NetBeans vs. Xcode

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
NetBeans
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
NetBeans is a free and open source platform and integrated development environment (IDE).N/A
Xcode
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Xcode is an IDE used to develop, test, and distribute apps across all Apple platforms, featuring Swift and SwiftUI with a multiplatform app experience, enhanced editor features to help users code faster.N/A
Pricing
NetBeansXcode
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
NetBeansXcode
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
NetBeansXcode
Best Alternatives
NetBeansXcode
Small Businesses
PyCharm
PyCharm
Score 9.2 out of 10
PyCharm
PyCharm
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
PyCharm
PyCharm
Score 9.2 out of 10
PyCharm
PyCharm
Score 9.2 out of 10
Enterprises
PyCharm
PyCharm
Score 9.2 out of 10
PyCharm
PyCharm
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
NetBeansXcode
Likelihood to Recommend
7.8
(22 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(2 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.5
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
NetBeansXcode
Likelihood to Recommend
Open Source
NetBeans is extremely user friendly and easy to start developing complex applications. Adding and configuring external libraries is much simpler than in Eclipse. It is highly cost effective and most of the latest framework based libraries required are automatically downloaded to the projects. The overall tool is also light weight and consumes less memory as compared to other competitor tools.
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Apple
This is almost not a case of Xcode being the 300-pound gorilla in the space, but of it being essentially the ONLY viable gorilla in the space. There are other text editors, of course, that can be used for coding; and in some cases other IDE's might make sense for a cross-platform development scenario, but since this is Apple's in-house tool, fighting against that flow is just going to be an exercise in frustration. And, if you need help from Developer Support, they are going to be most familiar with Xcode.
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Pros
Open Source
  • Debugging - Save time hunting down errors by stepping through the code to find the root of a problem.
  • Refactoring - Easily rename classes and variables or make other structural changes using built-in refactoring tools.
  • Service management - NetBeans integrates seamlessly with web application servers like Tomcat and GlassFish.
  • Source control - Works well with Git and other version control tools.
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Apple
  • Debugging
  • Profiling
  • Great IDE
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Cons
Open Source
  • NetBeans [should] work smoothly with systems having less RAM. Systems with less RAM face trouble with NetBeans.
  • File open history also requires improvement. Once NetBeans is restarted, all files are closed automatically and there is no shortcut to open last opened files.
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Apple
  • Documentation
  • Number of settings can be overwhelming
  • Embedded help for settings and configuration
  • Templates
  • Collaboration
  • Managing of credentials (although this has recently gotten better)
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Usability
Open Source
Netbeans enhances my coding work, shows me where I have errors and helps find variable instances. I would be lost without find/replace in projects functionality as I use projects as templates for new projects. Occasionally the code hints aggravate me, but I understand that it is actually making me a better coder, working to get the 'green light' of a clean file with no errors or clumsy code.
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Apple
Xcode occasionally exhibits some behaviors that are hard to explain, but are generally cleared by restarting the program. In an application this large and complex, I suppose this is somewhat expected. The sheer vastness of the frameworks collection has to be a huge management issue all by itself. However, those breaks in the flow can have impact on developer productivity.
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Reliability and Availability
Open Source
No answers on this topic
Apple
Since we don't use the cloud based features of Xcode, it is basically available 24/7 for us. We don't need the extended compilation features that are offered in the cloud as our projects to this point have not been that large or complex. We have never seen a wholesale breakdown of Xcode availability at any point in our use of the product.
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Performance
Open Source
No answers on this topic
Apple
Every developer wants faster compiles, but that can be achieved by either going to the cloud or by provisioning the local station to a higher powered configuration. My only minor complaint is the amount of local mass storage that Xcode as a system consumes. This makes it interesting to set up a development environment on a midrange laptop, however it is easily managed with external storage at a reasonable price.
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Support Rating
Open Source
NetBeans has a very strong user community. We can find solutions here for almost all the problems we face. In addition, we can forward NetBeans Support teams the problems we cannot solve. We can get quick feedback from the support teams, but I generally try to solve my problems by following the forums.
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Apple
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Open Source
It works very smoothly as compared to other tools . The problem of restarting and reimporting the projects is not in the netbeans IDE . The front end development features are good . Netbeans connector is one of the best thing which enables us to deeply integrate netbeans IDE with google chrome browser
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Apple
Xcode is a much easier to use and full featured IDE than many of the competitors. It also is a way better experience to use. Much better looking in general
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Scalability
Open Source
No answers on this topic
Apple
Xcode only loses points due to the occasional situation where it manages to somehow tie itself into a knot and starts to exhibit odd symptoms. This is almost always solved by simply saving progress and restarting the environment. Fortunately, that doesn't happen too frequently and is easily repaired while taking a short break to walk around and stretch.
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Return on Investment
Open Source
  • By working on Netbeans I just learned one more tool and can teach others about it. One should learn every tool so that it might help someday if another editor is not available and you have to use different software for your work.
  • Compiling code became easy as it is not a feature of normal text editors. Only IDE can do this.
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Apple
  • It's helped us gain worldwide distribution of our native iOS app
  • It's allowed us to build a high performance experience
  • It has allowed us to build stable software by helping us write unit tests
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ScreenShots