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  1. Stackups
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  4. IDE
  5. IntelliJ IDEA vs NetBeans IDE

IntelliJ IDEA vs NetBeans IDE

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

NetBeans IDE
NetBeans IDE
Stacks679
Followers947
Votes514
IntelliJ IDEA
IntelliJ IDEA
Stacks44.0K
Followers36.9K
Votes1.5K

IntelliJ IDEA vs NetBeans IDE: What are the differences?

Introduction

IntelliJ IDEA and NetBeans IDE are popular integrated development environments (IDEs) used for Java development. While both IDEs provide similar functionalities, there are key differences that set them apart.

1. Installation and Configuration:

IntelliJ IDEA requires a longer installation and configuration process compared to NetBeans IDE. IntelliJ IDEA also needs more memory and system resources to run efficiently.

2. User Interface (UI) and Theme Customization:

IntelliJ IDEA has a clean and modern user interface with customizable themes, allowing developers to personalize their coding environment. NetBeans IDE, on the other hand, has a more traditional and less customizable UI.

3. Code Completion and Warnings:

IntelliJ IDEA offers advanced code completion and suggestions, which makes writing code faster and more efficient. It also provides real-time warnings and error highlighting, helping developers catch bugs early. NetBeans IDE offers similar features but may not be as intelligent in code suggestion and error detection.

4. Plugins and Extensions:

IntelliJ IDEA has a vast library of plugins and extensions, allowing developers to enhance their development experience with additional features and integrations. NetBeans IDE also provides plugins but may have a smaller selection compared to IntelliJ IDEA.

5. Performance and Resource Usage:

IntelliJ IDEA is known for its fast and smooth performance, even with large and complex projects. It utilizes system resources more efficiently, resulting in a quicker and more responsive coding experience. NetBeans IDE may experience slowdowns and performance issues, especially when dealing with larger projects.

6. Community and Support:

IntelliJ IDEA has a strong and active community, with regular updates and bug fixes. It also provides excellent support through documentation, forums, and tutorials. NetBeans IDE has a smaller community and may have less frequent updates and support resources.

In Summary, IntelliJ IDEA offers a more streamlined and customizable user interface, advanced code completion and warnings, a wide range of plugins and extensions, better performance and resource usage, and has a larger and more active community and support system compared to NetBeans IDE.

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Advice on NetBeans IDE, IntelliJ IDEA

Jonas
Jonas

Jun 22, 2022

Decided

When I work with Java, I use IntelliJ IDEA. When I want super-b Refactoring and Search/Replace Functionality, I use IntelliJ.

When working on anything else, I've chosen to adopt Visual Studio Code - a IDE that implements many features important and interesting to the developer experience and doesn't make me miss many things from Jetbrains while being so lightweight that I install it everywhere, even when I would've just wanted to install Notepad++.

I install it everywhere, and if it's my machine, I sign into my GitHub Account to sync all Extensions and Settings and unlock all GitHub seamlessness-capabilities.

The browser-only capability is awesome and allows for extremely seamless and fast ad-hoc development from anywhere just by signing in to GitHub.

I only really use the GUI/Side-Bar Tools "Project Manager", "GitLens", "Git Graph" and "Git History". But i do have installed many other Developer Experience changing extensions as well. For the interested, you can take a look at my VS Code Extensions I documented over at my GitHub

[Addendum 2022/08] I recently found out about that VSCode also has Live Share Extension, similiar to the one Jetbrains added in one of the newer versions. Very neat and nicely implemented over SSH too. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/liveshare/


My Jetbrains History:

IntelliJ is an awesome tool. It does everything for you, without even noticing - i.e. automatic Gradle dependency installation or adding Gradle dependencies through GUI.

I really got to use most Shortcuts and enjoyed the Weekly Tips.

I can't emphasize enough how well it's Quick Fixes and Refactoring work.

It allows you to generate all kinds of boilerplate (e.g. Getter/Setter/Constructor, toString, JavaDoc). It has a ByteCode Previewer. It has an awesome Debugger.

Also: During my 4 years in apprentice as an IT-Technician in which I also worked on some Grails (Spring) Projects it also was nice that IntelliJ IDEA ULTIMATE, which I got for free thanks to an all-time available offer for students, had Grails-aware functionality. The primary functionality I'm talking about is the ability to automatically generate a graphical database diagram for by a click on the Domain Class. Experimenting with this I quickly understood all the Relation Database Paradigms and how to implement them with GORM, or how GORM translates to database through IntelliJ's Database Tab Integration.

70.6k views70.6k
Comments
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

Detailed Comparison

NetBeans IDE
NetBeans IDE
IntelliJ IDEA
IntelliJ IDEA

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

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.

Best Support for Latest Java Technologies;Fast & Smart Code Editing;Easy & Efficient Project Management;Rapid User Interface Development;Write Bug Free Code;Support for Multiple Languages;Cross Platform Support;Rich Set of Community Provided Plugins
Smart Code Completion;On-the-fly Code Analysis;Advanced Refactorings;Database Tools;UML Designer;Version Control Tools;Build Tools
Statistics
Stacks
679
Stacks
44.0K
Followers
947
Followers
36.9K
Votes
514
Votes
1.5K
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 76
    Rich features
  • 69
    Crossplatform
  • 49
    Plugins(Git, SVN)
  • 38
    Extensible
  • 38
    Easy to use
Cons
  • 2
    PHP debug doesn't support conditional breakpoints
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
Integrations
No integrations available
Java
Java

What are some alternatives to NetBeans IDE, IntelliJ IDEA?

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.

Visual Studio

Visual Studio

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

WebStorm

WebStorm

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

PyCharm

PyCharm

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!

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.

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