# CLion Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Is CLion the right Application Development solution for you? Explore 15 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/246695/CLion/reviews --- CLion 4.7 (15) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/246695/CLion/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 February 15th, 2026 # Reviews of CLion Ease of use 4.7 Customer Service 4.2 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-15 of 15 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Parker M. AI Chatbot Trainer Computer Software Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Is CLion Worth It Over Other IDEs?" August 21, 2024 4.0 Overall experience was pretty good! Minding the resource usage, it still got the job done when I needed to complete C++ projects and homework assignments for school. It's definitely easier to use for its niche capabilities, though, and I need to mention the debugger again because it's definitely one of the best debuggers I've experienced in my years of programming wth different IDEs! I will say this: I'm using CLion with a Student license through my university, so I didn't have to pay the triple-figure cost, which would definitely be a deterrent for me if I wasn't able to use it through my school. Pros I enjoyed the simplicity of the IED! It was very easy to navigate the UI and run my code. CLion offers great CMake and debugger support as well, and it's easy to switch between configurations! Great for small C/C++ projects. I had no issues setting it up and using it to complete my university assignments. Cons It's very bulky and slow sometimes, especially as the projects get bigger. It doesn't have as wide of a utility range as, for example, Eclipse or VSCode (meaning you can get a wider variety of stuff done with these compared to CLion), and it is quite heavy on the CPU. Switched from [Eclipse IDE](https://www.capterra.com/p/205298/Eclipse-IDE/) I needed a C/C++ compiler for a couple of my classes, and I had trouble setting up Eclipse. Without much time to break down the issues and fix them one at a time, I decided to use C/C++ so I could finish my assignments and projects effortlessly. Review Source VL Victor L. Owner Entertainment Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "CLion: Great Development Experience" May 8, 2025 5.0 All of the debugger, CMake integration, fast build speed, advanced customisation, themes, plugins and code analysis, have been the greatest development experience. Pros Compatibility with Game Development, Unreal Engine plugins for live code are just incredible, their tools integrate seamlessly. Cons I love CLion, for a reason they are the top product, since its beginning I have been a user of their development tools, very skeptical at the beginning, but when it comes to the real platform development, CLion in my opinion is the best. Switched from [Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.capterra.com/p/80230/microsoft-visual-studio/)[Visual Studio Code](https://www.capterra.com/p/186634/Visual-Studio-Code/) Because CLion offers more and more reliable tools. Review Source FG Filip G. IT developer and analyst Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Best IDE for developing in C++" April 25, 2023 4.0 I have started to use Clion at the university with the student license and now we use it in my job. Pros Clion provides all necessary functionality in community edition for free. It is widely used so it has very good suppport. Cons Clion should have supportance also for open source compilers. Switched from [Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.capterra.com/p/80230/microsoft-visual-studio/) Because I need to develop SW on Linux based OS. Review Source FV Filippo V. CTO Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Good tool, but too heavy on CPU" May 2, 2025 5.0 I was very satisfied and it helped me a lot in developing C++ workflows. Pros It is indeed a very powerful tool and it make it faster the development of C++ applications. Cons It is very heavy on the CPU on the machine it is running on. Review Source BH Barnabe H. Developer Computer Software Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "An, overall, pretty good IDE to work with" December 1, 2024 4.0 This is, overall, a pleasure to work with CLion, except the fact that CLion is sometimes unable to detect basic errors Pros CLion is probably the best IDE for C projects. it allows to easily compile, execute & test C code. Cons Sometimes, CLion won't be helpful for detecting basic errors that other JetBrains IDE would detect. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Mechanical Engineer Higher Education Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Exceptional, fully professional IDE" December 16, 2022 5.0 Pros Amazing GUI that offers extended capabilities and helps you out both in troubleshooting in overall apearance of your code. Very powerful debugging tools. Organized structure of your files in project folders. Cons Despite the overall quality of the IDE and its impeccable features, there are plenty of IDEs that are free to use and offer similar -not all of them- features, so the choice of this IDE should be made from professionals that will really make use of the advanced features offered. Review Source HF HansOlivier F. Student - Intern Computer Software Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "IntelliJ's C IDE" November 17, 2022 5.0 As long as I used CLion for what it was meant, I never encountered any issue. It is when I tried alternatives that I understood how easy to use and powerful it truly is. Afterwards, I truly enjoyed its integrations with git and its debugger, which are the best(instinctive, informative and powerful) in the business for quite a low price. Pros As CLion is a part of the IntelliJ suite, it offers the best implementation for code development in the business. The debugger, git implementation and other main tools are instinctive and powerful. Cons The worst part of CLion would probably be it's size. It isn't the heaviest, but it did trouble my work when I had to run code on low memory. Review Source SB Sabri B. Engineer Automotive Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The user friendly IDE" April 3, 2022 5.0 As a software developper, I'm using clion since it has a very user friendly UI and works well with projects that have a big dependencies on much components since navigation between them is simple. Every user coming from an other IDE can be integrated easily in clion. Pros Easy to use comparing to other IDE Can have free license for student supporting VIM support multiple language additionnaly to C and C++ supports cross-plateform easy navigation between code unity Unity tests ability Cons Delay to commit and push Complexity of compiler installation not compatible with all systems software may crash sometimes and needs restart It may lags when working on big project Review Source MP Martin P. Web App Developer Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "C++ and C simple and fast with clean code " February 26, 2023 5.0 Modern IDE which provides code completion and code fixes for developers. Also allows to run the app in the debug mode to see potential problems. A bit slower to run and start the project. Pros It is easier to code the C and C++ languages in this IDE application because it guides you with code completion and code fixes. This allows to create more clean code with less bugs. I especially appreciate function to download extension of the IDE from plugin store. The application can be run in special debug mode which opens the possibility to define and catch break points in the developed application. Cons The IDE like other Jetbrain products is a bit slower to start and run. It provides lots of functions but it can be really hard to learn how to use most of them. The successor editor from this brand called Fleet is in development but will provide more simpler solution. Review Source Wasi K. Sr. Software Engineer Computer Software Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Best C Ide" June 5, 2022 5.0 Pros The best thing I like about this software is that it is best for Cpp code Cons The worst thing I hate about this software is that it is very expensive Review Source KT Keith T. Sr Software Engineer Computer & Network Security Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Awesome C IDE" November 7, 2022 4.0 a great product and a must have for any c development Pros I don't know of many gui c editors, most are text based or have a very simplistic view, but this just has so man features in a gui that made it easy to integrate and still had the features of a text based editor. There is an emacs and vi/vim mode as well as a terminal all built in Cons overall it was a bit hard to initially setup, and was a bit expensive, but after that it was well worth it Review Source AJ Arnaud J. Software developer Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Very good IDE for embedded programming" November 25, 2023 5.0 Pros The design of the software is very intuitive and flows very well. Cons The license management can be confusing at certain points. Review Source JD Jelle D. Software engineer Computer Software Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Awesome cross platform IDE" May 19, 2022 5.0 Pros CLion has a ton of features that work great and has also a ton of additional plugins to add. These make sure you can get everything you need out of your IDE Cons CLion can be difficult to get started with for new programmers. Switched from [Arduino IDE](https://www.capterra.com/p/241593/Arduino-IDE/) No more Arduino programming Review Source BG Bradley G. Student Computer Software Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Student using Clion for computer science classes" September 13, 2022 5.0 I overall really love it and find Clion very helpful in my coding projects! Definitely recommend to programmers new and seasoned! Pros The software shows color coding to categorize what you’re doing and helps you find errors as you go. Cons It’s not the easiest to start getting used to right off the bat, it takes time getting used to it. Review Source EG Emilija G. Software Developer Computer Software Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "JetBrains never fails with these IDEs!" November 29, 2022 5.0 Pros I used it for a course on university and it was really easier to learn to code in C and C++ with it. Cons I did not face any particular problems with it. Review Source Similar Products Featured ## Related categories [Integrated Development Environment (IDE)](https://www.capterra.com/ide-software/)[Application Development](https://www.capterra.com/application-development-software/)