JMESPath vs JSONPath

Key differences between JMESPath and JSONPath, plus side-by-side examples so you can choose the right query language for your project.

Feature comparison

Feature	JMESPath	JSONPath
Standardization	JMESPath (spec + test suite)	No formal standard
Prefix	No $ prefix	$ root prefix required
Functions	20+ built-in functions	No built-in functions
Projections	Array + object projections	Array projections only
Filters	Boolean filters with expressions	Filters vary by implementation
AWS CLI	Native support	Not supported
Learning curve	Moderate, function-rich	Simple for path traversal

Select all book titles

JMESPath

store.book[].title

JSONPath

$.store.book[*].title

Filter price < 10

JMESPath

store.book[?price < `10`].title

JSONPath

$.store.book[?(@.price < 10)].title

Project fields

JMESPath

store.book[].{Title: title, Author: author}

JSONPath

$.store.book[*].["title","author"]

Count items

JMESPath

length(store.book)

JSONPath

$.store.book.length()

Sort by price

JMESPath

sort_by(store.book, &price)[].title

JSONPath

No built-in sort (needs client code)

Use JMESPath for AWS CLI, Ansible, Azure CLI, or when you need functions like sort_by, length, join.
Use JSONPath when you only need path traversal and your runtime already supports it.
Interoperate: fetch data with JSONPath, reshape with JMESPath, and export with our CSV converter.