--- title: "Eclipse IDE Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra" description: "Is Eclipse IDE the right Integrated Development Environment (IDE) solution for you? Explore 205 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice." source_url: "https://www.capterra.com/p/205298/Eclipse-IDE/reviews/" page_type: "reviews" language: "en" --- Eclipse IDE 4.3 (205) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/205298/Eclipse-IDE/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 September 17th, 2026 # Reviews of Eclipse IDE Ease of use 4.1 Customer Service 3.8 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews Sakshi J Sr. SDETComputer Software, 501 - 1,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “It is a reliable and powerful development tool, especially for Java projects, with strong debugging capabilities and extensive plugin support. While it can sometimes feel slow and less modern compared to newer IDEs, its flexibility and robust features make it a dependable choice for development.“ March 30, 2026 Sakshi J Sr. SDETComputer Software, 501 - 1,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “The user interface is somewhat outdated, and frequent plugin updates or compatibility issues can sometimes disrupt the development experience.“ March 30, 2026 Swarnima G Software EngineerInformation Technology and Services, 501 - 1,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “In terms of code development, it handles large projects well and provides useful tools like code suggestions, debugging, and navigation between files, which helps speed up the work.“ May 4, 2026 Swarnima G Software EngineerInformation Technology and Services, 501 - 1,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “The interface also feels a bit outdated and not always very intuitive.“ May 4, 2026 Sakshi J Sr. SDETComputer Software, 501 - 1,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Its wide range of plugins, built-in debugging tools, and seamless integration with version control systems make development efficient and organized.“ March 30, 2026 QH Quashawn H Computer Science studentE-Learning, 201 - 500 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Initial setup and configuration can be tedious, particularly when dealing with project dependencies and workspace settings.“ October 28, 2024 Swarnima G Software EngineerInformation Technology and Services, 501 - 1,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “It has a lot of features that support coding, debugging, and project management, which makes it useful once everything is set up properly.“ May 4, 2026 QH Quashawn H Computer Science studentE-Learning, 201 - 500 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Can be resource-intensive and may become slow, especially with large projects or many installed plugins.“ October 28, 2024 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 205 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Surajit C. R&D Development Engineer Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Best IDE and lightweight for JAVA development" January 10, 2023 4.0 Pros Eclipse is one of the best IDE and also it is open source. It is very easy to operate. It supports multiple programming languages ( such as c, c++, and java). Keyboard shortcut is very effective in operation. Debugging is faster than other IDE. Moreover, it executes almost all operating systems. Besides that you can change the layout , also it supports Maven. Cons It is not very stable, it crashes so many times. Also, shortcuts do not work properly all the time . For using the shortcuts you have to remember it otherwise you cannot use it. It needs to improve its memory utilization. Running time is very slow. For java users Eclipse is easy but for others, it is not so easy. Also, opening and closing time is more than normal time. Compared with VS Code Eclipse does not have a very clear interface. As it has so many options to change the settings so sometimes it is very difficult to change and also unnecessary some options are given. Alternatives considered [Visual Studio Code](https://www.capterra.com/p/186634/Visual-Studio-Code/) Reason for choosing Eclipse IDE I needed to switch from NetBeans, as it was very slow. The debugging time was too slow.NetBeans is getting old and so there are comparatively fewer software updates. Review Source LL Luca L. IT Analyst and Developer Packaging and Containers Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Free. Powerful. Pretty much essential for PHP development." April 29, 2025 4.0 Pros For work, I have to develop and maintain a website written in PHP. The site has been developed over the years, so it includes both static and dynamic pages that retrieve data from a PostgreSQL database. As it has grown over time, it has become quite complex, and a basic text editor is sometimes insufficient. That's why I switched to Eclipse for PHP Developers. It's helpful that it offers code completion for functions and variables, and that it's possible to jump directly to the relevant function. With a basic editor, you'd have to scroll through the entire file. I also find the Compare feature very useful, as it allows you to compare the file you're editing with the current version on the server. It does have a few drawbacks, but considering it's free, I'd say it does its job quite well. Cons The only downsides I've found are its heavy resource usage (an editor like Notepad++ is much lighter) and a somewhat outdated user interface. Also, the sheer number of options can sometimes be overwhelming and may actually work against productivity. Alternatives considered [PhpStorm](https://www.capterra.com/p/186624/PhpStorm/) Reason for choosing Eclipse IDE PhpStorm is a paid program, so i firstly want to test with a free application Switched from [Notepad++](https://www.capterra.com/p/185965/Notepad/) The site i'm developing has grown over time, it has become quite complex, and a basic text editor is sometimes insufficient. That's why I switched to Eclipse for PHP Developers. It's helpful that it offers code completion for functions and variables, and that it's possible to jump directly to the relevant function. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Software Engineer Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "A powerful IDE that feels heavy but gets the job done" May 4, 2026 3.0 Overall, Eclipse IDE feels like a very capable development tool, especially for larger or more complex projects. It has a lot of features that support coding, debugging, and project management, which makes it useful once everything is set up properly. There is definitely a learning curve at the beginning, and it can feel a bit heavy compared to simpler editors. The interface also takes some time to get used to, but after working with it for a while, it becomes more comfortable to navigate. Despite some performance issues and occasional glitches, it is still a reliable IDE for serious development work. The flexibility and wide range of features make it a solid choice, especially when working in environments that require customization and extensibility. Pros What stands out most about Eclipse IDE is how powerful it is for development work. It supports a wide range of programming needs, and the features are solid once you get familiar with it. It is very flexible when it comes to customization. The ability to add plugins and adjust the environment to fit different workflows is a big advantage, especially for developers working on different types of projects. In terms of code development, it handles large projects well and provides useful tools like code suggestions, debugging, and navigation between files, which helps speed up the work. The learning curve is there, but after some time it becomes easier to use. Once the basics are understood, daily tasks feel more efficient. Overall, it is a feature rich IDE that works well for serious development, especially when flexibility and extensibility are important. Cons What I liked least about Eclipse IDE is that it can feel heavy and slow, especially when working on larger projects. It sometimes takes a while to start up or respond compared to lighter IDEs. The interface also feels a bit outdated and not always very intuitive. Finding certain settings or features can take time, especially for someone new to it. Plugin management can be another pain point. While there are many plugins available, setting them up or dealing with compatibility issues is not always smooth. Occasionally, it also runs into bugs or freezes, which can interrupt workflow and be frustrating during development. Review Source HV Hrithik V. Software Engineer - Trading Systems Financial Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Reliable IDE for Java Development" June 21, 2026 4.0 Eclipse was one of the first IDEs I used for Java development and it remains a reliable option. It provides the core features needed for development and debugging. Pros Eclipse has strong Java development tools, solid debugging capabilities, and a large ecosystem of plugins. I like that it is free, highly customizable, and works well for Java projects of all scales. Cons The interface can feel dated compared to newer IDEs, and performance often slows down when working with many plugins. Initial setup and configuration can also take some time for new users. Review Source Flavio V. BSS Software Architect Telecommunications Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Eclipse changed the developer world" March 17, 2021 5.0 Consolidating the development environment using Eclipse for huge teams, spread all around the globe, helped to avoid loosing time to support more than on IDE and to maintain specific configurations which may be needed. We exported Eclipse configurations and even had a small team to certificate and manage internal plugins distributions, ensuring that the development work machinery was not stopped due to environment issues. Pros Eclipse IDE offers the capability to allow the users to develop plugins, which in my company was a killer feature because we had many proprietary languages that required also proprietary IDE. The plugins we developed helped a lot our dev teams community (about +1000 developers), bringing more efficiency and fun to the coding / testing / debugging activities. Cons If your application is too big, building it can cause the interface to hang, so, better to take coffee, a walk, to give time to Eclipse finish the process. Reason for choosing Eclipse IDE Eclipse is free and its usability was great. Switched from [Apache NetBeans](https://www.capterra.com/p/178681/Apache-NetBeans/) Netbeans features and user experience was not as good as Eclipse offered. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Sr. SDET Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Feature-Rich IDE for Efficient Development" March 30, 2026 4.0 Overall, my experience with Eclipse IDE has been positive. It is a reliable and powerful development tool, especially for Java projects, with strong debugging capabilities and extensive plugin support. While it can sometimes feel slow and less modern compared to newer IDEs, its flexibility and robust features make it a dependable choice for development. Pros Eclipse IDE offers a highly customizable and extensible environment with strong support for Java development. Its wide range of plugins, built-in debugging tools, and seamless integration with version control systems make development efficient and organized. Cons Eclipse IDE can feel heavy and slow, especially when working on large projects. The user interface is somewhat outdated, and frequent plugin updates or compatibility issues can sometimes disrupt the development experience. Review Source MS Marvin S. Lead Developer Computer Software Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Jack of all Trades but master of none" June 6, 2026 3.0 This was the IDE I learned Coding in back in school, and while it was a good experience back then, by now I feel like it didnt manage to keep up with the industry leaders. Pros It was pretty easy to learn and it does have a huge library of plugins and extensions making it very customizable. Cons Unfortunately the integrated featureset is too lean for my liking and while extending it works the performance is already a struggle with the base set. So it has a bit of both worlds the full fledged "heavy" ides as well as the light weight but very extendable ones. Unfortunately it doesnt really manage to compete in either Review Source MR Mathieu R. Programmeur Jouabilité Gambling & Casinos Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Versatile IDE with Powerful Customization" December 7, 2025 4.0 Pros Eclipse remains a versatile environment, especially for Java projects or internal tools. I’ve appreciated the flexibility of plugins and the ability to customize the workspace depending on the task or prototype I was working on. Cons The interface can feel cluttered and a bit outdated compared to more modern IDEs. The initial learning curve also requires some patience. Review Source mL marc L. Software e Automotive Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Software engineer " May 8, 2025 5.0 Pros Good ide for java. Widely used in the industry Cons The tool is bloated to compare to other ide Review Source EC Eric C. Engineering Manager Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Solid Java development IDE" March 16, 2025 4.0 Overall a positive experience, but we have since transitioned away from it. Pros Does the job for Java development and you can't beat the price! Cons Did have performance issues as the project got larger. Has been largely superceded by IDEA/IntelliJ for Java development. Review Source RL Richard L. Senior Developer Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Good IDE for multiple languages" June 19, 2025 5.0 I had a pretty good experience using Eclipse IDE, when I had issues, I found a vast amount of knowledge and a great community for it. Pros free version of the software available. allow to work with multiple languages. has been supported for many years, great community Cons The software is a bit resources hungry, we cannot run on older machine. Not all plugins exists for it. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Engineering Manager Program Development Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Eclipse IDE review" January 10, 2025 3.0 I've been working with this IDE since 2014 Pros I like all the integration that this IDE has for Java EE applications Cons Indexación does not work as good as other IDE Review Source PC Prashanth C. Senior software developer Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Eclipse - Most productive IDE" August 20, 2023 4.0 I'm very glad to work with Eclipse because some of the standardised coding get to know by this IDE only. Easy to work and use and test with this. I will strongly recommend Eclipse for software development. Some of the alternatives are there for Eclipse but those are not replaceable with Eclipse. Pros 1\. The most common thing is GUI, every developer easily interact without any prior knowledge.2. Inbuilt plug-ins allows user to use common functionalities.3. Features that contains Eclipse IDE allow developer to follow coding standards and ease the developer routine work.4. It has internal functions to develop, test and deploy tools. Cons From past few years I'm using Eclipse IDE for development. I didn't find any improvements as of now. It improves and release latest versions every year. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Technical Lead Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Best IDE for Software developers" December 19, 2022 4.0 Overall I like Eclipse IDE and I use it daily in my development process. Using It I can write code quickly and easily and using some plugins it can show issues with code and same time fixes also. Pros I am using it for Java development and I mostly like auto code completion, auto import of packages, Tomcat, and Database integration Although it provides a lot of features.We can quickly create a Jar or War file as per our need.It also supports integration for build tools like Ant and Maven. Cons The only issue I see with this is It consumes a lot of RAM and sometimes it is slow to open a large project. Review Source Farhan M. IAM ENGINEER Computer Software Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "I will recommend all fellow developers to use Eclipse IDE" June 8, 2023 5.0 Pros Extensibility: Eclipse's core strength lies in its extensibility. The IDE is built on a modular architecture, allowing developers to add functionality through a vast array of plugins. This extensibility makes Eclipse highly adaptable to different programming languages, frameworks, and project requirements.Language Support: Eclipse provides excellent support for a wide range of programming languages, including Java, C/C++, Python, JavaScript, PHP, and more. It offers features specific to each language, such as syntax highlighting, code completion, debugging, and refactoring, ensuring a productive coding experience across various development domains. Cons Resource Intensive: Eclipse is known to be resource-intensive, especially when working on larger projects. It can consume a significant amount of memory and processing power, which may impact the overall performance of the IDE and slow down the development process, particularly on less powerful machines. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Full Stack Developer Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Eclipse IDE opinion" June 30, 2023 5.0 I would recommend Eclipse to anyone interested in Java programming, it's powerful enough to do great things. Pros Eclipse is one of the best IDEs that I have tried, it offers a lot of features that make programming easy. Cons The only thing that I do not like it's the interface, basically because it looks old compared to other IDEs in the market. Review Source US Udit S. Software Developer Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Powerful Solution To Create Multiple Software technologies With Ease" April 19, 2023 5.0 It contains many significant features, including automatic syntax validation and assistance with code reworking. There isn't a need to install a new IDE because it is an all-encompassing IDE that enables development in a variety of languages; all we have to do is install the required plugins inside the app. Teams can use it to guarantee that their applications are operating correctly and at peak efficiency. Pros Eclipse's ability to offer a standard platform for the creation of multiple software technologies is one of its strongest features. It helps with no code revision after execution by identifying issues before the code is executed. Wherever a caution symbol appears, we can modify the lines. In Eclipse, importing and exporting projects is quick and simple. My development has benefited greatly from Eclipse's integration with Git and other version control tools. It has a tonne of plugins, which will enable us to personalize the application and do a lot of exploring. Cons The AI-based auto-completion system has to be improved because it currently completes codes quite slowly. Its size and resource requirements may cause older PCs to perform more slowly. The time it takes to open and run the code can be extremely long. Review Source Serhat C. Senior Software Developer Banking Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Developer Friendly" July 9, 2023 5.0 Pros We use the Java IDE to manage the code written in c++ to access the devices on the ATM and check their status and make the outputs meaningful. These devices are devices such as card reader, cash dispenser, receipt printer, pinpad. Using Eclipse IDE is a blessing for the software developer because it pleases the developer with every feature. My favorite features are code completion, extensible plugins, drag and drop feature, simple and straightforward interface, meaningful bugs, debug mechanism and most importantly community support. Cons I am very happy with Eclipse IDE, I love every feature of it. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer trainer Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Eclipse - Powerful but it requires getting used to" July 10, 2021 4.0 The versatility as a Java IDE and WSO2 Integration Studio make that it is actually quite handy for both Java and Synapse Development. Pros Eclipse is a powerful IDE that has a large number of functions and a multitude of views and settings. The Eclipse framework is also used in other products like dbeaver, Apache DS and therefor familiar to people with those tools. It is an extensible product with add-ons like Integration Studio makes it a versatile tool. Cons Eclipse has a large number of perspectives, views and so on. This makes it a bit hard to navigate between all the options. The stability sometimes also has issues. Especially when you have a large number of open windows. The options are not always directly clear as to what each option will do (e.g. a number of options have the same truncated name like maven build ) Reason for choosing Eclipse IDE The fact that in its core it is a wellknown JAVA IDE and the fact that is offers in Integration Studio the Graphical High level view and the source code view make it easy to work with AFTER a learning curve and making sure that you do not do the things that make it less stable (i.e. many open windows) Review Source MJ Mukeshkumar J. Lead Consultant Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Eclipse is a popular and widely used open source IDE for JAVA development" March 2, 2023 4.0 Overall experience with Eclipse IDE is good for JAVA code devlopment work. It's free and good plugins library available for customization. Look and feel can be little better though. Resource usage on machine needs to be improved. Need to make it more lightweight with smooth performance. Pros It is an open source Integrated Development Environment tool , so it is free to use. Lots of plugins are available in eclipse market place to customize the IDE as per our needs. Good support for Spring based application , servers like tomcat. Good Debugging Features , specially for Java code development. Simple to use IDE. Cons It is very resource intensive. so sometimes it makes the machine slow and consumes high CPU and memory. The look and feel is little outdated as compared to commercial IDE's like Intellij Idea. Apart from that, overall the IDE is good for cost effective software development Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Programmer Computer Software Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Programming" August 14, 2023 5.0 Pros \- open source- language supprots- dev community- platform independent Cons \- performance / memory usage- plugin compatibility Review Source RV Ramgopal V. Embedded Software Developer Staffing and Recruiting Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Eclipse Integrated IDE makes it simple to create Java projects" January 22, 2023 5.0 Pros It is both free and open source. It also includes code templates that are ready to use. It facilitates the addition of many plugins, resulting in a speedier development process. Eclipse has already set hotkeys for a variety of operations and allows you to configure one, which saves me a significant amount of time writing. It provides excellent debugging capabilities. With a basic user interface, it is simple to use and onboard. Provides a variety of editors, and the night mode in the newer versions makes it easier for developers to code. Cons The user interface is awkward. It might take a long time to open and run the code. It might be difficult to use if one is unfamiliar with or does not comprehend an IDE, since it takes time to become used to. When several plugins are added, it might get sluggish. Review Source Ritesh J. front end developer Computer Software Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Not beginner friendly" November 10, 2023 4.0 Pros Eclipse is one of the best IDE out there. I used this to complete of my college project Course Management System. What i like about this is the ability to create java swing UI with drag and drop features which saved me a lot of time. Cons When i used this to create UI of java swing there was a bug in MAC OS which was it refreshes every time i drag and drop component which drain my battery fast Review Source Moustafa Medhat A. Student Medical Devices Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "My Review of Eclipse IDE" July 1, 2022 2.0 My overall experience with Eclipse IDE is not good. Pros I like that I can integrate 3rd party applications with Eclipse IDE to manage my API to test my back-end. Also, I like that Eclipse IDE provides a range of programming languages for different use. Eclipse IDE doesn't consume much memory which is good. Cons I don't like the interface of Eclipse IDE as it is difficult in managing environments. Eclipse IDE is not good for beginners as there is little documentation and tutorials that explain how to use it. Also, there is no feature for collaborative work. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Backend developer Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Good but not the best" March 26, 2023 4.0 Pros I can say it was power full tool that I used for application development and its support for multiple languages was very appealing debugging tools were also great. Cons It's graphical user interface was not appealing so it was boring to use Eclipse and it's documentation was also limited. Review Source Similar Products Featured