Best Integrated Development Environments in 2026
Updated
In short: Visual Studio is ranked #1 of 62 as of 4 October 2026, ahead of CLion and Eric. The best-ranked option with a free plan is CLion. The lowest first paid tier on this page is RustRover at $6.90/mo.
A development environment can bring build, debugging, testing, and project tools into the workflow you use to ship software. Compared on build tools, dev container support, integrated debugging and testing, project management, and supported operating systems, the entries offer concrete dimensions for comparing environments. Free-plan availability and paid-from pricing add access and cost considerations. Visual Studio, IntelliJ IDEA, and PyCharm lead the ranking, followed by Rider, CLion, Qt Creator, and WebStorm among the first entries. Check the capabilities against your project requirements and operating systems, then use the ranking order as another point of reference.
62 integrated development environments ranked on what their makers publish — plans and prices, free tiers, platforms and the facts on their own pages.
| # | Platform | Score | Why | From | Free plan | Paid from | Supported operating systems | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Visual Studio | 6.0 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | 45 /user/mo | windows | View |
| 2 | CLion | 5.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | $10.90/mo | Yes | — | — | View |
| 3 |  Eric | 5.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | — | View |
| 4 | GoLand | 5.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | No | — | — | View |
| 5 | PyCharm | 5.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | $16.67/mo | Yes | — | — | View |
| 6 |  Qt Creator | 5.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | — | View |
| 7 | Rider | 5.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | $14.08/mo | Yes | — | — | View |
| 8 | WebStorm | 5.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | — | View |
| 9 |  Xojo | 5.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | — | View |
| 10 | Apache NetBeans | 5.8 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | — | View |
| 11 |  BlueJ | 5.8 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | — | View |
| 12 | Code::Blocks | 5.8 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | — | View |
| 13 | Eclipse IDE | 5.8 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | — | View |
| 14 | IntelliJ IDEA | 5.8 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | $8.33/mo | Yes | — | — | View |
| 15 | KDevelop | 5.8 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | — | View |
| 16 | RustRover | 5.8 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | $6.90/mo | Yes | — | — | View |
| 17 |  Thonny | 5.8 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | — | View |
| 18 |  Omnis Studio | 5.7 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | $62.50/mo | Yes | 62.5 /user/mo | — | View |
| 19 |  Posit Package Manager | 5.7 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | — | View |
| 20 | GeneXus | 5.6 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | — | View |
| 21 |  LabVIEW | 5.6 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | — | View |
| 22 | PureBasic | 5.6 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | — | View |
| 23 | RubyMine | 5.6 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | — | View |
| 24 |  TRAE | 5.6 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | — | View |
| 25 | Allegro CL | 5.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | — | View |
Is your platform on this list?
Numbered spots on this list can be sponsored. They are labelled, and the editorial order and scores never change for payment.
Questions about this list
Which integrated development environment is ranked first on Inferse?
Visual Studio is ranked #1 of 62 with a score of 6.0. CLion is second and Eric third.
How many of these have a free plan?
16 of the 25 on this page publish a free plan on their own pricing pages.
Which is the cheapest paid option?
On this page, RustRover has the lowest first paid tier we found: $6.90/mo.
How is this list ranked?
Ranked on what each maker publishes, open and connectable first: a public API, open-source code, the depth of its documentation and a free tier to try it on. Model lists are sorted by the figure in their title, exactly as each provider publishes it. Paid placements never change a rank.