JSON vs. YAML: Which One Should You Use?

JSON and YAML are the two heavyweights of data serialization. But when should you use one over the other?

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)

Pros:

• Native to JavaScript and web APIs.
• Strict syntax means fewer parsing ambiguities.
• Faster to parse.

Cons:

• No comments allowed.
• Verbose (lots of braces and quotes).

YAML (YAML Ain't Markup Language)

Pros:

• Human-readable and clean (uses indentation).
• Supports comments.
• Great for configuration files (Kubernetes, GitHub Actions).

Cons:

• Indentation errors can be tricky.
• Slower to parse.

Conclusion

Use JSON for APIs and data interchange. Use YAML for configs. Need to switch? Use our Converter.