Developer Builds ClearJSON Extension After Popular JSON Formatter Adds Tracking

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The JSON Formatter Chrome extension, used by over 200,000 developers, drew widespread backlash in mid-2026 after going closed-source and introducing geolocation tracking and donation popups on checkout pages. A developer who relied on JSON tools daily decided to test every major JSON viewer available as a replacement, evaluating options including arnav-kr, PatilWeb, Wes Bos's extension, JsonDiscovery, and Firefox's built-in viewer. Each tool was found to have notable drawbacks, ranging from closed-source code and privacy concerns to poor large-file handling and limited features. Finding no single tool that was fully open-source, privacy-safe, feature-complete, and capable of handling large files, the developer built their own extension called ClearJSON. ClearJSON offers collapsible tree views, syntax highlighting, multiple themes, and a strict no-network-requests policy for free users, with the only external call being Pro license verification.

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