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Codespaces vs JetBrains IDEs comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Codespaces
Ranking in IDE
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
4.6
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
Development Platforms (3rd)
JetBrains IDEs
Ranking in IDE
5th
Average Rating
8.8
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the IDE category, the mindshare of Codespaces is 8.4%, down from 21.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of JetBrains IDEs is 7.7%, up from 5.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IDE Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Codespaces8.4%
JetBrains IDEs7.7%
Other83.9%
IDE
 

Featured Reviews

RituRaj - PeerSpot reviewer
SDE 2 at Virtusa
Cloud workspaces have transformed backend onboarding and support fast, consistent microservice development
From an improvement perspective, Codespaces is very strong overall, but a few areas where it could improve are the following. First, cost optimization and visibility. For larger teams, costs can grow quickly. More detailed cost tracking, alerts, and optimization recommendations would help. Second, performance consistency. Sometimes startup times or resource performance can vary depending on the workspace size or network conditions. Third, offline or hybrid capabilities. Since it is cloud-dependent, limited connectivity can affect productivity. Better offline synchronization options would be very useful. For backend teams, especially, enhanced enhancements around scaling heavier workloads and optimizing Docker-based environments would also add a lot of value. One additional improvement is around long-running development sessions and enterprise-scale workflows. For example, better persistence and recovery options after inactive sessions or reconnects would improve the experience for developers working on larger projects. More optimized handling for heavy IDE extensions and Docker workloads would help teams working with complex backend systems. Overall, the platform is already very productive, but enhancements around performance optimizations, enterprise governance, and large-scale collaboration would make it even stronger for advanced engineering teams.
reviewer2014131 - PeerSpot reviewer
DevSecOps Security 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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We see benefits from Codespaces in terms of onboarding new team members; it is very simple."
"The developer experience is consistent, and its pricing makes sense since it optimizes the resources."
"Codespaces' most valuable feature is the repository, which helps the developers to work together. Its data commands are also useful."
"The review functionality of the pull requests is very handy, as not only can you give comments, but you can also suggest replacements for sentences with different words."
"Instead of spending time troubleshooting local environment issues, I can directly focus on development."
"I prefer Codespaces because it gets activated in seconds and has all the pre-dependencies which any developer could need, such as Docker and Python."
"The most valuable features of the solution are Copilot and Advanced Security."
"The product allows us to implement feature-related changes or improvements on time. Whenever I write a section of the code or create a new code, it automatically integrates with the former code."
"From the very beginning to the deepest thing I could possibly want to develop, I believe I could do it all using JetBrains IDEs."
"The best features JetBrains IDEs offer include the many tools which are available inside the tool and how it makes you a faster Java developer by providing the right tools and code hinting."
"Good support for refactoring."
"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."
"Having the complete development environment in Linux in the same way as in Windows is already the best."
"The UI is pretty good and very intuitive."
"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."
 

Cons

"From an improvement perspective, Codespaces is very strong overall, but a few areas where it could improve are the following. First, cost optimization and visibility, because for larger teams, costs can grow quickly."
"We get merge conflict errors and need to resolve them."
"The technical support could respond faster."
"The earlier Git Codespaces billing setup on GitHub was much simpler. You could easily see how much credit you have, how much you have used, and your balance. Now they have changed it, and it's confusing to understand how much Codespaces time you have, how much you have used, and how much they are charging."
"Sometimes it is just two or three hours a day where they are totally unreachable, and it might happen like five times a month."
"The product indicates incorrect statistics."
"The main issue is related to state preservation on a disconnection. When I close the laptop and open it in a different place, the state of the environment disappears, and I need to rerun several commands."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"Sometimes, plugins (from third parties) are not updated."
"One of the most important things to improve is the consumption of resources, mainly memory."
"One thing I think could be improved in JetBrains IDEs is the integration with ChatGPT, which I feel could be deeper."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"From what I've seen, the solution doesn't seem like it's overly expensive for what you get."
"I am using the product’s free version."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Educational Organization
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Wholesaler/Distributor
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise1
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Codespaces?
We found the price of Codespaces is acceptable for us.
What needs improvement with Codespaces?
From an improvement perspective, Codespaces is very strong overall, but a few areas where it could improve are the following. First, cost optimization and visibility. For larger teams, costs can gr...
What advice do you have for others considering Codespaces?
My advice for the team evaluating Codespaces would be to start with a small project first to standardize your dev container configurations and workflow before scaling organization-wide. Invest time...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for JetBrains IDEs?
I have no issues at all with pricing, setup cost, and licensing.
What needs improvement with JetBrains IDEs?
JetBrains IDEs could be improved with even better integration of AI tools. I would also like it to make it easier to detect new features.
What is your primary use case for JetBrains IDEs?
My main use case for JetBrains IDEs is Java development and technical writing. I have a lot of ongoing open-source projects. I also do a lot of technical writingAzul, which is done in AsciiDoc or i...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Citi, Siemens, Salesforce, Twitter, HP, New York Times, Pintrest, Airbnb, Expedia, Samsung, Volkswagen, Wikipedia, NASA
Find out what your peers are saying about Codespaces vs. JetBrains IDEs and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.