Atom vs. PyCharm

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Atom
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Atom is a free and open source text editor offering a range of packages and themes.N/A
PyCharm
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
According to the vendor, PyCharm is an extensive Integrated Development Environment (IDE) specifically designed for Python developers. Its arsenal includes intelligent code completion, error detection, and rapid problem-solving features, all of which aim to bolster efficiency. The product endeavors to support programmers in composing orderly and easily maintainable code by offering PEP8 checks, testing assistance, intelligent refactorings, and inspections. Moreover, it caters to web…
$9.90
per month per user
Pricing
AtomPyCharm
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
For Individuals
$99
per year per user
All Products Pack for Organizations
$249
per year per user
All Products Pack for Individuals
$289
per year per user
For Organizations
$779
per year per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AtomPyCharm
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AtomPyCharm
Considered Both Products
Atom
Chose Atom
Atom supports multiple programming languages with debugging options. Other IDEs also have these features but speed matters. I sometimes feel negative about plugins in Atom but all else is good. PyCharm is very heavy as compared to others. VSCode and Sublime are good.
Chose Atom
Compared to its major competitors, Atom is an IDE that does not run code but on the other hand it is also the one which allows multiple programming languages to exist at the same time, which make certain types of coding such as object-oriented programming much easier than any …
Chose Atom
Atom is the tool that does not run any code but at the same time, it is also the tool that allows you to write different codes. Even though you cannot use Atom on the cloud, but since it is using pure python, it is still preferred.
Chose Atom
We needed an opensource program to tailor it to our needs. It was also stable enough to handle small to medium projects. It had one of the best built-in GIT integration. It has a clean UI. The simplicity of Atom is why we use it to train new members.
PyCharm
Chose PyCharm
PyCharm is the only Python IDE I've used - all my prior experience was with text editors like Sublime, Notepad++, Atom, etc. The only other IDE I've used is RStudio, which has been fairly limited to small, individual projects. PyCharm's capabilities, stability, …
Chose PyCharm
PyCharm provided a more focused environment where it was much clearer how the different components of software development workflow came together. I have much more limited experience with Visual Studio Code and Atom, but found those environments to be more confusing, as they …
Chose PyCharm
PyCharm for now is the best IDE for Python developers but VS code is quickly catching up.
Chose PyCharm
Simply one of the best IDE's of our time. It has a lot of features, a big user base, and a professional developer team behind it. It simply surpasses most of its competitors, as there are not too many Python-specialized IDEs anyway.
Chose PyCharm
I've used IntelliJ with Python extensions in past for working in Python but it's not best suited for that it doesn't give all the flexibility for Python projects like auto-indentation for Python code. Its paid version is a bit cheaper than IntelliJ. PyCharm offers integration …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
AtomPyCharm
Small Businesses
BBEdit
BBEdit
Score 8.2 out of 10
IntelliJ IDEA
IntelliJ IDEA
Score 9.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Vim
Vim
Score 9.7 out of 10
IntelliJ IDEA
IntelliJ IDEA
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Vim
Vim
Score 9.7 out of 10
IntelliJ IDEA
IntelliJ IDEA
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AtomPyCharm
Likelihood to Recommend
7.2
(31 ratings)
7.9
(38 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.6
(13 ratings)
8.3
(13 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AtomPyCharm
Likelihood to Recommend
Open Source
Atom is great for simple HTML coding. It's fast, has intuitive shortcuts and several options. I particularly love the "convert spaces to tabs" function that I haven't seen in other editors.
I'm not sure how it would fair in more serious web development today, if there are plugins for live updates of the page you are working on...
But the problem is that it has been discontinued so you know there are no new features or fixes coming through.
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JetBrains
It's easy to create virtual environments and install packages for different projects as we may need project-specific packages for doing our experiments, also it's easy to see what changes we have made and create pull requests faster. But sometimes we want some light python editor like Jupiter notebook as PyCharm is relatively heavier, also Jupiter notebooks are a good option when we need to run remote code on local machines.
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Pros
Open Source
  • Atom is highly customizable and allows for various themes and extensions that can make your code easier to read.
  • Atom has many code hinting features that allow users to write faster and integrate with services likeLINT that can clean up your code once your done to meet your internal teams style choices.
  • It's very fast and manages projects well - Accessing other files within a related folder(s) is very easy and intuitive.
  • It's free!
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JetBrains
  • Git integration is really essential as it allows anyone to visually see the local and remote changes, compare revisions without the need for complex commands.
  • Complex debugging tools are basked into the IDE. Controls like break on exception are sometimes very helpful to identify errors quickly.
  • Multiple runtimes - Python, Flask, Django, Docker are native the to IDE. This makes development and debugging and even more seamless.
  • Integrates with Jupyter and Markdown files as well. Side by side rendering and editing makes it simple to develop such files.
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Cons
Open Source
  • There should be a better user tips manual page to learn keyboard shortcuts
  • It would also be beneficial if mathematical and data analytic tools were added
  • it has quite high start-up timing when you open large projects to work on it
  • Sometimes, atom closed suddenly and do not open again
  • It still lacks better options with the previews even though there are already some by users adding plugins
  • It doesn't have self-correct features for lint errors, unlike IntelliJ
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JetBrains
  • The biggest complaint I have about PyCharm is that it can use a lot of RAM which slows down the computer / IDE. I use the paid version, and have otherwise found nothing to complain about the interface, utility, and capabilities.
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Likelihood to Renew
Open Source
Well Atom is open source so the re-new is a no brainer. The only way I would stop using Atom is if the developers somehow made it not function well. Or, if the project got forked to a commercial version or something. Or, there could be the case that development stops or that it was not updated on this or that platform
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JetBrains
It's perfect for our needs, cuts development time, is really helpful for newbies to understand projects structure
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Usability
Open Source
I give Atom a 9 because it is one of the most modern text editors built with JavaScript intentionally to allow the editor to be changed and modified with custom functionality that a team may need. I think I would otherwise give atom an 8 due to support, but it gets a 9/10 because of the extensibility/plugin capability.
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JetBrains
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Open Source
Atom has an active forum and a Slack group where you can ask technical questions. Occasionally, the authors will pop in to answer a few questions here and there, but most of the time, its other helpful users who will assist you. Though they aren't the most knowledgeable, they are at least timely.
As for plugin support, that differs with each plugin, but as I mentioned before, many plugins are no longer maintained.
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JetBrains
I rate 10/10 because I have never needed a direct customer support from the JetBrains so far. Whenever and for whatever kind of problems I came across, I have been able to resolve it within the internet community, simply by Googling because turns out most of the time, it was me who lacked the proper information to use the IDE or simply make the proper configuration. I have never came across a bug in PyCharm either so it deserves 10/10 for overall support
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Implementation Rating
Open Source
Just download and install
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JetBrains
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Open Source
Our company likes to keep things open, and we don't want to prevent developers from customizing their environment the way they want. Atom seemed to be a lot more open than our existing tools and has good community support on pretty much any programming language. This can create some confusion since adding too many extensions or customizing can make the tool slower than it is supposed to be.
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JetBrains
PyCharm is the best IDE for python development. PyCharm offers various features: source code completion, support for unit testing, integration with Docker/GitLab/Git, ability to manage and configure virtual environments, auto-indentation, and re-factoring code with ease. Support for JSON/Shell scripts and support for Flask/Django Other tools are effective for creating isolated scripts but not for handling projects with more than two scripts.
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Return on Investment
Open Source
  • The tool we use when we need quick fixes. Allows fast, reliable scripting to fix urgent problems in our applications.
  • When applications grow from 5-10 files to 100's, they need to be migrated to a heavier-duty IDE. This can be cumbersome and quite annoying, but is necessary to maintain code integrity on such a large scale (since it cannot be done with the limited default toolset of Atom).
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JetBrains
  • Buying the licensed pro version is a bit costly, but overall because of its features and its speed, the time taken by a developer to develop something can be improved. Indirectly getting a good return of Investment.
  • Considering the team size and its features, one can go for the licensed version as the ROI is high.
  • Customer support is also good for a licensed version, thereby saving the time, which in turn shows ROI as high.
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ScreenShots