Android Studio vs. IntelliJ IDEA

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Android Studio
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
Android Studio is an official Android development integrated development environment (IDE) for mobile application development in the Android operating system developed by Google. Android Studio is based on Jetbrains'N/A
IntelliJ IDEA
Score 9.4 out of 10
N/A
IntelliJ IDEA is an IDE that aims to give Java and Kotlin developers everything they need out of the box, including a smart code editor, built-in developer tools, framework support, database support, web development support, and much more.
$16.90
per month
Pricing
Android StudioIntelliJ IDEA
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
For Individual Use
$16.90
per month
All Products Pack (For Individual Use)
$28.90
per month
For Organizations
$59.90
per month
All Products Pack (For Organizations)
$77.90
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Android StudioIntelliJ IDEA
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsYearly subscriptions: For Individual Use – $169 /1st year, $ 135 /2nd year and $ 101 /3d year onwards For Organizations – $599 /1st year, $479 /2nd year and $ 359 /3rd year onwards All Products Pack (For Individual Use) – $289 /1st year, $ 231 /2nd year and $ 173 /3d year onwards All Products Pack (For Organizations) – $799 /1st year, $623 /2nd year and $ 467 /3rd year onwards
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Android StudioIntelliJ IDEA
Considered Both Products
Android Studio
Chose Android Studio
I am primarily a Java developer so many of the IDEs I have used are specifically made for Java development. I have used IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse, and NetBeans for Java development but Android Studio is far better for Android development specifically and it also has support for …
Chose Android Studio
Android application development can also be done using the IntelliJ IDE. It is a very good IDE but it is paid for professional and commercial product development. However, IntelliJ IDE is available with a student license for limited application development features. Thus …
IntelliJ IDEA
Chose IntelliJ IDEA
They are memory friendly. The boot-up really fast as compared to IntelliJ IDE. Open-source and freely available to use is one of the major reasons if someone can switch from IntelliJ. Vast community support is available in case of any issue. They occupy less space as compared …
Top Pros
Top Cons
TrustRadius Insights
Android StudioIntelliJ IDEA
Highlights

TrustRadius
Research Team Insight
Published

Android Studio and IntelliJ IDEA are both development tools designed to help development teams create applications with ease. Android Studio is actually based on IntelliJ IDEA, but specializes in developing for the Android platform.  In contrast, IntelliJ IDEA is a more generalist IDE that helps developers create code for any platform.  Both are popular with businesses of all sizes, depending on the use case of the organization.

Features

Both Android Studio and IntelliJ IDEA can be used to develop new applications, but they have a few standout features that set them apart from each other.

Android Studio is a specialized mobile app development tool for the Android platform.  In addition to offering basic IDE features, Android Studio provides features that make it easier to interact with mobile functions such as push notifications, or integrations with cameras.  Businesses using Android Studio are able to easily create and publish Android applications.

IntelliJ IDEA is a generalist IDE with plugins for specific platforms.  For example, a user creating an Android application may use the Android plugin for IntelliJ IDEA.  The generalist approach of IntelliJ IDEA allows businesses to use it to develop for multiple platforms, using plugins to select what specialized features they need.

Limitations

Though Android Studio and IntelliJ IDEA have many surface level similarities, they also have some limitations that are important to consider.

Android Studio is built for Android application development, so it has great tools for that platform, but no special features for other platforms.  This makes Android Studio a poor choice for businesses that want to develop for other platforms.  Android Studio may still be a good complementary choice to another IDE for businesses that develop Android applications among other things.

IntelliJ IDEA supports development for multiple platforms, but is missing some of the specialized features included in Android Studio, such as APK support.  Android Studio may be a better choice for businesses that develop primarily Android Applications.  It is worth noting that Android Studio is based on IntelliJ IDEA, so for businesses that develop for multiple platforms, IntelliJ IDEA still offers some support for Android development in addition to other platforms.

Pricing

Android Studio is a free to use development tool.  In contrast, IntelliJ IDEA starts at $499.00 per year with a discount for each year beyond the first.  

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Android StudioIntelliJ IDEA
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Medium-sized Companies
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User Ratings
Android StudioIntelliJ IDEA
Likelihood to Recommend
8.6
(14 ratings)
9.5
(59 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.2
(8 ratings)
Support Rating
9.8
(6 ratings)
8.9
(15 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Android StudioIntelliJ IDEA
Likelihood to Recommend
Google
Android Studio is a great mobile development IDE. I have found it is the best for both Android and Flutter development. It is created by JetBrains, so any developer used to their products, such as IntelliJ IDEA, will find themselves right at home with this IDE. It is very intuitive so it is a good choice for people needing to learn an IDE quickly.
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JetBrains
This is a superb tool if your project involves a lot of backend development, especially in Java/Spring Boot and Kotlin. The support for the front end is great as well, but some developers may prefer to use the GitHub copilot add-on. I especially love using the GitHub copilot add-on. It may be less appropriate if your project requires heavy use of HotSwaps for backend debugging, as sometimes the support for that can be limited.
Read full review
Pros
Google
  • Support for developing in either the emulator or a device means I can quickly diagnose platform specific issues
  • The support for Kotlin and Java is stellar, with projects easily containing both types of code with ease
  • Hot reload support means that I can quickly test changes without waiting for a length build and optimization process
  • Excellent cross platform support means I can develop on macOS, Windows, or Linux without losing functionality between platforms
Read full review
JetBrains
  • Unit testing: Fully integrated into IntelliJ IDEA. Your unit tests will run smoothly and efficiently, with excellent debugging tools for when things get tricky.
  • Spring integration: Our Spring project using Maven works flawlessly in IntelliJ IDEA. I know firsthand that Apache is also easily and readily supported too. The integration is seamless and very easy to set up using IntelliJ IDEA's set up wizard when importing new projects.
  • Customization: IntelliJ IDEA comes out of the box with a bunch of handy shortcuts, as well as text prediction, syntax error detection, and other tools to help keep your code clean. But even better is that it allows for total customization of shortcuts you can easily create to suit your needs.
Read full review
Cons
Google
  • Android Studio needs a very high amount of RAM and a high-end processor to run smoothly, which can't be affordable for everyone.
  • Updates in Gradle files can sometimes come up with a hectic improvement in whole code, which can lead us to improve some code and consume precious time.
  • Multitasking is very difficult in Android Studio due to its heavy consumption of resources.
Read full review
JetBrains
  • Finding if a feature exists or not in IntelliJ IDEA can be challenging.
  • For example, if we know how to format a particular file, the command is Ctrl+Alt+Shift+L, but if we don't, then finding it is difficult.
  • Setting up a project interpreter and directory structure might not be intuitive at first.
  • Git integration can be improved. For example, it isn't easy to rebase using UI in IntelliJ IDEA.
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Likelihood to Renew
Google
No answers on this topic
JetBrains
VS Code is maturing and has a Scala plugin now. The overall experience with VS Code - for web development at least - is very snappy/fast. IntelliJ feels a bit sluggish in comparison. If that Scala plugin for VS Code is deemed mature enough - we may not bother renewing and resort to the Community Edition if we need it.
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Usability
Google
No answers on this topic
JetBrains
There is always room for improvement, but I haven't met any IDE that I liked more so far. Even if it did not fit a use case right out of the box, there is always a way to configure how it works to do just that.
Read full review
Support Rating
Google
Overall support for Android Studio is quite good. As the project is maintained by Google itself, frequent updates are usually made to Android Studio to keep the IDE update and bug-free. Many community forums are also available to help developers across the world if they face any issue.
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JetBrains
Customer support is really good in the case of IntelliJ. If you are paying for this product then, the company makes sure that you will get all the services adequately. Regular update patches are provided to improve the IDE. An online bug report makes it easier for the developers to find the solution as fast as possible. The large online community also helps to find the various solutions to the issues.
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Implementation Rating
Google
No answers on this topic
JetBrains
This installs just like any other application - its pretty straight forward. Perhaps licensing could be more challenging - but if you use the cloud licensing they offer its as simple as having engineers login to the application and it just works.
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Alternatives Considered
Google
Android Studio is the best possible offering to make android based apps. It's a product by Google and the official integrated development environment for android app development. That's why it is able to offer the easiest to learn and simplest coding environment to developers. But it needs higher performance and is at times slower as compared to Flutter, etc. So that's the only drawback, but overall it's better than most tools for app development.
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JetBrains
Eclipse is just so old, like a dinosaur, compared to IntelliJ. There are still formats that Eclipse supports better, especially old and/or propriety ones. Still, most of the modern software development needs can be done on IntelliJ, & in a much better way, some of them are not even supported on Eclipse.
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Return on Investment
Google
  • The APPs developed with ANDROID STUDIO take a long time to develop, however this extra expense is compensated by the low rate of claims that our technical service must attend.
  • By working with native code, you do not depend on external library providers and their associated cost.
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JetBrains
  • Easier to find bugs and debugs, thus reducing man hours and generating immediate dollar impact.
  • Coding time is lessened, which in turn again reduces man hours and generates immediate dollar impact.
  • Refactoring code is more innovative and easy here, resulting in more maintainable code.
Read full review
ScreenShots

IntelliJ IDEA Screenshots

Screenshot of IntelliJ IDEA interface overview: the Project tool window (left) outlines the code structure and the Editor (right) is used to read, write, and explore the source code.Screenshot of IntelliJ IDEA analyzing the context. It then suggests the most applicable and relevant code.Screenshot of the Search Everywhere window, where users can search for files, actions, classes, symbols, settings, UI elements, and anything in Git, all from a single entry point.Screenshot of inspections to help find probable bugs and dead code, detect performance issues, and improve the overall code structure by providing quick-fixes for any code that contains potential concerns.Screenshot of IntelliJ IDEA's support for frameworks with dedicated assistance for Jakarta EE, JPA, Reactor, Spring and Spring Boot, and other popular frameworks.Screenshot of the AI Assistant that provides AI-powered features for software development. It can explain code, answer questions about code fragments, provide code suggestions, generate documentation, and commit messages.