compare
hl vs tailspin
The same facts for both, read from GitHub every night, and the relation a person reviewed.
| Fact | hl | tailspin |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Rust | Rust |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Stars | 3.3k | 8k |
| Latest | v0.36.3 | 7.0.0 |
| Last push | 2026-10-19 | 2026-10-19 |
| Release cadence | about 31 days between releases | about 72 days between releases |
| Active contributors | 2 commit authors on the default branch in the last 90 days | 1 commit author on the default branch in the last 90 days |
| Flags | none | none |
How they relate
Both replace lnav. Alternatives to lnav →
PartialhlViewer that turns JSON and logfmt logs into readable lines, with filtering and no SQL.
PartialtailspinHighlights log files in the terminal, without filtering or SQL queries.
hl
- v0.36.32026-06-12Detect file replacement via atomic rename on macOS by @pamburus in #1446
- v0.36.22026-05-18Remove --mouse from default less arguments by @pamburus in #1434
- v0.36.12026-04-11Parse ISO 8601 timestamps with T separator and no timezone by @ForsakenHarmony in #1359
- v0.36.02026-02-28Configurable pager selection with condition-based profiles by @pamburus in #1345
- v0.35.42026-02-27Resolve hang when using --follow with --input-format json by @ in #1346
tailspin
- 7.0.02026-07-14This release marks almost four years since the first version of tailspin. Since then, there have been many changes and
- 6.1.02026-05-14--extras jvm-stack-trace highlights JVM stack traces (Java, Kotlin, Scala, etc.)
- 6.0.02026-04-06Highlight HEAD, CONNECT, and OPTIONS HTTP methods by default (#261, thanks @g0l4!)
- 5.5.02025-08-30Fixed a bug where the IPv6 highlighter would swallow parts of a matched, but invalid IPv6 address
- 5.4.52025-06-08Fixed a bug where newlines were filtered away when reading from stdin
hl
unsigned The latest release, v0.36.3, carries no signature GitHub could verify.
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tailspin
unsigned The latest release, 7.0.0, carries no signature GitHub could verify.
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