| Tool | Best for | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| JSON formatter | Readability, cleanup, copy-paste debugging | Pretty-prints or minifies JSON that is already valid. |
| JSON validator | Correctness, parseability, error checking | Checks whether the JSON can be parsed and surfaces syntax problems. |
Typical sequence
If a payload is failing in an API request or config file, validate first. Once it is valid, format it to make manual inspection easier.
Validate JSON and then format the cleaned payload.