Ide reviews from Reddit

Summary

We analyzed 772 Reddit reviews across 52 subreddits and 79 posts to rank the best Ide brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/learnpython, r/archlinux, r/cpp_questions, r/rust, r/learnprogramming. Top-rated brands include JetBrains (4.3/5), Microsoft (4.3/5), Visual Studio Code (4.4/5).

Stats

Reviews772

Subreddits52

Posts79

Brands79

Products36

Top communities

r/learnpython116 r/archlinux105 r/cpp_questions95 r/rust73 r/learnprogramming47

772 reviews from

and

By Brand

By Product

JetBrains

4.3

(103)

"Jetbrains is love. Jetbrains is life."

"Clion."

"Yo!!! Jetbrains ===> CLion, you're good to go bruv."

"RustRover provides a fluent and consistent experience for me."

"CLion"

"Clion from JetBrains, VS code with extensions also a good choice"

"Im a CLion stan. CMake is not as bad as people claim most of the time and I just dig Jetbrains IDEs…"

"RustRover, it’s just delightful."

"Clion + Rust plugin. Their refactor, cargo feature toggle and debugger are so good."

"I use Zed and RustRover for Rust though. Both are cool, much better than VSCode."

Microsoft

4.3

(103)

"I have VSCode with Free Copilot from MS for autocomplete, works great and free."

"For me, vscode is the best balance between performance and ease of setup and use."

"VSCode is by far the best IDE, IMHO."

"VSCode is the way to go."

"VS Code is great, it also has a ton of extensions available."

"Vs code, just go for it"

"VS code is the one u need, has all the language, mostly he’s the go to"

"VSCode will do the thing you require."

"Currently, VS Code is the way to go for a polyglot IDE."

"VS Code is a proper recommendation. Try it"

Visual Studio Code

4.4

(70)

"VSCode + Solidity extension (By Nomic Foundation) + Hardhat"

"Vscode is the best I feel."

"IMO VSCode is the best period."

"Vs code is probably the right choice."

"VScode"

"VSCode+ Elixir LS has improved in leaps and bounds in the recent months."

"VS Code + Elixir LS works super for me."

"Vs code."

"Vscode works really well, whether it's for the debugger, the linker, or auto-completion."

"I use VScode for personal, and have PyCharm on work laptop."

Neovim

4.4

(50)

"Neovim is better"

"Neovim if you have time to learn it"

"Use neovim"

"It's very hard to beat NVIM."

"Neovim"

"Neovim, VsCode, or any other good text editor would do the job."

"Neovim"

"Neovim, best for everything as soon as you've learned to use it"

"Check out [https://github.com/khraosgenetor/nvim-conf](https://github.com/khraosgenetor/nvim-conf), it has config for C and C++ along with some other languages."

"Neovim with clangd, use bear to generate compile_commands.json if using make or autotools for buildsystem."

PyCharm

4.7

(36)

"Jetbrain by Pycharm or VSCode."

"I’m a PyCharm guy."

"Pycharm sets up a venv for you so can be easier."

"A time saver is the AI feature in PyCharm."

"I'd say I'm a beginner and I get along great with Pycharm."

"Seems like PyCharm is the way to go!"

"Go for pycharm. If you are willing to pay for it, buy the ai copilot."

"I'm only a hobby python Coder but when it comes to python, I really like pycharm community."

"PyCharm is great. It doesn't matter too much as long as you choose an IDE with auto-complete."

"IMO pycharm is the best for a beginner."

VS Code

4.6

(27)

"VS Code."

"Just use vscode."

"VSCode is more beginners friendly."

"What you need is VS code."

"Vscode with extensions."

"...I recommend you follow along with the recommendation of vs code."

"I recommend you move to either VS Code or PyCharm when you want to expand your Python into writing actual program, or software engineering."

"Supported by Epic on Windows"

"Don't use an IDE yet, get vscode"

"Both are great."

Visual Studio

4.4

(27)

"Get Visual Studio Community Edition, instructions here."

"If you want to use an IDE, I strongly recommend Visual Studio."

"Visual studio. Community version is free."

"If new, and on Windows primarily, then just use Visual Studio."

"I've used CodeBlocks, Eclipse and VS Code, but they don't stack up against VS."

"As a novice on Windows, definitely Visual Studio."

"Visual Studio Community Edition, hands down."

"For reverse engineering, you REALLY want Visual Studio."

"Visual studio, period"

"Visual Studio. Hands down."

CLion

4.3

(25)

"Nothing comes close to Jetbrain's Clion."

"CLion for the win, best prediction."

"I use Clion. I feel like it throws me more accurate squiggles than VS."

"Clion if you're a student or don't mind paying a bit for, in my opinion, the best C/C++ ide"

"Nothing remotely comes close to CLion. Seriously, it's that good."

"My personal favourite is clion"

"CLion"

"The latest CLion"

"CLion is great."

"CLion is the way to go, but it's pretty expensive."

Zed

4.2

(25)

"Zed is fantastic. It’s very fast, has extensive support for many languages."

"I would chose zed it’s written in rust and it’s fast and fresh."

"If you have linux or mac, try Zed. Its built using Rust and is super fast."

"After having issues day after day with vscode and elixir ls in macos, zed seems to have a better and built-in elixir support."

"If I was picking an IDE fresh, I'd go with Zed."

"Zed has become my daily driver for elixir."

"Zed.dev is the best editor for me."

"Lately I've been trying out Zed because it, too, emphasizes being an excellent editor. However, their AI integration is also top-notch."

"Zed from the creators of Atom. Written in Rust from the ground up. Moving fast with a great community"

"Zed."

#10

Code::Blocks

3.6

(22)

"I like codeblocks if you just want to learn and its a solid ide for application development."

"Code::Blocks, cross-platform, open source, pretty lightweight."

"Maybe try code::blocks. It's good for school level."

"Based on what you said, i think CodeBlocks IDE will work great for your needs."

"I've always liked codeblocks."

"Code::Blocks is super lightweight."

"Visual Studio community edition, but it is a bit large. Code:Blocks is fine as well and is lightweight."

"Code::Blocks - low memory, easy installation, come with a compiler."

"Code:blocks and codelite is good starting point."

"But if you actually want an IDE like Visual Studio 2022 then check out Code::Blocks"

#11

Thonny

4.4

(16)

"Thonny."

"I'd heard of Thonny but never really looked at it until just now."

"I always recommend Thonny for beginning programmers, as it was designed with "learning how to program" in mind."

"I love it, and I believe it does everything you're looking for. Interface is customizable, and has all sorts of bells and whistles you can turn on/off."

"It has a debug thing that lets you run the lines you’re working on step by step to find the bug."

"Thonny is a great IDE for beginners."

"It's simple enough to not overwhelm the very beginner."

"Thonny: Another excellent option for beginners, Thonny offers a simple interface and debugging tools."

"Thonny looks like a possible friendly solution."

"For a beginner I would suggest Thonny, for a more featured IDE then either VS Code or PyCharm."

#12

Spyder

3.9

(16)

"Spyder with Anaconda is perfect for new programmers."

"For a beginner I'd say python and spyder would be a solid starting point."

"I think the spyder. It can be a little tough to set up but the variable explorer helps you really understand the data structure."

"I like Spyder for that."

"Feel comfortable with spyder although many other people have told me about pycharm and vs code."

"If you want something to pick up and use I would go for spyder."

"I used Spyder before. Using Pycharm now. LOVE PyCharm."

"Beginner Exploration: Spyder, included in Anaconda."

"I'd recommend spyder since allow you to see all the variables in a easier way, similar to matlab."

"Try Spyder. It has interface like MATLAB which should be familiar to electrical students."

#13

Cursor

3.6

(14)

"Yes, I do have experience with CursorAI, Windsurf, Trae, and of course, VSCode. While each one has its pros and cons, every IDE offers a very good development experience."

"You just can't beat Cursor. Closest is Windsurf"

"Hook up your database to Cursor as an MCP and you can just NLP your database operations. Ive been doing this for 2 weeks or so. It works well."

"Cursor. Just because the tab autocomplete is extremely good."

"Cursor obviously the others are just toys, meme tools."

"VSCode, or if you want some ai help, cursor."

"I have been using Cursor lately and it has done well."

"I’ve been using Cursor lately. It’s quite good."

"Honestly Cursor AI. For $20 you get a pretty good platform."

"I love cursor. Actually i love It a bit too much."

#14

Vim

4.1

(12)

"Vim works great for me"

"If you are comfortable with modal editors"

"Vim with Rust plugin is fast"

"Vim."

"Vim"

"Vim with tmux."

"If you need any suggestions then i think you should try Vim."

"Vim"

"You can use vim/neovim and configure it as you need"

"Vim"

#15

VSCodium

4.0

(12)

"A version of Visual Studio Code without the MS Telemetry."

"VSCodium works pretty well."

"I use VScodium with clangd and it's great."

"Just feels right to do VSCodium + Neovim"

"VSCodium or Zed"

"Vscodium is what I use though."

"Vscodium or neovim with plugins"

"But if you want something more graphical, VSCodium (not VSCode!)"

"VScodium ? and you can slap microsoft C/C++ extension into it."

"VsCODIUM"

#16

Helix

4.0

(12)

"Helix"

"Use Helix"

"Helix!"

"I really like using Helix. It has special hotkeys that do things other IDEs don't have."

"Helix with Zellij."

"It's like neovim, but faster, simpler and has everything out of the box."

"Helix/Neovim or Zed... Helix and Zed has built-in the whole workflow you need for programming."

"Helix"

"You can use Helix."

"Similar to Nvim but with a better user experience. No support plugins yet, and no full LSP highlighting."

#17

VSCode

3.4

(13)

"I would recommend switching to VSCode for the software engineering side."

"I'm a big fan of VSCode. There is an extension from AdaCore which works with libadalang."

"In the year 2024, we use VSCode. It is really good, and fast."

"VSCode's Elixir plugin is the one I've enjoyed the most so far."

"I use VScode."

"If you liked vscode, you can use code-oss, which is basically if not mostly the same thing."

"VSCode with good C++ extensions installed."

"VS Code."

"If you go with VS code, use vscodium instead."

"I usually use vscode, however there are instances when I'm working with razor pages."

#18

Sublime Text

4.4

(10)

"Sublime Text is great for writing code."

"LSP, LSP-clangd, CMakeBuilder, GitSavvy"

"Typst syntax highligthing"

"Actively supported and maintained"

"I stayed with... Sublime Text (the free edition)."

"Sublime text works quite well!"

"Sublime text with rust-analyzer and rust-enhanced is fast and featureful."

"Sublime Text is pretty good in this regard."

"Sublime itself is very lightweight and extension provides nice debug feature."

"I use Sublime mostly. Sometimes I use VSCode or Cursor."

#19

Emacs

3.9

(11)

"I’ve been able to tweak Emacs to replace iA Writer. This solution completely libre and looks the same on Mac, Linux, and windows."

"Customize your IDE"

"EMACS."

"Emacs"

"Just use emacs or vim."

"Emacs, VSCode, Eclipse."

"I use Emacs for C++ dev and it works great for me."

"My only editor for years"

"I use Emacs. It's not really fast or light though."

"Emacs, vscodium, or code::blocks."

#20

WebStorm

5.0

(8)

"Webstorm is the way to go."

"Webstorm basically. IntelliJ for my case used PHPStorm before a lot."

"WebStorm all the way. Full IDE. Unmatched version control integration."

"Team JetBrains here. WebStorm for all JS or front end projects."

"I am using webStorm for web development including nuxt."

"I'm using Webstorm and I'm so happy with it."

"Webstorm is the best there is."

"Very code"

#21

Qt Creator

4.0

(8)

"What about Qt Creator???"

"I'd recommend trying QtCreator."

"QtCreator."

"Qtcreator is the best free IDE that will work on both windows and linux"

"Qtcreator, codelite"

"Qtcreator is good. It's lightweight, supports LSP, can do simple refactoring and etc."

"Some of the best open-source ones are: QtCreator, Code::Blocks, Vim (More of an editor, but many prefer that)"

"Qt Creator, even if you don't use Qt at all."

#22

IntelliJ

3.6

(8)

"I like it."

"I really like IntelliJ"

"IntelliJ is an excellent alternative IDE."

"Free edition of Intellij does the work well."

"You can definitely write spring applications in the free version of IntelliJ."

"IntelliJ Ultimate is a powerful IDE."

"But it was damn slow for me - sometimes a simple cursor movement was laggy"

"Cluttered"

#23

Jupyter

4.5

(6)

"Jupyter for all python tasks and IDLE for Flask Web App and Socket Programming"

"Jupyter Lab is an excellent tool for data science!"

"Notebooks are excellent for structured tasks and autograding."

"Jupyterlab has a desktop application that makes it super easy for beginners."

"Data Science, academic, teaching, Jupyter, everywhere, but also part of Anaconda."

"Data analysts may prefer Jupyter. Only one file and you just smash code in it, executing immediately."

#24

Typora

4.8

(5)

"Smooth af and nice themes."

"Typora is excellent for writing, figures, and tables."

"It's minimalistic, it's clean and it's fast."

"I REALLY like typora.io. That was the app that got me into Markdown."

"I prefer Typora for the writing experience."

#25

Xcode

4.6

(5)

"Xcode."

"On a Mac, install Xcode."

"Go into Xcode"

"Xcode + CMake"

"On the Mac I'd use XCode with project setup by cmake. Pretty straightforward."

#26

IDLE

4.2

(5)

"IDLE, Jupyter Notebook, Notepad++ will all be used."

"IDLE: This built-in Python IDE provides a user-friendly interface and is great for practicing basic syntax and concepts."

"1. Idle. It comes with Python, has a "run file" button (f5) and familiarizes you quickly with the command line/editor environment."

"I'm surprised to see nobody here mentioned IDLE."

"I usually have kids at Code Clubs start with IDLE which is included when you install Python from the official source."

#27

JetBrains Rider

5.0

(4)

"I use the same stack and for me it's Jetbrain Rider, python plug-in and web plug-in."

"Best is rider no doubts."

"Proper IDE: Rider."

"Pointless to use anything besides Rider and VS."

#28

Eclipse

3.8

(5)

"Eclipse is the only one that the profs use. I run it on my MacBook and it works perfectly!"

"VS Code or Eclipse will do it all."

"I like Eclipse. It supports Java, C, C++, Python, R and probably others."

"Eclipse or Code::Blocks are the closest IDEs you can get for free, alternatives to Visual Studios"

"Eclipse is an option - not my preferred one, but people swear by it."

#29

CodeLite

3.8

(5)

"I have used CodeLite for quite some time and I truly enjoy it."

"Codelite.. everything works out of the box"

"I found it surprisingly nice, for how rarely it's recommended!"

"Codelite or Qt Creator."

"CodeLite, QtCreator, wxDevCpp (lol)"

#30

Nvim

4.8

(4)

"My favourite is nvim or vim in a terminal window."

"Very dark 'midnight' theme"

"Works fine"

"Similar to VScode but with terminal-based modal editing. Good if you're an advanced keyboard user."

#31

Google

4.5

(4)

"I recommend Google Colab or some other cloud notebook."

"Google Colab is not an IDE but it has several useful libraries related to Data Science pre-installed and it also gives access to free GPUs/TPUS on the cloud."

"I have fallen in love with [google colab](https://colab.research.google.com/#)."

"You could try Google Colab although that is not quite an IDE. It is great for short scripts and one can get a lot done on Colab."

#32

RustRover

4.5

(4)

"RustRover is a great tool for Rust development."

"Best IDE support. Integrations with other Jetbrains products, complex refactors, etc. Uses its own analyzer (NOT Rust-Analyzer) which is better in some regards, but mostly worse in my experience."

"Good tool for Rust programming."

"Comprehensive solution"

#33

Jupyter Notebook

4.5

(4)

"Jupyter Notebook 6, Python 3.7 + IDLE, Flask 2.3, MongoDB Server."

"I recommend you stay with Jupyter Notebook or Google Collabs until you have solid foundations in the statistic side of things."

"Jupyter Notebook is the best for beginners, then you should move to VSCode."

"Jupyter Notebooks are a great learning tool."

#34

DBeaver

4.3

(4)

"DBeaver is my fav"

"The beaver is my second favorite."

"DBeaver is useful for executing commands without UI pauses."

"DBeaver is a versatile tool that supports multiple databases."

#35

Geany

4.0

(4)

"Fast enough"

"I switch among geany, obsidian and ghostscript."

"I use Geany (free and multiplatform)"

"Simple and fast"

#36

Micro

4.0

(4)

"I really like an editor called 'micro'."

"Micro Editor in the linux terminal. It has been a very good experience!"

"I'm using micro and it's pretty nice."

"If you want windows like keybindings use micro text editor."

#37

Snowflake

3.5

(4)

"Combination of Snowsight in Chrome, VSC, and SnowSQL CLI."

"Snowsight's split screen feature is very handy."

"I still use Snowsight quite a bit."

"Plus window handling in Snowsight, like you say it's not good for a lot of work."

#38

Kate

3.5

3.3

(3)

"It can do basic color coding and it won't overwhelm a newbie."

"Notepad++ It's very unintimidating with syntax highlighting."

"I would truly recommend not using an IDE."

#47

Anaconda

5.0

(2)

"Python? Use anaconda."

"Use the Anaconda installer for python. It was created primarily for data scientists, but for a beginner it comes with absolutely everything you need."

#48

Neo

5.0

(2)

"Get out of your comfort zone and don't let IDE spoil yourself."

"Use NEO VIM"

#49

JetBrains PyCharm

5.0

(2)

"Jetbrains IDEs are really excellent."

"PyCharm, CLion"

#50

Roo Code

3.0

3.0

(1)

"Its decent , I have to write additional lua script to handle most of my day to day job"

Discover your audience

GummySearch is an audience research toolkit for 130,000 unique communities on Reddit.

If you are looking for startup problems to solve, want to validate your idea or find your customers online, GummySearch is for you.

Tell me more

Get started