JetBrains IDEs vs NetBeans comparison

JetBrains and Apache are both solutions in the IDE category. JetBrains is ranked #5 with an average rating of 6.0, while Apache is ranked #8. JetBrains holds a 8.2% mindshare in IDE, compared to Apache’s 4.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of JetBrains users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of Apache users who would recommend it.

JetBrains IDEs

Read 6 JetBrains IDEs reviews

885 Views
885 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

NetBeans

Read 8 NetBeans reviews

636 Views
636 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

JetBrains IDEs

NetBeans

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between JetBrains IDEs and NetBeans based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two IDE solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed JetBrains IDEs vs. NetBeans Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

JetBrains IDEs vs. NetBeans

March 2026

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Helped 885,264 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

JetBrains IDEs

Ranking in IDE

5th

Average Rating

8.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

NetBeans

Ranking in IDE

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the IDE category, the mindshare of JetBrains IDEs is 8.2%, up from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetBeans is 4.4%, up from 4.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IDE Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
JetBrains IDEs	8.2%
NetBeans	4.4%
Other	87.4%

IDE

Featured Reviews

Souhardyya Biswas

Software Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Long-term coding has benefited from intuitive UI and tools but now needs lighter performance

I am using the code completion feature in IntelliJ, and it helps me with my development processes. I use advanced debugging tools. The advanced debugging tools are useful for resolving code issues. The integration with version controls is seamless. GitHub is what I use. For my professional role, I need to use GitHub Enterprise, and the way it is set up in my enterprise, it does not allow linking it with IntelliJ. That is where I am stuck using the CLI. GitHub itself has a very robust CLI, so I have no complaints there. For personal use, GitHub integrates really well with IntelliJ. The UI is pretty good and very intuitive. I actually use the new UI which IntelliJ provides, and that is very intuitive and good.

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Dragan Bjedov

Java Developer at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees

Some of the valuable features are Java development, RCP support and support for various other languages.

* Java development support. (The Java editor is one of the best Java IMHO editors. Java projects support Ant and Maven.) * RCP support * GUI editor for Java windows * RCP support: An easy way to create your own app using NetBeans base. There is a lot of documentation for RCP creation. * Plugins can be easy created. Also there is support for other languages as C/C++, HTLM5, Javascript, Groovy, PHP... There is a lot of plugins that can be easily installed.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Fast, and I never had a crash."

"The best features offered by JetBrains IDEs include a super attractive set of language-specific tools including debuggers, symbol monitors, and the extensions that come with it, which helps me get a much more in-depth view of my code rather than relying on print or log statements."

"From the very beginning to the deepest thing I could possibly want to develop, I believe I could do it all using JetBrains IDEs."

"Good support for refactoring."

"The UI is pretty good and very intuitive."

"Having the complete development environment in Linux in the same way as in Windows is already the best."

"It seems to me as one of the best IDEs in the market, they are always releasing new versions with positive improvements, and in my opinion, I recommend it in its entirety."

"Overall, for our company, it has been a good addition, as development times have been shortened using NetBeans."

"The learning curve is easy and fast because the interface is simple and intuitive, enabling us to easily train developers who are not expert in metrics."

"Setup is very simple and short, and integrating existing code and projects is also very simple."

"Server Support"

"It is easy to deploy, manage servers, and ORMS resources."

"C++ 11 support (for a long time)"

"I recommend NetBeans because it is easy to use, open source, free of charge, and has really strong community."

"Go for it! You’ll never look back!"

More NetBeans pros

Cons

"One thing I think could be improved in JetBrains IDEs is the integration with ChatGPT, which I feel could be deeper."

"Sometimes, plugins (from third parties) are not updated."

"I see as a disadvantage the high prices of the license purchase that is almost $ 500 per year since this limits the use of IDE and especially for those developers who work on their own since it requires a large investment."

"I have noticed that when I switch to less powerful machines, IntelliJ seems to use up the RAM and the machine gets really slow and really hot quite quickly, which is not the case with Visual Studio."

"One of the main issues with JetBrains IDEs is that it is very heavy, taking a lot of time to load and using a lot of memory."

"One of the most important things to improve is the consumption of resources, mainly memory."

"Sometimes, plugins (from third parties) are not updated."

"t is a very heavy load on the computer, especially when you compare with Sublime Text Limited plugins and themes."

"Background scanning of sources on demand, disallowed by Options (processor usage, build cannot be deleted by the old version build)."

"I would like there to be better integration with Git, as there are IDEs such as Eclipse that offer this integration in a much more elegant way than NetBeans."

"There are always rooms for improvement for any product."

"One of main areas that the tool can improve is performance."

"Debugging: Watches, Evaluate Expression, and data inspection are limited."

"The debugging mechanize could be improved compared to IntelliJ, for example."

"I would like there to be better integration with Git, as there are IDEs such as Eclipse that offer this integration in a much more elegant way than NetBeans."

More NetBeans cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"NetBeans is free and open source."

"I am sad that CLion is not free. Currently, it has no support for Linux makefiles, only cmake, and this is a big mess."

"It is an open source and free tool, with no changes, and the licensing allows me even to change source code, if I need."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Wholesaler/Distributor

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

Insurance Company

Comms Service Provider

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Large Enterprise	1

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	1
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with JetBrains IDEs?

I have used solutions such as GitHub code scanning, WatchTower, and Dependabot, but I do not regularly use them. I have used Dependabot, but I do not regularly use it.

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What is your primary use case for JetBrains IDEs?

I use JetBrains IDEs and Visual Studio in tandem. Within JetBrains IDEs, I use IntelliJ. IntelliJ and Visual Studio are what I use primarily. Developing code and writing code is the key use case fo...

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What advice do you have for others considering JetBrains IDEs?

GitHub is what I am using for version control. Mostly with GitHub I am working for version control. One year back was the last time when I worked with Dependabot. I would absolutely use a plugin fo...

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IDE

March 2026

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Buyer's Guide

IDE

March 2026

Download NetBeans product report

Overview

At JetBrains, code is our passion. For over 15 years we have strived to make the strongest, most effective developer tools on earth. By automating routine checks and corrections, our tools speed up production, freeing developers to grow, discover and create.

JetBrains

NetBeans IDE. The Smarter and Faster Way to Code. Quickly and easily develop desktop, mobile and web applications with Java, PHP, C/C++ and more. NetBeans IDE is FREE, open source, and has a worldwide community of users and developers.

Apache

Sample Customers

Citi, Siemens, Salesforce, Twitter, HP, New York Times, Pintrest, Airbnb, Expedia, Samsung, Volkswagen, Wikipedia, NASA

Weyco Group Inc.

Buyer's Guide

JetBrains IDEs vs. NetBeans

March 2026

Free Report: JetBrains IDEs vs. NetBeans

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