There doesn't seem to be any good documentation or explanation for the difference between SublimeLinter-* and SublimeLinter-contrib-* packages.
What difference, if any, does this naming schema imply?
SublimeLinter-* packages are provided by the same people who made the Sublime Linter package, while SublimeLinter-contrib-* packages are third-party contributions. In other words: all SublimeLinter-* are published at github.com/SublimeLinter, contributed linters by different users.