front-end and back-end developers

API testers and engineers

Data analysts and tech leads

Students and hobby coders working with JSON

What makes your product unique?

FormatJSONOnline's answer:

FormatJSONOnline is uniquely optimized for speed, privacy, and simplicity. It processes even large JSON files with minimal delay, works entirely on the client-side (nothing is sent to a server), and offers formatting, validation, minification, and copy-to-clipboard โ€” all in one place with zero tracking or ads.

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, JSON Server seems to be a lot more popular than FormatJSONOnline. While we know about 45 links to JSON Server, we've tracked only 2 mentions of FormatJSONOnline. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

JSON Server mentions (45)

  • Building a CRUD app with React Query, TypeScript, and Axios
    We'll be using json-server to create the REST API that we'll fetch data from. In the root of the project, create a db.json file with the contents. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Full Stack To Do list, a step-by-step tutorial
    Our backend will be little more than a two-way translation layer between the database and the user interface (UI). Later in this post we will identify other responsibilities of a backend but our implementation will be kept simple to demonstrate the fundamental machinery and concepts. It is worth noting the backend comes in two parts, web server and application server. Both json-server and Express are able to... - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • Improve Frontend-Backend development harmony with JSON-Server
    JSON-Server creates fake REST API with a minimum amount of configuration, it provides a simple way to create mock RESTful APIs and easily define the required endpoints, allows easy definition of the data schema in a JSON file and can serve as a reference for each figure in the project. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Dictionary app
    I thought about usingJson Server (hosting the repo with the words on Github to begin with), Googlesheets, or maybe Firestore (i would prefer not to use it ,to avoid extra costs just in case it gets a reasonable amount of users). It isnt a big app so I just want a simple solution for storing the words and fetching them. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Playwright - Not just for Frontend
    First, I didn't create a backend API for this example, but I used a fake API to test. I created it with json-server and json-server-auth. They are two npm packages that use a JSON file as a database and expose the database in an API. You can find more about json-server in its documentation and about json-server-auth here. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
View more

FormatJSONOnline mentions (2)

  • How to Format and Validate JSON in the Browser
    In this guide, you'll learn how to format, validate, and manipulate JSON data in your browser using Format JSON Online, a fast, privacy-first tool for developers. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Essential Resources for Frontend Developers: Links You Canโ€™t Live Without
    This list spans the entire frontend dev lifecycleโ€”learning, coding, designing, testing, and deploying. Tools like Format JSON Online are clutch for handling JSON data, a common task when building API-driven apps. Save these links, and youโ€™ll be ready to tackle any frontend challenge! - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing JSON Server and FormatJSONOnline, you can also consider the following products

JSON Placeholder - JSON Placeholder is a modern platform that provides you online REST API, which you can instantly use whenever you need any fake data.

JSONFormatter.org - Online JSON Formatter and JSON Validator will format JSON data, and helps to validate, convert JSON to XML, JSON to CSV. Save and Share JSON

mocki Fake JSON API - mocki Fake JSON API is an advanced platform that offers you to create API for personal use or testing purposes.

JSONLint - JSON Lint is a web based validator and reformatter for JSON, a lightweight data-interchange format.

Mockae - The most flexible way to mock REST APIs with Lua code execution

JSON Formatter & Validator - The JSON Formatter was created to help with debugging.