Comparison

IntelliJ IDEA vs Visual Studio

No clear leader: Visual Studio (58.0) and IntelliJ IDEA (53.3) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

IntelliJ IDEA full profile →Visual Studio full profile →

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IntelliJ IDEA53

Visual Studio58

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	IntelliJ IDEA	Visual Studio
Vioscale score	53 / 100medium · 53%	58 / 100medium · 54%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	-	✓
Modelpricing.model	commercial	commercial
Price levelpricing.price_level	-	mid
Transparentpricing.transparent	-	✓
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	9	2
Security
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	✓	-
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	✓	-
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	4.4	-
Soc2security.soc2	✓	-
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=maven&package_name=com.intellij%3Aannotations&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0	-
Reliability
Status pagereliability.status_page	✓	✓
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	890	-
Github starsadoption.github_stars	20,488	-
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	100	-
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	1	-
Historyrelease.history	20 items	-
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	Java	-

Score

Vioscale score

IntelliJ IDEA53 / 100medium · 53%

Visual Studio58 / 100medium · 54%

Pricing

Free tier

IntelliJ IDEA–

Visual Studio✓

Model

IntelliJ IDEAcommercial

Visual Studiocommercial

Price level

IntelliJ IDEA–

Visual Studiomid

Transparent

IntelliJ IDEA–

Visual Studio✓

Integrations

Count

IntelliJ IDEA9

Visual Studio2

Security

Disclosure policy

IntelliJ IDEA✓

Visual Studio–

Gdpr

IntelliJ IDEA✓

Visual Studio–

Scorecard

IntelliJ IDEA4.4

Visual Studio–

Soc2

IntelliJ IDEA✓

Visual Studio–

Vulnerabilities

IntelliJ IDEACount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=maven&package_name=com.intellij%3Aannotations&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Visual Studio–

Reliability

Status page

IntelliJ IDEA✓

Visual Studio✓

Adoption

Dependent repos

IntelliJ IDEA890

Visual Studio–

Github stars

IntelliJ IDEA20,488

Visual Studio–

Activity

Commits last 30d

IntelliJ IDEA100

Visual Studio–

Release

Cadence days

IntelliJ IDEA1

Visual Studio–

History

IntelliJ IDEA20 items

Visual Studio–

Language

Primary

IntelliJ IDEAJava

Visual Studio–

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for ides & code editors. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capability comparison for IDEs & Code Editors
Capability	IntelliJ IDEA	Visual Studio
Core
Type	Full IDE	Full IDE
Language scope	-	Polyglot
Deployment
Deployment	Desktop	Desktop
Platform support
OS support	-	Windows, macOS, Linux
Base platform	Original	Original
Extensibility
Extensibility	Plugins	Extension marketplace
DX
LSP / DAP support	-	-
Remote / dev-containers	✓	-
Integrated debugger / profiler	✓	✓
Code intelligence depth	IDE-grade	IDE-grade
Built-in git integration	-	✓
AI
Built-in AI	Native	Native
Licensing
Openness	Open-core	-
Pricing
Pricing model	-	-

Core

Type

IntelliJ IDEAFull IDE

Visual StudioFull IDE

Language scope

IntelliJ IDEA-

Visual StudioPolyglot

Deployment

IntelliJ IDEADesktop

Visual StudioDesktop

Platform support

OS support

IntelliJ IDEA-

Visual StudioWindows, macOS, Linux

Base platform

IntelliJ IDEAOriginal

Visual StudioOriginal

Extensibility

IntelliJ IDEAPlugins

Visual StudioExtension marketplace

LSP / DAP support

IntelliJ IDEA-

Visual Studio-

Remote / dev-containers

IntelliJ IDEA✓

Visual Studio-

Integrated debugger / profiler

IntelliJ IDEA✓

Visual Studio✓

Code intelligence depth

IntelliJ IDEAIDE-grade

Visual StudioIDE-grade

Built-in git integration

IntelliJ IDEA-

Visual Studio✓

Built-in AI

IntelliJ IDEANative

Visual StudioNative

Licensing

Openness

IntelliJ IDEAOpen-core

Visual Studio-

Pricing

Pricing model

IntelliJ IDEA-

Visual Studio-

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

IntelliJ IDEA

An IDE that accelerates software development through smart code editing, debugging, and analysis tools, enhanced with native AI capabilities for code completion and suggestions.

Independently observed

Visual Studio

Comprehensive integrated development environment for .NET and C++ development with AI-powered assistance, integrated debugging, testing, and CI/CD integration. Available as Visual Studio IDE for Windows and macOS, plus Visual Studio Code for cross-platform web development.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

IntelliJ IDEA

Pricing not documented yet.

Visual Studio

from $45/moHybridFree tier

Free Community edition; subscriptions from $45/user/mo to $499.92/user/mo

CommunityFree
- Full IDE capabilities for .NET and C++ development
Professional standard$99.99/user/mo (paid annually), renews at $66.59/user/mo
- Visual Studio Professional
- Azure DevOps (Basic plan)
- $50 Azure credit per month
- Basic dev/test software
- Training and support
Enterprise standard$499.92/user/mo (paid annually), renews at $214.09/user/mo
- Visual Studio Enterprise
- Azure DevOps (Basic + Test plan)
- $150 Azure credit per month
- Premium dev/test software
- Extended training and support
- +1 more
Professional monthly$45/user/mo
- Visual Studio Professional
- Azure DevOps (Basic plan)
Enterprise monthly$250/user/mo
- Visual Studio Enterprise
- Azure DevOps (Basic + Test plan)

as of 2026-08-03verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	IntelliJ IDEA	Visual Studio
macOSPlatforms	✓	✓
WindowsPlatforms	✓	✓
LinuxPlatforms	✓	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	-	✓

Platforms

macOS

IntelliJ IDEA✓

Visual Studio✓

Windows

IntelliJ IDEA✓

Visual Studio✓

Linux

IntelliJ IDEA✓

Visual Studio✓

Deployment

Self-hosted

IntelliJ IDEA–

Visual Studio✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

IntelliJ IDEA

9 total

Claude
GPT
Gemini
Grok
GitHub Copilot
Cursor
Junie
Claude Agent
Codex

Independently observed

Visual Studio

2 total

GitHub
Azure

Independently observed

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.