Eclipsevs
JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA
JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA: Commercial IDE by JetBrains with superior performance optimization, powerful Java development tools, and responsive user interface compared to Eclipse.
Overview
What Eclipse does
Eclipse IDE is a leading open platform for professional developers. It provides comprehensive facilities for software development including a workspace, extensible plug-in system, and rich client platform for developing applications.
What people use it for
- Java application development
- Enterprise software development
- Web application development
- Plugin development
- Educational programming
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Eclipse.
- High memory consumption and CPU usage, especially with multiple plugins installed
- Slow startup times and performance degradation with large projects or many open editors
- Requires configuration of eclipse.ini file to optimize heap sizes for adequate performance
- User interface considered outdated compared to modern IDE alternatives
- User base fell from 39% of Java developers in 2024 to 28% in 2025, indicating market decline
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Eclipse
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- EclipsevsDocker
Docker: Containerization platform providing development and deployment tools that work alongside or replace traditional IDEs for modern application development.
- EclipsevsGitHub
GitHub: Platform providing development tools and collaboration features that complement or replace Eclipse for modern software development workflows.
Capabilities
Features
Java development environment
Java development environment capability
Extensible plugin architecture
Extensible plugin architecture capability
Integrated debugger
Integrated debugger capability
Code refactoring
Code refactoring capability
Version control integration
Version control integration capability
Build automation
Build automation capability
Multi-language support
Multi-language support capability
Rich client platform
Rich client platform capability
Git
Integration with Git
SVN
Integration with SVN
Maven
Integration with Maven
Gradle
Integration with Gradle
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
How much does Eclipse IDE cost?
Eclipse IDE is completely free and open-source, released under the Eclipse Public License 2.0.
SourceBehind it
Who makes Eclipse
- Company
- Eclipse Foundation
- Based in
- Ottawa, Canada
Keep looking
Where to go from Eclipse
- Eclipse alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Eclipse pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- All Technology softwareThe full category
- Best Technology softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Eclipse, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Eclipse
Eclipse alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Eclipse pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Eclipse
Put it head to head with anything we hold
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