Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
IntelliJ IDEA
Score 9.3 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.
$19.90
per month
Notepad++
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Notepad++ is a popular free and open source text editor available under the GPL license, featuring syntax highlighting and folding, auto-complete, multi-document management, and ac customizable GUI.N/A
PhpStorm
Score 9.5 out of 10
N/A
JetBrains supports PhpStorm, an integrated development environment (IDE).
$9.90
per month per user
Pricing
IntelliJ IDEANotepad++PhpStorm
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
For Individuals
$99
per year per user
For Organizations
$249
per year per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
IntelliJ IDEANotepad++PhpStorm
Free Trial
YesNoYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo 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 IDEANotepad++PhpStorm
Considered Multiple Products
IntelliJ IDEA
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 …
Chose IntelliJ IDEA
Chosen for its feature of auto-downloading dependencies and intelligent suggestions.
Chose IntelliJ IDEA
IDEA has great roadmap, every update brings useful features. Support is great. Excellent documentation. It's full-featured as it comes out of the box and even if you can't find something you'll get it via plugins.
Notepad++
Chose Notepad++
I use Notepad ++ when I'm using Windows OS, the difference is that I can have it installed on the OS or running on a pendrive.
Chose Notepad++
Notepad++ is the no-frills, simpler options that is an old reliable text editor. The alternatives have slicker interfaces and more features, but can be overkill for certain uses. The quality of plugins that Notepad++ has is a bit higher and there is less noise. Notepad++ is …
PhpStorm
Chose PhpStorm
Notepad++ is exactly that, notepad on steriods. However, PHPStorm was designed specifically for PHP ( my language of choice ) and thus, common settings that I would have to tailor within Notepad++ ( ever time an update comes out, which is very often ), do not have to get reset …
Chose PhpStorm
Two things were decisive for choosing PhpStorm, and the first was the Education version since we were a university we were able to license for free, and the other was that we just had to use a single tool to develop our activities (coding, versioning), and operations in the …
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User Ratings
IntelliJ IDEANotepad++PhpStorm
Likelihood to Recommend
9.7
(58 ratings)
8.8
(62 ratings)
9.9
(19 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
5.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.2
(8 ratings)
9.2
(4 ratings)
9.2
(5 ratings)
Support Rating
8.9
(15 ratings)
8.1
(15 ratings)
9.4
(3 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
IntelliJ IDEANotepad++PhpStorm
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.
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Open Source
well suited for 1) Coding and Development - Writing and editing code, Quick prototyping and testing of code snippets, Debugging and inspecting code using syntax highlighting and line numbering, 2) web development - Creating and editing HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other web-related files .Managing and organizing web projects with multiple files and directories. Not suited for - 1) processing huge files 2) graphic designing 3) complex gui designs 3) Data Analysis and Manipulation - Editing and cleaning up text-based data files before importing them into analytical tools. Applying regular expressions to extract, transform, and manipulate data. 4) System Administration and IT - change system configuration file
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JetBrains
PhpStorm is well suited for any project that utilizes PHP. I have used it on Windows, Ubuntu, and Mac OS and it works great on all those platforms. Having a solution that keeps the developer from having to constantly switch tools to do their job is invaluable. Whether you're a junior developer, front end engineer or a senior developer, PhpStorm is a great product that will help you get your work done.
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.
Read full review
Open Source
  • Notepad++ allows us to keep open files in tabs. Like in a web browser, these tabs let us access these files quickly and easily. Furthermore, even if we forget to save the files when closing the program or shutting down the PC, Notepad++ retains them in the open tabs when we reopen it.
  • Notepad++ supports many different file types. We usually save our files created in Notepad as normal text files, but sometimes as JSON, PHP, and HTML files.
  • Notepad++ is lightweight and requires little resources. Using it is snappy and responsive.
  • The developer of Notepad++ frequently updates the software with bug fixes, performance improvements and new features.
Read full review
JetBrains
  • Database browsing, Remote host browsing, and all the deep seated customizations for both the UI and Technical feasability are the result of an amazing integrity and compatibility with most components and technologies.
  • The built-in shell is insanely helpful for traversing code in order to debug scripts with ease, and the plug-in system makes this software quite extensible.
  • Not to mention the variety of options and settings (divided into global settings and per-project settings) are both intuitive & easy to use, especially the fact that I can export and import them across my workstations while maintaining my spacing & indentation, highlighting, inspection patterns and syntax styling.
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.
Read full review
Open Source
  • UI looks a bit dated.
  • Sometimes the number of options are overwhelming and require a quick search to figure out where to locate a particular function.
  • Some way to do a diff between files would be great. Still need to resort to another paid app for that - unless it is a buried function I don't know about or there's a plugin for it.
Read full review
JetBrains
  • Some of the newest github copilot features lag behind what's being done in vs code and would be nice if more of the newer features were brought over though this has greatly improved recently
  • Interface can be a little overwhelming for newcomers
  • Some features like rainbow brackets should be native rather than addon
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.
Read full review
Open Source
I use it every day for 13 years already and it never disappointed me
Read full review
JetBrains
No answers on this topic
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.
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Open Source
There are lot of features to talk about. Especially the usability is good. Everyone can easily to use and user-friendly. Can also update easily. Can also write and execute the programming languages like C, C++ etc. Encoding is also the major feature that helps me a lot and converter as well.
Read full review
JetBrains
PhpStorm is very easy to use, once you get the hang of it. It can take a while to get the hang of it because there's so many options, some of which are buried in the imposing settings panel. It could use some help with multi-cursor, especially multi-file editing but that's a minor gripe.
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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.
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Open Source
I haven't needed to utilize any support related to Notepad++. I guess this is a good thing because I found it to be quite intuitive. There are almost infinite features you can tweak and plugins you can download but I haven't had to do that because Notepad++ is really good right out of the box.
Read full review
JetBrains
The JetBrains community is all about helping others succeed, even in the most obscure setups. I have never had a question go unanswered, or I have never been able to come up with empty results in searching for the answer. My questions or concerns are typically address from other users in the community, so timing is pretty quick for a response
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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.
Read full review
Open Source
No answers on this topic
JetBrains
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.
Read full review
Open Source
Notepad for Windows, Microsoft Word...LibreOffice Writer....I have used all of these for code writing and editing. Once again I like the universal feel of Notepad++. Basic Notepad, is just that, basic...and kind of clunky for what it is. This is a cool that I have installed on all my computers and also keep it on a thumb drive if I need it elsewhere.
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JetBrains
Easier to use, more features, more reliable. Much more purpose built with specific integrations aimed directly at php code instead of the broad generic interfaces the other software have that are aiming to support many different languages.
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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.
Read full review
Open Source
  • Productivity has increased for developers.
  • It's free so instead of buying a piece of software, you can use this to replace many of them that may only specialize in one thing.
  • It gives our developers confidence knowing they have such a reliable, free tool at their disposal.
Read full review
JetBrains
  • PhpStorm decreased the time to market of new features - we are following the Agile SCRUM methodology with 2 weeks sprints. Using PhpStorm helped with releasing UI features even faster than 2 weeks.
  • Considering the price of the license and the cost of the server where we run it, the ROI is still high due to less time spent by developers with writing code, debugging, refactoring etc. Especially when you have highly paid developers.
  • Increased people's happiness - by using a modern tool with lots of features which has made their work easier.
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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.