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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    IntelliJ IDEA

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/AIntelliJ 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.

    $19.90

    per month

    Microsoft Visual Studio Code

    Score9.3 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft offers Visual Studio Code, an open source text editor that supports code editing, debugging, IntelliSense syntax highlighting, and other features.

    $0

    Pricing
    IntelliJ IDEAMicrosoft Visual Studio Code
    Editions & Modules
    For Individual Use (Monthly billing)
    $19.90
    per month
    For Organizations (Monthly billing)
    $71.90
    per month
    For Individual Use (Yearly billing)
    $199
    per year
    For Organizations (Yearly billing)
    $719
    per year
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    IntelliJ IDEAMicrosoft Visual Studio Code
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsAll Products Pack (For Individual Use) – $299 /1st year, $ 239 /2nd year and $ 179 /3d year onwards All Products Pack (For Organizations) – $979 / year—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    IntelliJ IDEAMicrosoft Visual Studio Code
    Considered Both Products
    JetBrains
    Chose IntelliJ IDEA
    IntelliJ stacks better against Eclipse or vs code because it provides better code suggestions, out-of-the-box SonarLint integration, and built-in support for version control with git. It also has a vast collection of plugins that can increase developer productivity, reduce …
    Incentivized
    Chose IntelliJ IDEA
    IntelliJ IDEA has several benefits over vs code when it comes to Java applications, including in-built Java compilers, Maven lifecycle support, Lombok preprocessing, and sonar integration. While vs code is largely generic, IntelliJ IDEA has focused primarily on Java …
    Incentivized
    Chose IntelliJ IDEA
    Microsoft Visual Studio Code (VS) requires a lot of textual configuration, where IntelliJ IDEA provides a graphical interface with configuration options displayed. This matters a lot to me as I don't want to hunt around the internet to remember how to set different parameters …
    Incentivized
    Chose IntelliJ IDEA
    Back in the day, there weren't too many PHP IDEs with proper syntax and code checks, but PHPStorm and IDEA worked great. So great that when I needed a Java IDE the next time, I gave it a go and have never looked back since (okay, I did keep checking the competition and …
    Incentivized
    Chose IntelliJ IDEA
    IntelliJ IDEA is the most specific and oriented towards my line of work, however, after using it for years - it's also my preferred IDE that I use for personal projects as well. Jetbrains other IDE offerings are almost as good and I do use them from time to time but IntelliJ …
    Incentivized
    Chose IntelliJ IDEA
    Intellij is faster and smoother. SO it saves development time
    Incentivized
    Chose IntelliJ IDEA
    IntelliJ IDEA is one of the products of JetBrains and it beats every IDE in the market in terms of performance, user experience, and productivity.

    Incentivized
    Chose IntelliJ IDEA
    IntelliJ IDEA includes FTP deployment which is ideal for legacy web applications and simple projects that don't use CI/CD. The outline view which lists methods within a class (ColdFusion component) is the easiest to use out of any other IDE and makes navigating large files a …
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    Chose IntelliJ IDEA
    Since we are primarily a Scala shop, I only evaluated other tools based on their support for Scala. As I hinted at before, Vim and Sublime Text 3 have practically no support for Scala as all the Scala plugins that worked were never finished and abandoned and only work for Scala …
    Incentivized
    Chose IntelliJ IDEA
    IntelliJ surpassed every single competitor. The only viable alternative I still use is VisualStudio Code build in a browser for demo purposes... other than that, IDEA does everything better, faster, and in a more comfy way. This is the best IDE out there. This is just as good …
    Incentivized
    Chose IntelliJ IDEA
    Eclipse is an amazing all-purpose IDE. However, when it comes to developing Java applications, IntelliJ is far better suited.
    Incentivized
    Chose IntelliJ IDEA
    Chosen for its feature of auto-downloading dependencies and intelligent suggestions.
    Incentivized
    Chose IntelliJ IDEA
    IntelliJ IDEA is the best we have found so far for development and querying CRM and databases. We buy licenses for several users to speed up our development and configuration processes. It really accelerates our development and productivity. It is stable and fast and easier to …
    Incentivized
    Chose IntelliJ IDEA
    The main competitors of IntelliJ IDEA in the Java world must be Eclipse and Spring Tools Suite. It performs better than both in code refactoring, code completion and debugging (the features of an IDE) but the plugin support is much better in the other 2 products, since they are …
    Incentivized
    Microsoft
    Chose Microsoft Visual Studio Code
    There are many IDEs available but I don't think anyone is better than Visual Studio Code. Most others are language dependent softwares while VS Code supports all the languages. There are others popular available like Atom, Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, and WebStorm but none of them …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Visual Studio Code
    The licensing of the IntelliJ IDEs is prohibitive, I cannot be sure that I can continue to leverage them as I move between clients.

    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Visual Studio Code
    Microsoft Visual Studio Code is free
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Visual Studio Code
    Microsoft Visual Studio Code is a great competitor to all the IDEs listed above. The vast range of extensions is a strength of the Microsoft Visual Studio Code ecosystem. Integration of Copilot is another add-on, which makes development and debugging very easy and …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Visual Studio Code
    As mentioned before, IDE's can be excellent with one thing, and the company we do a lot of things, so it's kind of annoying to have multiple programs, heavy ones to open your work, so just use one, Microsoft Visual Studio Code, personalize thanks to extensions, and you are …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Visual Studio Code
    I think VS Code is much better as compared to all the tools mentioned above. Just waiting for its support for iOS and Android development.
    currently, it misses support for them. That's where you will require Xcode and Android Studio.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Visual Studio Code
    When you start using [Microsoft Visual Studio Code], it lands more on the "text editor" side of the spectrum, akin to Vim/Emacs/Sublime. Aligned with this, it's fast and easy to install and setup, and competes with the best of them as a great general purpose tool. But then it …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Visual Studio Code
    Visual Studio Code is one of the peak engineering tools you can use today on the market. It's one of the most advanced IDE, and, currently, a de-facto top-used IDE. This alone should be proof to use it.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Visual Studio Code
    When it comes to UI and light weightiness, Visual Code is the winner. But when it comes to Intelli-Sense and autosuggestion IntelliJ works better in my view.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Visual Studio Code
    Compared against a lot of other popular IDEs, I would say that VSCode is the perfect balance between complexity, language support, etc, for web languages. It's faster than most (though not quite as fast as native ones like Notepad++ or Sublime Text), and very flexible. Even in …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Visual Studio Code
    The main plus for me was the speed, sleek UI, and the memorable shortcuts for VS Code. Also the smart auto-complete as well as version management (Git), Chrome debugging, and the possibility of plugging in multiple language-specific linters for a better code.
    The auto-complete …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Visual Studio Code
    VS Code is much more lightweight than IntelliJ and Eclipse and is certainly comparable to Atom. I find that for most of my projects, VS Code is the most stable option, and is generally the quickest to boot. Generally, trying out all four can't hurt, but VS Code has been the …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    94%
    Would buy again
    31 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    70 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    90%
    Delivers good value for the price
    27 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    69 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    32 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    70 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    22 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    50 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    30 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    63 Answers
    TrustRadius Insights
    IntelliJ IDEAMicrosoft Visual Studio Code
    Highlights

    TrustRadius
    Research Team Insight
    Published

    IntelliJ IDEA’s customers frequently mention its broad range of use cases, from developing desktop and mobile applications to working on complex enterprise-level projects. Its users appreciate the vast array of built-in tools for coding, debugging, and testing, and report regularly using the tool’s extensive integration capabilities with frameworks and languages like Java, Python, and Scala. The product’s capacity to handle large codebases is consistently highlighted, making IntelliJ a popular choice amongst those working on substantial, intricate projects.

    In contrast, Visual Studio Code’s users regularly cite its effectiveness for smaller-scale projects, particularly when using languages like JavaScript and TypeScript. Users often remark on its speed and efficiency, with a lighter resource footprint than IntelliJ, making it appropriate for use in low-resource environments or with less demanding projects. The extensibility via plugins for virtually every language and framework is frequently mentioned, demonstrating a broad range of use cases for this product. Although the tool’s users find it lacks some of IntelliJ’s integrated functionality, the flexibility to customize VS Code to individual needs via extensions is highly valued.

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    IntelliJ IDEAMicrosoft Visual Studio Code
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    User Ratings
    IntelliJ IDEAMicrosoft Visual Studio Code
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.5
    (59 ratings)
    9.5
    (104 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.4
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    9.7
    (9 ratings)
    9.4
    (21 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.9
    (15 ratings)
    9.7
    (23 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    IntelliJ IDEAMicrosoft Visual Studio Code
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    As a general workhorse IDE, Microsoft Visual Studio Codee is unmatched. Building on the early success of applications such as Atom, it has long been the standard for electron based IDEs. It can be outshone using IDEs that are dedicated to particular platforms, such as Microsoft Visual Studio Code for .net and the Jetbrains IDEs for Java, Python and others. For remote collaborative development, something like Zed is ahead of VSCode live share, which can be quite flakey.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Integrate with the git repository very well.
    • Integrated copilot chat is very helpful to write code snippets and helps beginners to start with coding and development.
    • Great library of available extensions is one of the best features in Microsoft Visual Studio Code.
    • Dedicated Testing option to configure pytest and others are quite handy to use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • The customization of key combinations should be more accessible and easier to change
    • The auxiliary panels could be minimized or as floating tabs which are displayed when you click on them
    • A monitoring panel of resources used by Microsoft Visual Studio Code or plugins and extensions would help a lot to be able to detect any malfunction of these
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Solid tool that provides everything you need to develop most types of applications. The only reason not a 10 is that if you are doing large distributed teams on Enterprise level, Professional does provide more tools to support that and would be worth the cost.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Microsoft Visual Studio Code earns a 10 for its exceptional balance of power and simplicity. Its intuitive interface, robust extension ecosystem, and integrated terminal streamline development. With seamless Git integration and highly customizable settings, it adapts perfectly to any workflow, making complex coding tasks feel effortless for beginners and experts alike.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    JetBrains
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Overall, Microsoft Visual Studio Code is pretty reliable. Every so often, though, the app will experience an unexplained crash. Since it is a stand-alone app, connectivity or service issues don't occur in my experience. Restarting the app seems to always get around the problem, but I do make sure to save and backup current work.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    JetBrains
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Microsoft Visual Studio Code is pretty snappy in performance terms. It launches quickly, and tasks are performed quickly. I don't have a lot of integrations other than CoPilot, but I suspect that if the integration partner is provisioned appropriately that any performance impact would be pretty minimal. It doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles (unless you start adding plugins left and right).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Active development means filing a bug on the GitHub repo typically gets you a response within 4 days. There are plugins for almost everything you need, whether it be linting, Vim emulation, even language servers (which I use to code in Scala). There is well-maintained official documentation. The only thing missing is forums. The closest thing is GitHub issues, which typically has the answers but is hard to sift through -- there are currently 78k issues.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Visual Studio Code stacks up nicely against Visual Studio because of the price and because it can be installed without admin rights. We don't exclusively use Visual Studio Code, but rather use Visual Studio and Visual Studio code depending on the project and which version of source control the given project is wired up to.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    JetBrains
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    It is easily deployed with our Jamf Pro instance. There is actually very little setup involved in getting the app deployed, and it is fairly well self-contained and does not deploy a large amount of associated files. However, it is not particularly conducive to large project, multi-developer/department projects that involve some form of central integration.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Saves money by replacing suites of tools such as Visual Studio, IntelliJ, etc.
    • Speeds development time and developer environment setup time
    • Strengthens code quality with integrated autoformatting and linting
    • Strengths Git practices by keeping version control tightly connected with the code
    Incentivized
    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 IntelliJ IDEA's support for frameworks with dedicated assistance for Spring and Spring Boot, Jakarta EE, JPA, Reactor, and other popular frameworks.Screenshot of the AI Assistant that provides features for software development. It can explain code, answer questions about code fragments, provide code suggestions, generate documentation, and commit messages.Screenshot of the interface to run queries, connect to databases, browse and export data, and manage schemas.