Acrididae are the predominant family of grasshoppers, comprising some 10,000 of the 11,000 species of the entire suborder Caelifera. The Acrididae are best known because all locusts (swarming grasshoppers) are of the Acrididae. The subfamily Oedipodinae is sometimes classified as a distinct family Oedipodidae in the superfamily Acridoidea. Acrididae grasshoppers are characterized by relatively short and stout antennae (so they may be called "short-horned grasshoppers"), and tympana on the side of the first abdominal segment.

The Orthoptera Species File (September 2021) lists the following subfamilies of Acrididae. The numbers of genera and species are approximate and may change over time.