IntelliJ IDEA review 2026: Java and Kotlin IDE features, Ultimate vs free edition, pricing, pros, cons and top alternatives like Eclipse and VS Code.
IntelliJ IDEA is JetBrains' flagship integrated development environment, first released in January 2001 and built primarily around Java and Kotlin development. It is widely credited within the Java community for introducing deep, static-analysis-driven productivity features, such as on-the-fly code inspection and safe automated refactoring, that later became standard expectations across modern IDEs.
JetBrains, the company behind IntelliJ IDEA, was founded in 2000 in Prague by Sergey Dmitriev, Valentin Kipyatkov, and Eugene Belyaev. The company remains headquartered in Prague and has grown into one of the most respected developer-tools vendors globally, also building PyCharm, WebStorm, PhpStorm, GoLand, Rider, CLion, and the Kotlin programming language, which Google designated an official language for Android development.
IntelliJ IDEA provides intelligent, context-aware code completion, real-time code inspection and quick-fixes, and a large library of safe automated refactorings that can rename, extract, or restructure code across an entire project with confidence. It includes a full-featured debugger, native support for build tools like Maven and Gradle, integrated version control, and a built-in terminal.
Historically the Ultimate Edition added support for additional languages (PHP, JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Go, Ruby, SQL) and enterprise frameworks such as Spring, Jakarta EE, Hibernate, Micronaut, and Quarkus, plus built-in database tools and Android development support; as of the December 2025 unified release, these capabilities live inside a single IntelliJ IDEA install and are unlocked by an active subscription rather than requiring a separate paid product.
Since the unified 2025.3 release, IntelliJ IDEA is free to download and use for both commercial and non-commercial projects, with an expanded set of core Java and Kotlin features available at no cost. Previously Ultimate-only capabilities, such as extended language and framework support, now require an active JetBrains subscription to unlock inside the same installation.
An individual (personal-use) subscription costs 199 dollars per year, or 19.90 dollars per month, with loyalty discounts reducing the price to 159 dollars in year two and 119 dollars in year three of continuous subscription. Organizations pay a higher per-seat commercial rate, and JetBrains also sells an All Products Pack bundling every JetBrains IDE under one subscription; students, teachers, and open-source maintainers can qualify for free licenses.
Yes, since the unified 2025.3 release IntelliJ IDEA is free for both commercial and non-commercial use, with core Java and Kotlin features included; previously Ultimate-only capabilities require a paid subscription to unlock.
IntelliJ IDEA is made by JetBrains, a company founded in 2000 in Prague, Czech Republic, by Sergey Dmitriev, Valentin Kipyatkov, and Eugene Belyaev.
An individual subscription unlocking Ultimate-tier features costs 199 dollars per year, or 19.90 dollars per month, with loyalty discounts in later renewal years.
Historically Community supported Java, Kotlin, Groovy, and Scala with basic frameworks for free, while Ultimate added extra languages and enterprise framework support; as of December 2025 both live in one unified installation gated by subscription.
Yes, IntelliJ IDEA has first-class Kotlin support since JetBrains created and maintains the Kotlin programming language itself.
Common alternatives include Eclipse, Visual Studio Code with Java extensions, NetBeans, and Android Studio, which is itself built on the IntelliJ platform.