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Rainbow (Syntax Highlighting) VS Pygments

Compare Rainbow (Syntax Highlighting) VS Pygments and see what are their differences

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Contents:
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Rainbow (Syntax Highlighting) logo Rainbow (Syntax Highlighting)

Simple syntax highlighting library written in JavaScript.

Pygments logo Pygments

Generic syntax highlighter suitable for use in code hosting, forums, wikis or other applications...
Not present
  • Pygments Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-15

Rainbow (Syntax Highlighting) features and specs

  • Improved Code Readability
    Rainbow enhances code readability by applying distinct colors to different syntax elements, making it easier for developers to parse and understand the code structure quickly.
  • Customization
    Rainbow offers customizable themes, allowing developers to choose or create color schemes that suit their preferences and improve their coding experience.
  • Wide Language Support
    Rainbow supports a broad range of programming languages, making it versatile for developers working in multiple languages or projects.
  • No Dependencies
    The library does not rely on external dependencies, which simplifies integration into projects and reduces potential conflicts or load times.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source library, Rainbow allows developers to contribute to its development or modify it for personal use, promoting a collaborative and flexible environment.

Possible disadvantages of Rainbow (Syntax Highlighting)

  • Limited Customization Options
    While it offers theme customization, Rainbow may have limited configuration options compared to other more feature-rich syntax highlighting tools, particularly for users with specific needs.
  • Performance Overhead
    Similar to other client-side libraries, Rainbow adds some performance overhead, especially noticeable in large files or documents with extensive code snippets.
  • Maintenance and Updates
    Depending on its community and contributors, there might be delays in receiving updates or improvements compared to more actively maintained syntax highlighters.
  • Learning Curve
    For developers unfamiliar with integrating JavaScript libraries, there might be a slight learning curve to effectively implement and customize Rainbow in their projects.
  • Browser Compatibility
    Though a minor issue, there might be variances in how syntax highlighting appears across different web browsers, potentially affecting consistency.

Pygments features and specs

  • Wide Language Support
    Pygments supports a broad range of programming languages and file formats, making it highly versatile for developers working in diverse environments.
  • High-Quality Output
    The library produces highly readable and aesthetically pleasing highlighted code, which is crucial for documentation and presentation.
  • Easy Integration
    Pygments is designed to integrate easily with a variety of web frameworks, content management systems, and text editors.
  • Customization Options
    Users can customize styles, themes, and output formats to meet specific needs, providing flexibility for different aesthetic requirements.
  • Active Community
    A strong, active community contributes to its continuous development and improvement, ensuring it stays updated with the latest languages and features.

Possible disadvantages of Pygments

  • Performance Overhead
    For large codebases or high-frequency requests, using Pygments can introduce performance overhead, potentially slowing down applications.
  • Dependency Management
    As with any library, integrating Pygments means managing its dependencies and ensuring compatibility with other project components.
  • Complexity in Advanced Use
    While basic usage is straightforward, more advanced features and customizations can introduce complexity, requiring a deeper understanding of the library.
  • Limited Built-In Features
    Pygments primarily focuses on syntax highlighting, so additional functionality (like code execution or detailed analysis) has to be handled by other tools or custom development.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Rainbow (Syntax Highlighting) and Pygments)

Rainbow (Syntax Highlighting)

Pygments

App Reviews
49 49%
App Reviews
51% 51
Documentation
26 26%
Documentation
74% 74
Customer Feedback
47 47%
Customer Feedback
53% 53
Marketing Tools
61 61%
Marketing Tools
39% 39

User comments

Share your experience with using Rainbow (Syntax Highlighting) and Pygments. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Pygments seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 10 times since March 2021. 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.

Rainbow (Syntax Highlighting) mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Rainbow (Syntax Highlighting) yet. Tracking of Rainbow (Syntax Highlighting) recommendations started around May 2025.

Pygments mentions (10)

  • Ask HN: Printing Code to Paper?
    Some starter ideas[0] beyond spacing/line numbers. BNF format is used to describe a programming language. treesitter as a text editor plug in makes use of a language BNF description to be able to know how to parse & format a given lanuage in a text editor (aka pygments[1], gnu source code hightlights, [2] neovim with treesitter[3]). Aka searching google "treesitter work with microsoft notepade" --- [0] :... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Marcel the Shell
    I suspect Pygments will be to your liking. https://pygments.org/. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Blog in django
    It's not clear exactly what you want, but if you mean syntax highlighting, you could use pygments https://pygments.org/. Source: over 2 years ago
  • I'm looking for a way to display live changes to a text file with Python
    Https://pygments.org/ - never tried it though. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Markdown, Asciidoc, or reStructuredText - a tale of docs-as-code
    Sphinx is incredibly powerful and can offer a table of contents, automatic links for functions, automatic code highlighting using Pygments, and other capabilities using built-in or third-party extensions. If you'd like to use (a flavor of) Markdown with Sphinx, you can do so using MyST-parser - a Sphinx and Docutils extension to parse MyST. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Rainbow (Syntax Highlighting) and Pygments, you can also consider the following products

highlight.js - Highlight.js is a syntax highlighter written in JavaScript. It works in the browser as well as on the server.

prism.js - Prism is a lightweight, extensible syntax highlighter, built with modern web standards in mind.

Shiki - A beautiful syntax highlighter based on TextMate grammar, accurate and powerful.

Re-Highlight - Re-Highlight is a powerful text syntax highlighting library.

starry-night - This package is an open source version of GitHub’s closed-source PrettyLights project (more on that later).

Speed-highlight JS - A lightweight syntax highlighter written in JavaScript.

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