--- title: "IntelliJ IDEA Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra" description: "Is IntelliJ IDEA the right Application Development solution for you? Explore 1259 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice." source_url: "https://www.capterra.com/p/136010/IntelliJ-IDEA/reviews/" page_type: "reviews" language: "en" --- IntelliJ IDEA 4.7 (1259) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/136010/IntelliJ-IDEA/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated July 20th, 2026 # Reviews of IntelliJ IDEA Ease of use 4.5 Customer Service 4.3 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews Abdelrahman A Associate software developerFinancial Services, 1,001 - 5,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “It also has seamless Docker integration, which streamlines my daily backend tasks and deployment preparations, the best plugin market and the compatibility with many services .“ March 2, 2026 Alexandre B StudentHigher Education, 10,001+ employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “The IDE can be quite resource intensive, consuming a large amount of RAM. When multiple projects are open, or if you’re using a mid-range laptop, you may notice some lag or slower startup times.“ January 23, 2026 AS Adinath S Software EngineerInformation Technology and Services, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “It offers strong code analysis, excellent support for Java and Spring Boot development, reliable debugging tools, and efficient project navigation.“ June 8, 2026 Keshav C StudentE-Learning, Self-employedUsed the software for: I used a free trial. “Initial indexing can be slow“ March 23, 2026 AS Adinath S Software EngineerInformation Technology and Services, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Customer support and documentation are helpful, and regular updates continuously improve stability and security. While occasional performance issues may occur with large projects, the overall value and productivity gains make it one of the best development environments available.“ June 8, 2026 Shad M PrivateOnline Media, Self-employedUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Imagine life in corporate then you trip on a stone and die, was life worth it using this product for that many years at that rate?“ October 8, 2025 Alexandre B StudentHigher Education, 10,001+ employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Its powerful indexing and deep code analysis predict what I need to write and also , it catches potential errors even before compilation, which is especially helpful for my Java projects at university as a CS student .“ January 23, 2026 VK Vasileios K Web DeveloperComputer Software, Self-employedUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Sometimes it feels a little bit heavy and slow, especially during file indexing operation.“ December 25, 2025 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 1259 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Abdelrahman A. Associate software developer Financial Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The Ultimate IDE for Java & Spring Boot Backend Development" March 2, 2026 4.0 Transitioning into a professional company environment over the past few months, IntelliJ IDEA has been my primary and most reliable tool. It significantly boosted my productivity in writing clean Java code and managing complex backend architectures. The out-of-the-box features save me hours of configuration time every week. Pros The intelligent code completion and refactoring tools are lifesavers, especially when ensuring the code adheres to OOP and SOLID principles. The built-in integration for Spring Boot makes running, testing, and debugging REST APIs incredibly smooth. It also has seamless Docker integration, which streamlines my daily backend tasks and deployment preparations, the best plugin market and the compatibility with many services . Cons It is quite resource-heavy. Indexing large projects upon startup can take some time, and it consumes a significant amount of RAM so my device cry. You definitely need a machine with strong specifications (at least 16GB RAM) to run it smoothly alongside other tools without experiencing any lag, sometimes i should restart my device when i run many plugins to make it build the maven project smother Switched from [Apache NetBeans](https://www.capterra.com/p/178681/Apache-NetBeans/) While Apache NetBeans was a great learning tool during my university studies, I needed a more robust, industry-standard IDE for my professional backend work. IntelliJ IDEA offers far superior performance, advanced refactoring tools, and seamless, out-of-the-box support for enterprise frameworks and modern containerization tools, which are essential for handling complex logic in a company environment. Review Source AS Adinath S. Software Engineer Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Excellent IDE for Java Development and Enterprise Projects" June 8, 2026 5.0 My overall experience with IntelliJ IDEA has been very positive. It offers strong code analysis, excellent support for Java and Spring Boot development, reliable debugging tools, and efficient project navigation. The IDE helps reduce coding errors, speeds up development, and integrates well with version control systems. Customer support and documentation are helpful, and regular updates continuously improve stability and security. While occasional performance issues may occur with large projects, the overall value and productivity gains make it one of the best development environments available. Pros IntelliJ IDEA significantly improves productivity with its intelligent code completion, powerful refactoring tools, excellent debugging capabilities, and seamless integration with build tools like Maven and Gradle. It provides a smooth development experience for Java and Spring Boot applications. Cons The IDE can be resource-intensive, especially on systems with limited RAM. Some advanced features are available only in the Ultimate edition, which may be costly for individual developers. Switched from [Visual Studio Code](https://www.capterra.com/p/186634/Visual-Studio-Code/) I switched from VS Code to IntelliJ IDEA because I needed a more powerful and integrated development environment for Java and Spring Boot projects. IntelliJ IDEA offers better code intelligence, advanced refactoring tools, stronger debugging capabilities, and seamless support for Maven and Gradle. These features helped me improve productivity, reduce development time, and manage large enterprise applications more efficiently. While VS Code is lightweight and flexible, IntelliJ IDEA provides a more complete experience for professional Java development. Review Source Shad M. Private Online Media Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Explicitly dissatisfied with the product and dev-maintained approaches-" October 8, 2025 1.0 Lack of control for a developer from my personal take, every script automated, the 'dev-support-team' finds a way to mitigate your ability to use it- Prefer a more ethical-value practise approach- Imagine life in corporate then you trip on a stone and die, was life worth it using this product for that many years at that rate? Just a personal consideration - don't take it personally or do- Pros step into step out: cmd+\[ && cmd+\] Great intro to programming until you hit a bottleneck then its also your day job life thereafter. Cons hand-chain-like approach to UI programming and integration - at least from my experience with it. Continuous hastle, not even client urgencies give me this much grief. Alternatives considered [Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.capterra.com/p/80230/microsoft-visual-studio/) Reason for choosing IntelliJ IDEA Because of the hand-chain value approach till regret factor realised? Though if it was a decent product I may have still used it going forward. Review Source Enguerran M. Fullstack Web Developer Sporting Goods Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The ultimate IDE for professional software development" May 13, 2026 5.0 My main integrated development environment for professional work is IntelliJ IDEA. The software helps me work more efficiently through its various keyboard shortcuts and extensive built-in functionality. The software provides high-quality value because its features become essential after users learn them. Pros The smart code completion and refactoring tools are light years ahead of the competition. The system explains everything according to my project needs because it performs complete project understanding. The system includes both integrated debugger tools and Git handling capabilities which function at a high level of excellence. Cons The process demands significant resources with particular focus on consuming RAM. The system experiences performance issues during handling of extremely large microservices architectures. The initial indexing process needs time to complete during the first time application launch. Review Source Keshav C. Student E-Learning Used the software for: I used a free trial ### "Great IDE for Java, but a bit heavy on resources" March 23, 2026 5.0 I've been using IntelliJ IDEA mainly for Java development during my coursework and small projects. The biggest advantage is how smart the IDE is ,code completion, debugging tools, and refactoring features save a lot of time compared to basic editors. It also integrates really well with tools like Maven and Git, which makes project management easier. Pros Very smart code completion and suggestions Excellent debugging and refactoring tools Great integration with Maven, Gradle, and Git Clean and organized interface Lots of built-in development tools Cons Uses a lot of RAM and CPU sometimes Initial indexing can be slow Too many features can feel overwhelming for beginners Switched from [Visual Studio Code](https://www.capterra.com/p/186634/Visual-Studio-Code/) I initially used Visual Studio Code for Java, but managing larger Java projects started getting a bit messy with extensions. I switched to IntelliJ IDEA because it has better built-in support for Java development. Features like smarter code suggestions, easier debugging, and built-in tools for Maven and Gradle made development smoother without needing too many plugins. Review Source Ozzie B. Senior Systems Administrator Computer Software Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "The Rolls-Royce of IDE's" December 11, 2025 5.0 My experience is much like others have said, JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA is the best IDE period. JetBrains knows their customer base and their suite of IDE's and developer tools proves this. Pros The versatility and speed are my favorite features of IDEA. Hands down one of the best, most feature rich IDE's I have ever had the pleasure of using. JetBrains really knows their customer and it shows. Cons There's no complaints other than I wish it were free, but if it were I doubt the product would be the same. Switched from [Visual Studio Code](https://www.capterra.com/p/186634/Visual-Studio-Code/) IntelliJ is a more feature rich IDE without having to use 3rd party plugins. Their ecosystem is also vast and offers utility to every development team at my company. Review Source JB Jeremy B. Offensive Security Consultant Computer & Network Security Used the software for: 2+ years ### "IDE is almost perfect" May 8, 2025 5.0 This IDE is pretty amazing, especially for web development where you may have HTML and CSS and PHP or JSP etc in a single file, integrated web server that can leverage php and tomcat binaries is really slick Pros Multi language support within a single product, project, even a single file Cons Setting up and managing projects can be a real pain, not very intuitive. the AI assistant is nice when it works, but it often doesnt, and your code snippets/project files are aggressively truncated behind the scenes making the tool much less useful for anything other than very narrow prompts lacking context Switched from [Visual Studio Code](https://www.capterra.com/p/186634/Visual-Studio-Code/) plugin management, single-vendor authorship, UI, etc Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Research Associate Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "My Java IDE of choice for many years" January 22, 2025 5.0 Easy to use and powerful IDE. Has everything needed for Java programming and beyond. Pros \- Powerful code completion. Ultimate even offers full line completion, which is a real game changer when writing standard stuff. - Everywhere search lets you search everything from everywhere. - Code analysis has become extremely good. - Free plan for universities and students, which lets me introduce ItelliJ IDEA in my classes Cons I am really happy with ItelliJ IDEA, thus I have no real cons to mention. Alternatives considered [Eclipse IDE](https://www.capterra.com/p/205298/Eclipse-IDE/) Reason for choosing IntelliJ IDEA IntelliJ Idea was a modern and streamlined approach back then which offered a lot more features than Eclipse IDE did. Switched from [Eclipse IDE](https://www.capterra.com/p/205298/Eclipse-IDE/) IntelliJ Idea was a modern and streamlined approach back then which offered a lot more features than Eclipse IDE did. Review Source AU Ali U. Technical Executive Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Stability and usability all in one!" December 3, 2024 4.0 I develop Spring Boot powered Java backend Services and use the IDE to debug and develop the new services and methods, the inbuilt decompiler is also very useful in the case documentation is not available for an obsecure dependency Pros Autofill and code Recommendations as well as the stable enviroment Cons Too many services are paid, Maybe provide the AI code completion on a trial without adding in card details Switched from [Eclipse IDE](https://www.capterra.com/p/205298/Eclipse-IDE/) I switched from Eclipse IDE to IntelliJ IDEA because of its superior performance, more intuitive user interface, and advanced features like intelligent code completion, seamless integration with build tools, and better support for modern frameworks and technologies. The enhanced debugging tools and robust version control capabilities in IntelliJ IDEA also provide a smoother development experience compared to Eclipse. Review Source SP Srinivasa P. Quality Assurance Lead Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "What more can you ask? :)" December 11, 2024 5.0 Amazing!!!! I was an "Eclipse lover" before using Intellij... Cannot go back to any other tool now. You won me Intellij. :) Pros Intellisense and the wide range of language support Cons Lack of suggestions to do a specific thing effectively. May be utilize the AI to analyze what a user is doing and suggest better ways to acheive the same with in the tool. Switched from [Eclipse IDE](https://www.capterra.com/p/205298/Eclipse-IDE/) Intellij is a feature rich product that is consistent in performance and never crashed on me abruptly. Had a very bad experience with Eclipse crashing on me in a demo. Review Source JA Jeffrey A. Software Developer Senior Education Management Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Great for teaching!" March 10, 2025 4.0 I use this with my students and for my own purposes when writing cross-platform applications. It's a great teaching tool. Pros Cross-platform. Written in Java for Java. Cons IntelliJ Idea can be a bit slow sometimes, but it's manageable. Switched from [Eclipse IDE](https://www.capterra.com/p/205298/Eclipse-IDE/) More professional features that my students would be using in the workforce. Review Source NM NOMPILO M. Software Developer Intern Computer Software Used the software for: 1-2 years ### " Comprehensive Review of IntelliJ IDEA" November 17, 2023 5.0 I love IntelliJ IDEA its amazing. I enjoy using. Pros The IDE offers advanced code completion, smart suggestions, and context-aware coding assistance, significantly speeding up coding and reducing errors. IntelliJ IDEA provides powerful and safe refactoring tools, allowing for easy code restructuring, renaming, and other optimizations without compromising code integrity. The IDE seamlessly integrates with version control systems like Git. I appreciate the ability to customize the IDE's layout. User friendly interface. Cons New users, especially those transitioning from simpler IDEs, might find IntelliJ IDEA's extensive features and settings overwhelming initially, requiring time to learn and adapt. Switched from [Visual Studio Code](https://www.capterra.com/p/186634/Visual-Studio-Code/) I started working with java and I found intelliJ IDEA more accommodating and easy to use , I could incorporate OOP easily because I could create and easily manage all my classes and just the overall structure of my code. Review Source RM Ryan M. Founder, CTO Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "IntelliJ products are perfect for the multi-language developer" October 21, 2019 5.0 Overall, IntelliJ IDEA has been a staple in my toolkit and without it, I'm not sure I'd have gotten as far in my career given how powerful it is. It really forces you to learn more about the code you write instead of having to familiarize yourself with IDE features (I came from Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 back in the day) and it forces you to write quality code so you can take advantage of the amazing features such as find/replace and the various refactoring tools (which vary by IDE, i.e. Resharper for the C languages, but there are some core features available in every IntelliJ IDE). Additionally, you save a ton of time using the aforementioned refactoring tools. Pros \- Learn IntelliJ IDEA, and you're good for every other product. - So many options for almost every language, for example you have PhpStorm, WebStorm, CLion, and many more. - They're always improving their core features such as search and their terminal (which allows you to connect to any of PowerShell, Git Bash, or Command Prompt) - There's no shortage of themes. They've even somewhat recently introduced a beautiful material design theme that was pretty bad at first, but once they've implemented it in the core of the product instead of as a half-built overlay, it turned out absolutely stunning - Every IDE is consistent, making it very easy to navigate after learning the hotkeys (or if you're more of a mouse user, the context menus and top menu items). For example, CTRL+Shift+F will allow you to search the entire project or directory in any of IntelliJ's IDEs. - They offer a product manager visually similar to the older Adobe product manager (Adobe's recently was updated, great job on Adobe's part but that's unrelated) allowing you to install and update IntelliJ products very quickly and downloads/installations are blazing fast. Cons Honestly, IntelliJ products have really helped me through my professional career and I've built so much of my knowledge around their products, so I can't really call anything a con because not only have they built the fundamental infrastructure of my knowledge using IDEs, other IDEs copy them. They're widely recognized as the gold standard in (somewhat) open-source IDEs. I will say it being built with Java was a con, but Java has improved their performance and load times significantly in the last 10 years, making it nearly impossible to quickly identify something is made with Java if you didn't look at the files or know some subtleties to look for. Java used to be slow and that did, at one point, persist to IntelliJ IDEs, but now there's absolutely no bottleneck and it's just as fast as any native software without a VM. Alternatives considered [Apache NetBeans](https://www.capterra.com/p/178681/Apache-NetBeans/)[Eclipse Web Tools Platform](https://www.capterra.com/p/175991/Eclipse-Web-Tools-Platform/) Reason for choosing IntelliJ IDEA NetBeans was pretty bad and only had a couple cool features (their remote library support still sets them apart if you're working with C++ though, you're not going to find that anywhere else that I've seen) and Eclipse was far too slow and the UI was pretty bad. Review Source PP Piotr P. QA Automation Engineer Computer Software Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Java IDE you deserve" September 29, 2022 5.0 IntelliJ Idea is certainly one of the best IDEs I was working with. It is packed with features and functionalities. The software is fast, intuitive, and reliable. Native support for various external tools and plugins makes work much quicker and easier. Direct link to documentation and sources allows to code faster and more efficiently. Prompts and 'intelligent' suggestions save a lot of time. IDE is flexible and fully customizable. A lot of external tools can be used from inside of IntelliJ (e.g. git). Also, good documentation, customer support, and a vast community guarantee that any problem with the app is solved with ease. On the other hand, you get what you pay for - this great tool is rather expensive, especially for freelancers. The community version for students and private use is available, which allows getting familiar with this tool for free. Sometimes it may be resource-consuming and could have better documentation for certain functionalities. All in all, despite small flaws, IntelliJ Idea is an amazing piece of code that makes life (and a job) easier and more enjoyable. Definitely worth it! Pros An enormous number of features and functionalities. Intuitive and easy to use. Vast native support for external tools. Many plugins are available, each easily managed from within the application. Good documentation and customer support. Large community across the internet. Cons IntelliJ Idea is quite expensive, especially for freelancers. It can be resource-consuming, in particular when indexing files or compiling. Some features could have better documentation (functionalities that require extensive knowledge to use) Switched from [Visual Studio Code](https://www.capterra.com/p/186634/Visual-Studio-Code/) Much better functionalities and features. Better cross-references and plugin management. Review Source DR Daniel R. Designer Design Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Cut My Teeth InelliJ" January 7, 2025 5.0 All good with good resources for learning. A steep learning curve is required to get started and a lot of time required to navigate feature rich console. I cut my teeth with it. Pros Its got all the bells and whistles Runs just about anything Plenty of learning resources Vast features Cons Subscription model is expensive Can be heavy integrated environment Almost too many sistrwcrions due to features available Steep learning curve Review Source GG Guntas G. Software Developer Program Development Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Reliable IDEA" May 12, 2025 5.0 Pros Fast setup and good integration with GitLab pipelines. This IDE allows simple or complexity development Cons UI feels a bit outdated sometimes, overwhelming whit plugin and navigation could be smoother Review Source LH Lucas H. UI UX Designer Design Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Coding Rocket" May 5, 2025 5.0 Been tinkering with IntelliJ for yonks, it's a solid wizard spinning Java builds before coffee Pros IntelliJ autocompletes like a champ, refactors on click. Built‑in git, plugins by the bucket Cons But it guzzles RAM on beefy projects and that licence fee is nowhere near pocket‑money levels Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Security assessment engineer Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Aesthetic User Interface and experience" October 20, 2024 4.0 Pros IntelliJ Integrated development environment has a unique user interface and smart navigation helps to navigate back and forth during code review, the function calls are not always sequential therefore this smart navigation is the one I like the most. Cons It is resource-intensive when I import multiple projects inside the platform. Therefore it's not ideal to work with multiple projects simultaneously. Review Source MC Michele C. Consultant Telecommunications Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The great IDEa" September 20, 2024 4.0 I really like IntelliJ IDEA. I use it for my professional work and...yes, it is the best IDE you can choose. Pros IntelliJ IDEA is the most powerfull & intuitive IDE I work with in my professional experience. A lot of plug-in and "code with me" feature completes the choise. Cons Too many upgrades, sometimes the performance are bad than the day before. Review Source BH Bryan H. Director of Technical Operations Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Director of Technical Operations" September 6, 2024 5.0 Coming from just using VScode it helped with a lot of the cloud dev and deployment pieces right out of the box. Pros It's an all encompassing IDE that integrates with a lot of external tools making rapidly developing an MVP simple by allowing you to do almost everything from IDEA. Cons The large number of features/tools can sometimes be difficult to navigate. Review Source Melwin M. Software Engineer Computer Games Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Intellij the king " August 27, 2024 4.0 Pros I Like that intellij is very easy for beginners ,and all coding software is also there Cons every thing is good none bad about it the Review Source CBK Charles Boampong K. Software Engineer Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Smart Intelligent Development Environment" November 23, 2023 5.0 The IDE seamlessly integrates with popular version control systems like Git, SVN, and Mercurial, making developers to perform version control operations directly within the IDE. Pros The IDE includes numerous productivity features such as live templates, code snippets and quick fixes, which help developers write code faster and with fewer errors. Cons IntelliJ IDEA can be resource-intensive, especially for large projects. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Senior Software Engineer Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The most complete IDE out there" July 6, 2021 5.0 Pros Code autocomplete features and pointer tracing are top notch. Version control management is also great as it lets you resolve merge conflicts visually. Searching the code base and debugging code is also very easy Cons The interface is packed with so many features that sometimes the space can’t accommodate everything in a small screen. Having an extra display however might make viewing easier Review Source Omar O. Software Engineer Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The nr.1 of IDEs, miles away from its competitors" May 25, 2022 5.0 Overall IntelliJ is a great high-quality software. A market leader with no competitors close by. Definitely recommend for any developer who's working on a JVM stack. Pros Code editing, development, cursor navigation are all very pleasant activites in IntelliJ, thanks to the many many built-in features. It's clear that professional developers built it who know and experience what professional developers need. Cons Configuring the build to make it work is sometimes mission impossible. I have experienced it when using the software for Scala development. Switched from [Eclipse IDE](https://www.capterra.com/p/205298/Eclipse-IDE/) IntelliJ provided much greater experience. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Consultant Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Best IDE for Developer" December 28, 2022 5.0 Best IDE in software industry Pros Best IDE for developer for code development, build and deploy. It provides all library to check code. Easy to debug and easy to manage the file source control using git. By integrating with maven we can easily build java project. Cons Doesn't have back button to go to last edit location . 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