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  1. Stackups
  2. DevOps
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  4. IDE
  5. IntelliJ IDEA vs PyCharm vs Visual Studio

IntelliJ IDEA vs PyCharm vs Visual Studio

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Visual Studio
Visual Studio
Stacks59.6K
Followers37.9K
Votes1.1K
IntelliJ IDEA
IntelliJ IDEA
Stacks44.0K
Followers36.9K
Votes1.5K
PyCharm
PyCharm
Stacks28.4K
Followers24.2K
Votes451

IntelliJ IDEA vs PyCharm vs Visual Studio: What are the differences?

Comparison of IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, and Visual Studio

  1. Pricing Model: IntelliJ IDEA and PyCharm both offer a free Community Edition, while also providing paid versions with additional features. Visual Studio, on the other hand, has both free and paid versions, with the Community Edition being free for most users and the Enterprise Edition offering more advanced features at a cost.

  2. Language Support: IntelliJ IDEA is mainly focused on Java development, while PyCharm is designed specifically for Python development. Visual Studio, on the other hand, provides support for a wide range of languages including C#, F#, JavaScript, and more, making it a versatile choice for multi-language development.

  3. Platform Compatibility: IntelliJ IDEA and PyCharm are both built using the Java platform, making them compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux. Visual Studio, on the other hand, is mainly targeted towards Windows users, although there is a version called Visual Studio Code that is available for macOS and Linux as well.

  4. Featureset: IntelliJ IDEA and PyCharm offer a comprehensive set of features for their respective language domains, including code navigation, debugging, refactoring, and productivity tools. Visual Studio, being a more general-purpose IDE, goes beyond language-specific features and provides extensive support for web development, database management, and cloud integration.

  5. Integration with Ecosystem: IntelliJ IDEA and PyCharm are part of the JetBrains IDE family and provide seamless integration with other JetBrains tools such as TeamCity and YouTrack. Visual Studio, being developed by Microsoft, integrates well with the Microsoft ecosystem, including Azure cloud services, GitHub, and Office 365.

  6. Community and Plugin Ecosystem: IntelliJ IDEA and PyCharm have a strong community and a vast plugin ecosystem, offering additional functionality and customization options. Visual Studio, being widely used by developers across different domains, has a larger community and a rich repository of extensions and plugins available from the Visual Studio Marketplace.

In Summary, IntelliJ IDEA and PyCharm are specialized IDEs focused on Java and Python development respectively, while Visual Studio provides a more versatile solution with support for multiple languages along with advanced features for web development, database management, and cloud integration.

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Advice on Visual Studio, IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm

christy
christy

Program Manager

Jul 1, 2020

Needs adviceonPythonPythonEclipseEclipseIntelliJ IDEAIntelliJ IDEA

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?

2.03M views2.03M
Comments
Manabu
Manabu

CEO, Co-Founder at WinguMD

Jun 13, 2020

Decided

I originally chose IntelliJ over Eclipse, as it was close enough to the look and feel of Visual Studio and we do go back and forth between the two. We really begin to love IntelliJ and their suite of IDEs so we are now using AppCode for the IOS development because the workflow is identical with the IntelliJ. IntelliJ is super complex and intimidating at first but it does afford a lot of nice utilities to get us produce clean code.

551k views551k
Comments
Samriddhi
Samriddhi

Machine Learning Engineer at Chefling

Sep 26, 2020

Decided

Lightweight and versatile. Huge library of extensions that enable you to integrate a host of services to your development environment. VS Code's biggest strength is its library of extensions which enables it to directly compete with every single major IDE for almost all major programming languages.

1.04M views1.04M
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Visual Studio
Visual Studio
IntelliJ IDEA
IntelliJ IDEA
PyCharm
PyCharm

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

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.

PyCharm’s smart code editor provides first-class support for Python, JavaScript, CoffeeScript, TypeScript, CSS, popular template languages and more. Take advantage of language-aware code completion, error detection, and on-the-fly code fixes!

-
Smart Code Completion;On-the-fly Code Analysis;Advanced Refactorings;Database Tools;UML Designer;Version Control Tools;Build Tools
Syntax highlighting;Auto-Indentation and code formatting;Code completion;Line and block commenting;On-the-fly error highlighting;Code snippets;Code folding
Statistics
Stacks
59.6K
Stacks
44.0K
Stacks
28.4K
Followers
37.9K
Followers
36.9K
Followers
24.2K
Votes
1.1K
Votes
1.5K
Votes
451
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 305
    Intellisense, ui
  • 244
    Complete ide and debugger
  • 165
    Plug-ins
  • 104
    Integrated
  • 93
    Documentation
Cons
  • 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
Pros
  • 301
    Fantastically intelligent
  • 242
    Best-in-class ide
  • 190
    Many languages support
  • 158
    Java
  • 121
    Fast
Cons
  • 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
Pros
  • 112
    Smart auto-completion
  • 93
    Intelligent code analysis
  • 77
    Powerful refactoring
  • 60
    Virtualenv integration
  • 54
    Git integration
Cons
  • 10
    Slow startup
  • 7
    Not very flexible
  • 6
    Resource hog
  • 3
    Periodic slow menu response
  • 1
    Pricey for full features
Integrations
No integrations available
Java
Java
Django
Django
Python
Python

What are some alternatives to Visual Studio, IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm?

PhpStorm

PhpStorm

PhpStorm is a PHP IDE which keeps up with latest PHP & web languages trends, integrates a variety of modern tools, and brings even more extensibility with support for major PHP frameworks.

WebStorm

WebStorm

WebStorm is a lightweight and intelligent IDE for front-end development and server-side JavaScript.

NetBeans IDE

NetBeans IDE

NetBeans IDE is FREE, open source, and has a worldwide community of users and developers.

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.

Android Studio

Android Studio

Android Studio is a new Android development environment based on IntelliJ IDEA. It provides new features and improvements over Eclipse ADT and will be the official Android IDE once it's ready.

RubyMine

RubyMine

JetBrains RubyMine IDE provides a comprehensive Ruby code editor aware of dynamic language specifics and delivers smart coding assistance, intelligent code refactoring and code analysis capabilities.

CLion

CLion

Knowing your code through and through, CLion can take care of the routine while you focus on the important things. Boost your productivity with the keyboard-centric approach (Vim-emulation plugin is also available in plugin repository), full coding assistance, smart and relevant code completion, fast project navigation, intelligent intention actions, and reliable refactorings.

Xcode

Xcode

The Xcode IDE is at the center of the Apple development experience. Tightly integrated with the Cocoa and Cocoa Touch frameworks, Xcode is an incredibly productive environment for building amazing apps for Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

Pharo

Pharo

A pure object-oriented programming language and a powerful environment, focused on simplicity and immediate feedback.

Nuclide

Nuclide

A unified developer experience for web and mobile development, built as a suite of packages on top of Atom to provide hackability and the support of an active community.

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