Alternatives to PyCharm logo

Alternatives to PyCharm

Atom, IntelliJ IDEA, Jupyter, Visual Studio Code, and Anaconda are the most popular alternatives and competitors to PyCharm.
27.7K
23.6K
+ 1
451

What is PyCharm and what are its top alternatives?

PyCharm is a popular Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for Python programming, offering features such as code analysis, debugging, and version control integration. It provides intelligent code completion, code navigation, and a visual debugger to streamline the development process. The IDE supports various frameworks and libraries, making it a versatile tool for Python developers. However, PyCharm can be resource-intensive and may have a steep learning curve for beginners.

  1. Visual Studio Code: Visual Studio Code is a lightweight and versatile code editor with powerful Python support through extensions. It offers features like IntelliSense, debugging support, and Git integration. Pros include a wide range of extensions and customizable settings, while cons may include occasional performance issues.
  2. Spyder: Spyder is an open-source IDE designed for scientific computing with Python. It includes features such as an interactive console, variable explorer, and a profiler. Pros include a user-friendly interface and built-in tools for data analysis, while cons may include limited support for web development.
  3. Atom: Atom is a customizable text editor with support for various programming languages, including Python. It offers features like easy navigation, a built-in package manager, and multiple panes for efficient coding. Pros include a large library of packages and themes, while cons may include occasional performance issues with large files.
  4. Jupyter Notebook: Jupyter Notebook is a web-based interactive computing platform that allows users to create and share documents containing live code, equations, visualizations, and narrative text. It is widely used for data science and machine learning projects. Pros include easy sharing of code and results, while cons may include limited support for traditional software development workflows.
  5. Sublime Text: Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, markup, and prose. It offers a distraction-free writing experience with powerful features like multiple selections, split editing, and a customizable interface. Pros include a fast and responsive performance, while cons may include a lack of built-in Python-specific tools compared to PyCharm.
  6. VS Python: VS Python is an extension for Visual Studio Code that provides Python support, including IntelliSense, debugging capabilities, and testing tools. It is developed by Microsoft and offers seamless integration with other Visual Studio Code features. Pros include a lightweight and fast IDE with extensive Python functionality, while cons may include fewer specialized Python features compared to PyCharm.
  7. Thonny: Thonny is a beginner-friendly Python IDE that focuses on simplicity and ease of use. It provides a clean interface, built-in support for debugging, and educational tools like step-through code execution. Pros include a straightforward setup and intuitive design for new programmers, while cons may include limited advanced features for experienced developers.
  8. Eclipse with PyDev: Eclipse is a popular IDE known for its extensibility, and PyDev is a plugin that adds Python support to Eclipse. It offers features like code analysis, debugging, and Django integration. Pros include a robust development environment with a wide range of plugins, while cons may include a potentially complex setup process compared to more lightweight IDEs.
  9. Komodo IDE: Komodo IDE is a professional integrated development environment for Python, PHP, JavaScript, and other programming languages. It offers features like code intelligence, debugging tools, and collaboration capabilities. Pros include a multi-language editor with a customizable interface, while cons may include a commercial license fee for full access to advanced features.
  10. Eric Python IDE: Eric Python IDE is a full-featured Python IDE written in Python. It offers features like an editor with syntax highlighting, integrated Python shell, and project management tools. Pros include cross-platform compatibility and extensibility through plugins, while cons may include a potentially less polished user interface compared to more mainstream IDEs.

Top Alternatives to PyCharm

  • Atom
    Atom

    At GitHub, we're building the text editor we've always wanted. A tool you can customize to do anything, but also use productively on the first day without ever touching a config file. Atom is modern, approachable, and hackable to the core. We can't wait to see what you build with it. ...

  • IntelliJ IDEA
    IntelliJ IDEA

    Out of the box, IntelliJ IDEA provides a comprehensive feature set including tools and integrations with the most important modern technologies and frameworks for enterprise and web development with Java, Scala, Groovy and other languages. ...

  • Jupyter
    Jupyter

    The Jupyter Notebook is a web-based interactive computing platform. The notebook combines live code, equations, narrative text, visualizations, interactive dashboards and other media. ...

  • Visual Studio Code
    Visual Studio Code

    Build and debug modern web and cloud applications. Code is free and available on your favorite platform - Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows. ...

  • Anaconda
    Anaconda

    A free and open-source distribution of the Python and R programming languages for scientific computing, that aims to simplify package management and deployment. Package versions are managed by the package management system conda. ...

  • Eclipse
    Eclipse

    Standard Eclipse package suited for Java and plug-in development plus adding new plugins; already includes Git, Marketplace Client, source code and developer documentation. Click here to file a bug against Eclipse Platform. ...

  • Spyder
    Spyder

    It is a powerful scientific environment written in Python, for Python, and designed by and for scientists, engineers and data analysts. ...

  • Visual Studio
    Visual Studio

    Visual Studio is a suite of component-based software development tools and other technologies for building powerful, high-performance applications. ...

PyCharm alternatives & related posts

Atom logo

Atom

16.8K
14.4K
2.5K
A hackable text editor for the 21st Century
16.8K
14.4K
+ 1
2.5K
PROS OF ATOM
  • 529
    Free
  • 449
    Open source
  • 343
    Modular design
  • 321
    Hackable
  • 316
    Beautiful UI
  • 147
    Backed by github
  • 119
    Built with node.js
  • 113
    Web native
  • 107
    Community
  • 35
    Packages
  • 18
    Cross platform
  • 5
    Nice UI
  • 5
    Multicursor support
  • 5
    TypeScript editor
  • 3
    Open source, lots of packages, and so configurable
  • 3
    cli start
  • 3
    Simple but powerful
  • 3
    Chrome Inspector works IN EDITOR
  • 3
    Snippets
  • 2
    Code readability
  • 2
    It's powerful
  • 2
    Awesome
  • 2
    Smart TypeScript code completion
  • 2
    Well documented
  • 1
    works with GitLab
  • 1
    "Free", "Hackable", "Open Source", The Awesomness
  • 1
    full support
  • 1
    vim support
  • 1
    Split-Tab Layout
  • 1
    Apm publish minor
  • 1
    Consistent UI on all platforms
  • 1
    User friendly
  • 1
    Hackable and Open Source
  • 0
    Publish
CONS OF ATOM
  • 19
    Slow with large files
  • 7
    Slow startup
  • 2
    Most of the time packages are hard to find.
  • 1
    No longer maintained
  • 1
    Cannot Run code with F5
  • 1
    Can be easily Modified

related Atom posts

Jerome Dalbert
Principal Backend Software Engineer at StackShare · | 13 upvotes · 924.8K views

I liked Sublime Text for its speed, simplicity and keyboard shortcuts which synergize well when working on scripting languages like Ruby and JavaScript. I extended the editor with custom Python scripts that improved keyboard navigability such as autofocusing the sidebar when no files are open, or changing tab closing behavior.

But customization can only get you so far, and there were little things that I still had to use the mouse for, such as scrolling, repositioning lines on the screen, selecting the line number of a failing test stack trace from a separate plugin pane, etc. After 3 years of wearily moving my arm and hand to perform the same repetitive tasks, I decided to switch to Vim for 3 reasons:

  • your fingers literally don’t ever need to leave the keyboard home row (I had to remap the escape key though)
  • it is a reliable tool that has been around for more than 30 years and will still be around for the next 30 years
  • I wanted to "look like a hacker" by doing everything inside my terminal and by becoming a better Unix citizen

The learning curve is very steep and it took me a year to master it, but investing time to be truly comfortable with my #TextEditor was more than worth it. To me, Vim comes close to being the perfect editor and I probably won’t need to switch ever again. It feels good to ignore new editors that come out every few years, like Atom and Visual Studio Code.

See more
Julian Sanchez
Lead Developer at Chore Champion · | 9 upvotes · 778.3K views

We use Visual Studio Code because it allows us to easily and quickly integrate with Git, much like Sublime Merge ,but it is integrated into the IDE. Another cool part about VS Code is the ability collaborate with each other with Visual Studio Live Share which allows our whole team to get more done together. It brings the convenience of the Google Suite to programming, offering something that works more smoothly than anything found on Atom or Sublime Text

See more
IntelliJ IDEA logo

IntelliJ IDEA

43.2K
36.2K
1.5K
Capable and Ergonomic IDE for JVM
43.2K
36.2K
+ 1
1.5K
PROS OF INTELLIJ IDEA
  • 301
    Fantastically intelligent
  • 242
    Best-in-class ide
  • 190
    Many languages support
  • 158
    Java
  • 121
    Fast
  • 82
    Code analysis
  • 79
    Reliable
  • 76
    Out of the box integration with maven, git, svn
  • 64
    Plugin architecture
  • 61
    Integrated version control
  • 12
    Code refactoring support
  • 11
    Best java IDE
  • 7
    Local history
  • 6
    Code Completion
  • 6
    Kotlin
  • 6
    Integrated Database Navigator
  • 6
    Built-in terminal/run tools
  • 5
    All
  • 5
    Free for open-source development, students and teacher
  • 5
    Base for Android Studio
  • 5
    Free If you're a Student
  • 4
    ERD Diagrams
  • 4
    Free
  • 4
    Cross platform
  • 4
    IDE
  • 4
    Database/Code integration
  • 3
    Out Of The Box features
  • 3
    Column Selection Mode
  • 3
    Server and client-side debugger
  • 3
    More than enough languages for any developer
  • 3
    Typescript support
  • 3
    Multicursor support
  • 3
    Reformating Code
  • 3
    Intuitive
  • 3
    Command-line tools
  • 3
    Android Integration
  • 3
    Vim support
  • 3
    Special icons for most filetypes in project list
  • 3
    Supports many frameworks
  • 3
    Built-in web server
  • 3
    Live Templates
  • 3
    Scala support
  • 2
    Works fine with mac os catalina
  • 2
    A lot of plugin
  • 2
    Just works
  • 2
    Integrated Ssh/Ftp Managers
  • 2
    Full support
  • 2
    Task managers
  • 2
    Diff tools
  • 2
    File Watchers
  • 2
    Support for various package managers
  • 2
    Integrated Code Linting
  • 2
    Clean UI
  • 2
    Open source
  • 2
    So modernised
  • 2
    Efficient, one Stop solution
CONS OF INTELLIJ IDEA
  • 20
    Large footprint required to really enjoy (mem/disc)
  • 16
    Very slow
  • 8
    Bad for beginners
  • 7
    UI is not intuitive
  • 5
    Not nearly as many tools to integrate as vs code
  • 5
    Constant reindexing
  • 4
    Needs a lot of CPU and RAM power
  • 3
    Built in terminal is slow
  • 3
    Doesn't work that well with windows 10 edu
  • 1
    Ruby is a plug in
  • 1
    Pesky warnings increase with every release
  • 0
    AAD

related IntelliJ IDEA posts

christy craemer

UPDATE: Thanks for the great response. I am going to start with VSCode based on the open source and free version that will allow me to grow into other languages, but not cost me a license ..yet.

I have been working with software development for 12 years, but I am just beginning my journey to learn to code. I am starting with Python following the suggestion of some of my coworkers. They are split between Eclipse and IntelliJ IDEA for IDEs that they use and PyCharm is new to me. Which IDE would you suggest for a beginner that will allow expansion to Java, JavaScript, and eventually AngularJS and possibly mobile applications?

See more

I am a QA heading to a new company where they all generally use Visual Studio Code, my experience is with IntelliJ IDEA and PyCharm. The language they use is JavaScript and so I will be writing my test framework in javaScript so the devs can more easily write tests without context switching.

My 2 questions: Does VS Code have Cucumber Plugins allowing me to write behave tests? And more importantly, does VS Code have the same refactoring tools that IntelliJ IDEA has? I love that I have easy access to a range of tools that allow me to refactor and simplify my code, making code writing really easy.

See more
Jupyter logo

Jupyter

2.6K
1.4K
57
Multi-language interactive computing environments.
2.6K
1.4K
+ 1
57
PROS OF JUPYTER
  • 19
    In-line code execution using blocks
  • 11
    In-line graphing support
  • 8
    Can be themed
  • 7
    Multiple kernel support
  • 3
    LaTex Support
  • 3
    Best web-browser IDE for Python
  • 3
    Export to python code
  • 2
    HTML export capability
  • 1
    Multi-user with Kubernetes
CONS OF JUPYTER
    Be the first to leave a con

    related Jupyter posts

    Jan Vlnas
    Developer Advocate at Superface · | 5 upvotes · 450.2K views

    From my point of view, both OpenRefine and Apache Hive serve completely different purposes. OpenRefine is intended for interactive cleaning of messy data locally. You could work with their libraries to use some of OpenRefine features as part of your data pipeline (there are pointers in FAQ), but OpenRefine in general is intended for a single-user local operation.

    I can't recommend a particular alternative without better understanding of your use case. But if you are looking for an interactive tool to work with big data at scale, take a look at notebook environments like Jupyter, Databricks, or Deepnote. If you are building a data processing pipeline, consider also Apache Spark.

    Edit: Fixed references from Hadoop to Hive, which is actually closer to Spark.

    See more

    My process is like this: I would get data once a month, either from Google BigQuery or as parquet files from Azure Blob Storage. I have a script that does some cleaning and then stores the result as partitioned parquet files because the following process cannot handle loading all data to memory.

    The next process is making a heavy computation in a parallel fashion (per partition), and storing 3 intermediate versions as parquet files: two used for statistics, and the third will be filtered and create the final files.

    I make a report based on the two files in Jupyter notebook and convert it to HTML.

    • Everything is done with vanilla python and Pandas.
    • sometimes I may get a different format of data
    • cloud service is Microsoft Azure.

    What I'm considering is the following:

    Get the data with Kafka or with native python, do the first processing, and store data in Druid, the second processing will be done with Apache Spark getting data from apache druid.

    the intermediate states can be stored in druid too. and visualization would be with apache superset.

    See more
    Visual Studio Code logo

    Visual Studio Code

    178.2K
    162.4K
    2.3K
    Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft
    178.2K
    162.4K
    + 1
    2.3K
    PROS OF VISUAL STUDIO CODE
    • 340
      Powerful multilanguage IDE
    • 308
      Fast
    • 193
      Front-end develop out of the box
    • 158
      Support TypeScript IntelliSense
    • 142
      Very basic but free
    • 126
      Git integration
    • 106
      Intellisense
    • 78
      Faster than Atom
    • 53
      Better ui, easy plugins, and nice git integration
    • 45
      Great Refactoring Tools
    • 44
      Good Plugins
    • 42
      Terminal
    • 38
      Superb markdown support
    • 36
      Open Source
    • 35
      Extensions
    • 26
      Awesome UI
    • 26
      Large & up-to-date extension community
    • 24
      Powerful and fast
    • 22
      Portable
    • 18
      Best code editor
    • 18
      Best editor
    • 17
      Easy to get started with
    • 15
      Lots of extensions
    • 15
      Good for begginers
    • 15
      Crossplatform
    • 15
      Built on Electron
    • 14
      Extensions for everything
    • 14
      Open, cross-platform, fast, monthly updates
    • 14
      All Languages Support
    • 13
      Easy to use and learn
    • 12
      "fast, stable & easy to use"
    • 12
      Extensible
    • 11
      Ui design is great
    • 11
      Totally customizable
    • 11
      Git out of the box
    • 11
      Useful for begginer
    • 11
      Faster edit for slow computer
    • 10
      SSH support
    • 10
      Great community
    • 10
      Fast Startup
    • 9
      Works With Almost EveryThing You Need
    • 9
      Great language support
    • 9
      Powerful Debugger
    • 9
      It has terminal and there are lots of shortcuts in it
    • 8
      Can compile and run .py files
    • 8
      Python extension is fast
    • 7
      Features rich
    • 7
      Great document formater
    • 6
      He is not Michael
    • 6
      Extension Echosystem
    • 6
      She is not Rachel
    • 6
      Awesome multi cursor support
    • 5
      VSCode.pro Course makes it easy to learn
    • 5
      Language server client
    • 5
      SFTP Workspace
    • 5
      Very proffesional
    • 5
      Easy azure
    • 4
      Has better support and more extentions for debugging
    • 4
      Supports lots of operating systems
    • 4
      Excellent as git difftool and mergetool
    • 4
      Virtualenv integration
    • 3
      Better autocompletes than Atom
    • 3
      Has more than enough languages for any developer
    • 3
      'batteries included'
    • 3
      More tools to integrate with vs
    • 3
      Emmet preinstalled
    • 2
      VS Code Server: Browser version of VS Code
    • 2
      CMake support with autocomplete
    • 2
      Microsoft
    • 2
      Customizable
    • 2
      Light
    • 2
      Big extension marketplace
    • 2
      Fast and ruby is built right in
    • 1
      File:///C:/Users/ydemi/Downloads/yuksel_demirkaya_webpa
    CONS OF VISUAL STUDIO CODE
    • 46
      Slow startup
    • 29
      Resource hog at times
    • 20
      Poor refactoring
    • 13
      Poor UI Designer
    • 11
      Weak Ui design tools
    • 10
      Poor autocomplete
    • 8
      Super Slow
    • 8
      Huge cpu usage with few installed extension
    • 8
      Microsoft sends telemetry data
    • 7
      Poor in PHP
    • 6
      It's MicroSoft
    • 3
      Poor in Python
    • 3
      No Built in Browser Preview
    • 3
      No color Intergrator
    • 3
      Very basic for java development and buggy at times
    • 3
      No built in live Preview
    • 3
      Electron
    • 2
      Bad Plugin Architecture
    • 2
      Powered by Electron
    • 1
      Terminal does not identify path vars sometimes
    • 1
      Slow C++ Language Server

    related Visual Studio Code posts

    Vaibhav Taunk
    Team Lead at Technovert · | 31 upvotes · 4.2M views

    I am starting to become a full-stack developer, by choosing and learning .NET Core for API Development, Angular CLI / React for UI Development, MongoDB for database, as it a NoSQL DB and Flutter / React Native for Mobile App Development. Using Postman, Markdown and Visual Studio Code for development.

    See more
    Yshay Yaacobi

    Our first experience with .NET core was when we developed our OSS feature management platform - Tweek (https://github.com/soluto/tweek). We wanted to create a solution that is able to run anywhere (super important for OSS), has excellent performance characteristics and can fit in a multi-container architecture. We decided to implement our rule engine processor in F# , our main service was implemented in C# and other components were built using JavaScript / TypeScript and Go.

    Visual Studio Code worked really well for us as well, it worked well with all our polyglot services and the .Net core integration had great cross-platform developer experience (to be fair, F# was a bit trickier) - actually, each of our team members used a different OS (Ubuntu, macos, windows). Our production deployment ran for a time on Docker Swarm until we've decided to adopt Kubernetes with almost seamless migration process.

    After our positive experience of running .Net core workloads in containers and developing Tweek's .Net services on non-windows machines, C# had gained back some of its popularity (originally lost to Node.js), and other teams have been using it for developing microservices, k8s sidecars (like https://github.com/Soluto/airbag), cli tools, serverless functions and other projects...

    See more
    Anaconda logo

    Anaconda

    431
    486
    0
    The Enterprise Data Science Platform for Data Scientists, IT Professionals and Business Leaders
    431
    486
    + 1
    0
    PROS OF ANACONDA
      Be the first to leave a pro
      CONS OF ANACONDA
        Be the first to leave a con

        related Anaconda posts

        Which one of these should I install? I am a beginner and starting to learn to code. I have Anaconda, Visual Studio Code ( vscode recommended me to install Git) and I am learning Python, JavaScript, and MySQL for educational purposes. Also if you have any other pro-tips or advice for me please share.

        Yours thankfully, Darkhiem

        See more
        Shared insights
        on
        JavaJavaAnacondaAnacondaPythonPython

        I am going to learn machine learning and self host an online IDE, the tool that i may use is Python, Anaconda, various python library and etc. which tools should i go for? this may include Java development, web development. Now i have 1 more candidate which are visual studio code online (code server). i will host on google cloud

        See more
        Eclipse logo

        Eclipse

        2.6K
        2.3K
        392
        IDE for Java EE Developers
        2.6K
        2.3K
        + 1
        392
        PROS OF ECLIPSE
        • 131
          Does it all
        • 76
          Integrates with most of tools
        • 64
          Easy to use
        • 63
          Java IDE
        • 32
          Best Java IDE
        • 9
          Open source
        • 3
          Hard for newbews
        • 2
          Great gdb integration
        • 2
          Professional
        • 2
          Good Git client allowing direct stage area edit
        • 2
          True open source with huge contribution
        • 2
          Great code suggestions
        • 2
          Extensible
        • 2
          Lightweight
        • 0
          Works with php
        CONS OF ECLIPSE
        • 14
          2000 Design
        • 9
          Bad performance
        • 4
          Hard to use

        related Eclipse posts

        christy craemer

        UPDATE: Thanks for the great response. I am going to start with VSCode based on the open source and free version that will allow me to grow into other languages, but not cost me a license ..yet.

        I have been working with software development for 12 years, but I am just beginning my journey to learn to code. I am starting with Python following the suggestion of some of my coworkers. They are split between Eclipse and IntelliJ IDEA for IDEs that they use and PyCharm is new to me. Which IDE would you suggest for a beginner that will allow expansion to Java, JavaScript, and eventually AngularJS and possibly mobile applications?

        See more
        Dean Stringer

        Have been a Visual Studio Code user since just after launch to the general public, having used the likes of Eclipse and Atom previously. Was amazed how mature it seemed off the bat and was super intrigued by the bootstrapped nature of it having been written/based on Electron/TypeScript, and of course being an open-source app from Microsoft. The features, plugin ecosystem and release frequency are very impressive. I do dev work on both Mac and Windows and don't use anything else now as far as IDEs go.

        See more
        Spyder logo

        Spyder

        120
        160
        11
        The Scientific Python Development Environment
        120
        160
        + 1
        11
        PROS OF SPYDER
        • 6
          Variable Explorer
        • 2
          More tools for Python
        • 2
          Free with anaconda
        • 1
          Intellisense
        CONS OF SPYDER
        • 1
          Slow to fire up

        related Spyder posts

        Visual Studio logo

        Visual Studio

        48K
        37.3K
        1.1K
        State-of-the-art tools and services that you can use to create great apps for devices, the cloud, and everything...
        48K
        37.3K
        + 1
        1.1K
        PROS OF VISUAL STUDIO
        • 305
          Intellisense, ui
        • 244
          Complete ide and debugger
        • 165
          Plug-ins
        • 104
          Integrated
        • 93
          Documentation
        • 37
          Fast
        • 35
          Node tools for visual studio (ntvs)
        • 33
          Free Community edition
        • 24
          Simple
        • 17
          Bug free
        • 8
          Made by Microsoft
        • 6
          Full free community version
        • 5
          JetBrains plugins (ReSharper etc.) work sufficiently OK
        • 3
          Productivity Power Tools
        • 2
          Vim mode
        • 2
          VIM integration
        • 1
          I develop UWP apps and Intellisense is super useful
        • 1
          Cross platform development
        • 1
          The Power and Easiness to Do anything in any.. language
        • 1
          Available for Mac and Windows
        CONS OF VISUAL STUDIO
        • 16
          Bulky
        • 14
          Made by Microsoft
        • 6
          Sometimes you need to restart to finish an update
        • 3
          Too much size for disk
        • 3
          Only avalible on Windows

        related Visual Studio posts

        Shared insights
        on
        C#C#JavaJavaVisual StudioVisual Studio

        I use C# because of the ease of designing user interfaces compared to Java. Using Visual Studio makes C# a breeze for prototyping and creating apps and I really appreciate how quickly I can turn an idea into reality. I was first introduced to C# in a special topics course and quickly started preferring it over Java. The similarities between the two made the switch easy while the added benefits C# offers made it very worth it.

        See more
        Andrey Kurdyumov

        I use TypeScript because it greatly simplify my refactoring efforts. I regularly re-validate my assumption about application architecture, and strictness of types allow me write make changes safely using just Visual Studio tooling. Integration with existing JavaScript libraries very simple and fast. If I have no time, I could just use any type as output of JS module. When I have more time, I could just submit PR to DefinitelyTyped and it would be quickly accepted. Overall it gives less ambiguity for my code.

        See more