JSON Sorter

• Compare two files. Two JSON files with the same data but a different key order look completely different in a diff. Sort both the same way and only the real changes show.
• Cleaner version control. Config and translation files that are always saved sorted give small, readable Git diffs and fewer merge conflicts.
• Find keys faster. In a long object, alphabetical order means you know where to look.
• Stable tests and hashes. Snapshot tests, caches and signatures need the same output every time, whatever order the code built the object in.

Sorting keys never changes the data: the JSON standard treats an object as an unordered set of names and values. List order does matter, so ["first", "second"] is left alone unless you ask to sort it.

1. Paste your JSON or open a file. Mistakes such as trailing commas are pointed out, with a one-click fix.
2. Pick the order: A → Z or Z → A, and case-sensitive, ignore case or natural.
3. Decide about lists. Leave them as they are (the default), sort plain values, or sort lists of objects by a field such as id or name.
4. Copy or download the sorted JSON, indented or minified.

The result updates as you change options. Long numbers keep every digit, and number-like keys such as "10" are sorted like any other key.

Numbers in a list are sorted by value, not as text, so 9 comes before 10. Mixed lists go null, then false/true, then numbers, then text.

# Python: sorts nested objects too
json.dumps(data, sort_keys=True, indent=2)

# Command line, with jq
jq -S . config.json > sorted.json

// JavaScript: sort keys at every level
function sortKeys(value) {
  if (Array.isArray(value)) return value.map(sortKeys);
  if (value && typeof value === "object") {
    return Object.fromEntries(
      Object.keys(value).sort().map((key) => [key, sortKeys(value[key])])
    );
  }
  return value;
}

// Sort a list of objects by a field
items.sort((a, b) => a.id - b.id);                        // numbers
items.sort((a, b) => a.name.localeCompare(b.name));       // text
sorted(items, key=lambda item: item["id"])                # Python

In VS Code, open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P, or Cmd+Shift+P on a Mac) in a JSON file and run JSON: Sort Document. It sorts nested objects too, ignoring case.

Two JavaScript traps:

• [10, 9, 1, 100].sort() gives [1, 10, 100, 9], because it compares numbers as text. Pass (a, b) => a - b.
• Objects always list integer-like keys first. However you sort {"b", "10", "2"}, the object comes out "2", "10", "b". The tool above doesn’t have this problem.