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JetBrains IDEs vs Windsurf comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

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

JetBrains IDEs
Ranking in IDE
4th
Average Rating
8.8
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Windsurf
Ranking in IDE
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.4
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
AI Code Assistants (1st), AI Software Development (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the IDE category, the mindshare of JetBrains IDEs is 7.1%, up from 5.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windsurf is 5.6%, down from 10.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IDE Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Windsurf5.6%
JetBrains IDEs7.1%
Other87.3%
IDE
 

Featured Reviews

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.
DHARMA-TEJA - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Enginner at Sera AI
Feature workflows have become faster and context-aware development is now system-focused
Windsurf has become less of a tool and more of a core part of how I build. I do not think in terms of writing code line by line anymore; I think in terms of features, flows, and systems, and Windsurf helped me translate that into actual implementation across the codebase. It fits especially well when I am doing rapid prototyping, exploring new ideas or architectures, or iterating on existing features quickly. At the same time, one thing I have noticed in my workflow is around model switching. When I switch between models, the GPT generating agent models sometimes the deeper context regarding decision reasoning or intermediate steps does not fully carry over, so I end up re-establishing context manually every time. It is so much painfully manual; that is not a blocker, but since I work on fairly complex multi-step systems, having strong cross-model memory consistency would make it even more powerful. One thing I would really appreciate is stronger cross-model memory and context continuity. Right now, when I switch between models, the surface-level context is there, but the deeper reasoning regarding why certain decisions were made or how a flow evolved does not always carry over fully. Since I work on complex and multi-step agents, I end up re-establishing the context manually. If Windsurf could maintain a kind of shared memory layer across models where intent, decisions, and intermediate steps persist, it would make the whole experience much more seamless. Improving the memory continuity and control would take it from powerful to extremely reliable at scale. Overall, Windsurf is already a strong tool, but there are a few areas where improvements would make a big difference, especially for advanced workflows. The first is cross-model memory and context continuity. The second is better control over agent execution. Right now, when switching between models—for instance, if I am using a tier of models and then I reach a limit, and then I need to switch to a lesser limit model—the high-level context is there, but deeper reasoning is lost. A shared memory layer across models would make the experience much more seamless. Furthermore, while Cascade is powerful, for larger changes, it would help to have more visibility or control, such as previewing the execution plan and guiding steps before it runs. The UI and documentation provided are pretty good, though I think there is room for true visibility and feedback during agent execution. While the amount of time put into the design and documentation is great, figuring out things with the documentation can often be done without any third-party help. Some advanced use cases are not fully explored in the documentation, but the best practices for using agents effectively are very clear, such as how to structure prompts for multi-file changes and how to guide Cascade for better outputs. Real-world advanced examples are already implemented in there; that could be very helpful for us. The main advice I would give to others looking into using Windsurf is to not use it as a traditional code assistant. Windsurf really shines when you treat it as a feature-level or system-level tool, not just something for autocomplete or small snippets. So instead of thinking "write this function," think more toward "build this flow." Learn how to guide it properly. That is the main thing I would advise: learn how to guide it properly, how to prompt it properly, and start with real use cases, not toy examples.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"From the very beginning to the deepest thing I could possibly want to develop, I believe I could do it all using JetBrains IDEs."
"Fast, and I never had a crash."
"Having the complete development environment in Linux in the same way as in Windows is already the best."
"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."
"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."
"The UI is pretty good and very intuitive."
"Windsurf's best feature is that it is agentic."
"I think Windsurf is the one that offers the most consistent experience."
"Windsurf has positively impacted my work and has allowed me to work much faster and create higher-quality tests, cover more backend areas with automated tests, meet deadlines, and be more efficient compared to other IDEs."
"Earlier we were handling two projects, but now we can handle 14 projects."
"Windsurf has positively impacted my organization by improving our code quality and reducing our development time."
"Windsurf has saved a lot of time, and productivity has gone up at least 200%."
"Overall, Windsurf is a great tool, fitting the current AI journey that individual organizations are looking to join, and it is really helping employees and developers accelerate their code generation lifecycle."
"Windsurf has positively impacted my organization in that writing code is very fast and easy."
 

Cons

"One thing I think could be improved in JetBrains IDEs is the integration with ChatGPT, which I feel could be deeper."
"JetBrains IDEs could be improved with even better integration of AI tools."
"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."
"One of the most important things to improve is the consumption of resources, mainly memory."
"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."
"Sometimes, plugins (from third parties) are not updated."
"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."
"Windsurf should definitely improve on the retrieval coverage side and multi-agent side, which Cloud Code and others have."
"Windsurf can be improved by using better models, especially state-of-the-art ones."
"Windsurf's stability is a good question. I do not know if it is due to my computer configuration or Windsurf itself, but Windsurf CASCADE agent pane on the right side does not open most of the time."
"Windsurf can be improved in several ways, such as enhancing response times and better handling of massive codebases when dealing with over 100K plus files, along with improved security controls."
"Windsurf has certain features that do not work properly. The inline completion feature is not very accurate as it does not account for project context."
"Most of the context tokens are consumed by documentation. We need a good structure for the agent to be optimized with this. Most of the time, our developers are wasting money because the agent does not save the context properly."
"My main point is perhaps having more models available for free or inexpensive, and perhaps reducing the price of Opus 4.6, which I use a lot, but otherwise, I feel good with the features of the product as of now."
"From a usability perspective, Windsurf should be more user-friendly."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Insurance Company
8%
Wholesaler/Distributor
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise16
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Windsurf?
Regarding pricing, I am a developer, and the pricing is handled by my management team and the platform team. As a developer, I was mainly focused on using the product rather than the procurement side.
What needs improvement with Windsurf?
Room for improvement is actually associated with every AI that exists. One thing is that if there is a very large codebase, such as a legacy codebase, sometimes the context window is a hindrance. T...
What is your primary use case for Windsurf?
I am a software developer with over two years of experience. I have been using Windsurf for approximately one to one and a half years since its introduction into my organization. I primarily work i...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Citi, Siemens, Salesforce, Twitter, HP, New York Times, Pintrest, Airbnb, Expedia, Samsung, Volkswagen, Wikipedia, NASA
Dell, Anduril, MongoDB, Zillow, Atlassian
Find out what your peers are saying about JetBrains IDEs vs. Windsurf and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,800 professionals have used our research since 2012.