IntelliJ IDEA vs. NetBeans
Product | Rating | Most Used By | Product Summary | Starting Price |
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IntelliJ IDEA | 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 | |
NetBeans | N/A | NetBeans is a free and open source platform and integrated development environment (IDE). | N/A |
IntelliJ IDEA | NetBeans | |||||||||||||||
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Editions & Modules |
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Offerings |
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Entry-level Setup Fee | No setup fee | No setup fee | ||||||||||||||
Additional Details | Yearly 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 |
IntelliJ IDEA | NetBeans | |
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Considered Both Products | IntelliJ IDEA | NetBeans |
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Top Cons |
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IntelliJ IDEA | NetBeans | |
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Highlights |
Research Team Insight Published IntellliJ IDEA, from JetBrains and Apache NetBeans are IDEs, both of which primarily support Java development. NetBeans is an open source option supported by its community, with a large number of community-built plugins available to support specific use cases. IntelliJ IDEA is also available for free via the Community Edition, but the paid Ultimate edition provides advanced features, and users are supported directly by the developer. Both IDEs are used across companies of all sizes, with IntelliJ IDEA being more widely adopted overall. The IntelliJ ID paid edition is far more popular across larger enterprises willing to bear the cost to enjoy official support, along with its advanced features. FeaturesBoth IntelliJ IDEA and NetBeans are well regarded and actively used IDEs, however each option presents some distinct advantages. IntelliJ IDEA is praised for its themes, particularly its dark theme; it is described by users as being pleasant on the eyes, and thus far easier to work with and ergonomic relative to other options. It is generally strong in every other area important to choosing an IDE as well: its plugin library is extensive, it integrates capably with any tool that a developer is likely to use in tandem with it, and offers direct database connectivity. Finally, its code completion feature, IntelliSense, helps developers code better, and is reliable for generating basic code. Compared to IntelliJ IDEA, NetBeans is similarly praised for its ease of use and strong integration with version control options (e.g. Git). It also boasts code complete options with in-built defactoring and debugging that work. Notably, it works for Java but is not as Java-focused as IntelliJ IDEA. NetBeans also supports C/C++ and PHP development. Lastly, NetBeans includes the Visual Web Pack, which supports rapid development with drag-and-drop binding to data sources, and is well-regarded. LimitationsNetBeans and IntelliJ IDEA present users with some limitations to consider. IntelliJ IDEA is primarily Java-focused, and also is described by users as a resource hog, consuming high CPU and loads of memory while running. Additionally, its installation files are larger than other IDEs, leading to a tedious startup process, and upgrades that take a fair amount of time to complete. Because the Ultimate edition presents a cost, it can give the solo-dev pause when there are many free options available. NetBeans also presents resource usage issues, however these reports are primarily about performance in the course of working with large projects, with some speculating that the IDE is not terribly memory efficient. The IDE can be slow to open, and unstable when handling large projects. Additionally, the downside to being free and open source is that users do not receive individual-level white glove support. Support is available at the community level only. PricingApache NetBeans is available free, and is extensible with free plugins as well. IntelliJ IDEA’s Community Edition is free, but the more desirable IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate JVM IDE is available for $499 the first year, $399 the second, and $299 each subsequent year per user. For $649 per user IntelliJ IDEA is available in JetBrains’ “All Products Pack,” which bundles the Java IDE with a suite of related developer tools and IDEs (CLion, PyCharm). The second year cost for the bundle is $519, and the cost for each subsequent year is $389 per user. |
IntelliJ IDEA | NetBeans | |
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Small Businesses | PyCharm Score 8.9 out of 10 | PyCharm Score 8.9 out of 10 |
Medium-sized Companies | PyCharm Score 8.9 out of 10 | PyCharm Score 8.9 out of 10 |
Enterprises | PyCharm Score 8.9 out of 10 | PyCharm Score 8.9 out of 10 |
All Alternatives | View all alternatives | View all alternatives |
IntelliJ IDEA | NetBeans | |
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Likelihood to Recommend | 9.5 (59 ratings) | 7.8 (22 ratings) |
Likelihood to Renew | 5.0 (1 ratings) | - (0 ratings) |
Usability | 9.2 (8 ratings) | 9.0 (2 ratings) |
Support Rating | 8.9 (15 ratings) | 8.5 (4 ratings) |
Implementation Rating | 9.0 (1 ratings) | - (0 ratings) |
IntelliJ IDEA | NetBeans | |
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Likelihood to Recommend | JetBrains | Open Source |
Pros | JetBrains | Open Source |
Cons | JetBrains | Open Source |
Likelihood to Renew | JetBrains | Open Source No answers on this topic |
Usability | JetBrains | Open Source |
Support Rating | JetBrains | Open Source |
Implementation Rating | JetBrains | Open Source No answers on this topic |
Alternatives Considered | JetBrains | Open Source |
Return on Investment | JetBrains | Open Source |
ScreenShots | IntelliJ IDEA Screenshots |