Six Months of Java Development: My VS Code vs. IntelliJ Experiment

Let me be honest with you. I'm primarily a Python and computer vision guy. So when my startup decided to rebuild our data pipeline in Java last year, I had a choice to make. Stick with VS Code, which I've used for everything from ML notebooks to TypeScript frontends? Or finally bite the bullet and pay for IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate?

Instead of making a gut decision, I did something that probably annoyed my team lead: I designed a proper experiment. Three months with VS Code for all my Java work. Three months with IntelliJ. Real production code. Tracked metrics. No cheating.

The VS Code vs. IntelliJ for Java development 2024 debate has gotten more interesting lately. VS Code's Java support has improved dramatically, and the "free vs. paid" question deserves a real answer. Not a Reddit hot take. Not a YouTube thumbnail comparison. An actual measured assessment.

Here's what six months of daily Java development taught me about both IDEs, including some conclusions that surprised me.

The Experiment Setup: Projects, Metrics, and Keeping Things Fair

Three distinct project types made up my testing ground:

Project A: A Spring Boot microservice with about 15,000 lines of code, typical CRUD operations, REST APIs, and PostgreSQL integration.

Project B: A data processing pipeline using Apache Beam, around 8,000 lines, heavy on generics and complex type hierarchies.

Project C: Our legacy monolith, a 52,000-line beast that nobody fully understands. The real stress test.

For metrics, I tracked:

• Time from opening the IDE to productive coding (indexing, setup)
• Debugging session lengths for similar bug types
• How often I had to leave the IDE to accomplish something
• Weekly time spent managing the IDE itself (updates, extensions, configurations)
• Memory consumption during typical work sessions

To keep things fair, I used the Extension Pack for Java with all recommended extensions on the VS Code side. For IntelliJ, I used Ultimate with default settings, adding plugins only when I would've naturally discovered them.

One thing I couldn't control: my familiarity with VS Code. Five years of daily use. IntelliJ was newer to me. So I gave myself two weeks of adjustment time at the start of each period, which I excluded from the data.

Round 1: Daily Coding Compared with Real Examples

Let's start with autocomplete, since you'll experience it hundreds of times per day.

IntelliJ's autocomplete is genuinely smarter. When I typed list.stream().filter(, IntelliJ would suggest lambda parameters based on the list's generic type and show me the most likely predicates based on field types. VS Code's completion was correct, but it felt like reading documentation while IntelliJ was reading my mind.

Here's a specific example. I had a List<CustomerOrder> and wanted to filter by status. After typing list.stream().fil in IntelliJ, it immediately suggested .filter(order -> order.getStatus().equals( with the cursor positioned for me to type the status value. VS Code? It suggested .filter( and waited for me to figure out the rest.

Navigation is where IntelliJ pulled ahead significantly. That "Go to Implementation" feature handles interfaces and abstract classes beautifully. With VS Code, I'd often end up at the interface definition when I wanted the actual implementation. Finding all usages of a method across a large codebase was noticeably faster with JetBrains' approach.

But here's where VS Code surprised me: code generation was closer than I expected. With the right extensions, getter/setter generation, constructor creation, and test stub generation worked nearly as well. Not quite as polished, but functional.

For quick edits and smaller files, I actually preferred VS Code's speed. It felt more responsive for single-file operations. IntelliJ's power comes with a weight you can feel in every interaction.

Round 2: Debugging Showdown

I'll be direct: IntelliJ's debugger crushed VS Code for Java work. It wasn't even close.

I figured this out debugging our Apache Beam pipeline. I needed to evaluate a complex stream expression mid-debug to understand why a transformation was failing. IntelliJ's "Evaluate Expression" window let me write multi-line code, call methods on suspended objects, and even modify variables to test hypotheses.

What about VS Code's debugging? Functional for basic breakpoints. Setting conditional breakpoints worked fine. Stepping through code worked fine. But the moment I needed to inspect something complex or evaluate an expression involving generics, I hit walls.

Here's a concrete example. I had a Map<String, List<ProcessedRecord>> that needed inspection. With IntelliJ, I could expand the map, see all entries, drill into specific lists, and evaluate expressions like map.get("customer_123").stream().anyMatch(r -> r.isValid()) directly in the debugger.

With VS Code, I could see the map existed. Getting useful information from it required adding print statements to my code and rerunning. This alone probably cost me 30 minutes per week during my VS Code period.

Where it didn't matter: simple null pointer exceptions, basic flow debugging, and startup issues. Both IDEs handled these fine. If your debugging needs are straightforward, VS Code works. If you're working with complex data structures or concurrent code, IntelliJ's debugger is worth the money.

Round 3: The Hidden Cost Calculator

The "free vs. paid" comparison is misleading because it ignores your time.

VS Code setup time for Java:

• Installing extensions: 15 minutes
• Configuring build tools correctly: 45 minutes to 2 hours (depending on your project complexity)
• Troubleshooting extension conflicts: happened twice, cost me about an hour total
• Configuring formatting to match team standards: 30 minutes
• Setting up test runners properly: 20 minutes

IntelliJ setup time:

• Installation and license activation: 10 minutes
• Importing project: it just worked. Maven detected, dependencies downloaded, everything indexed without my intervention.

Over three months, I spent approximately 8 hours managing my VS Code Java setup. Updates broke things. Extensions conflicted. Configuration files needed manual editing. IntelliJ required maybe 90 minutes of maintenance total.

Is JetBrains worth the cost compared to free VS Code in 2024? IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate pricing varies by license type: individual licenses start at $169/year for the first year with discounts in subsequent years, while business licenses run $599/year for the first year. If you value your time and you're doing serious Java development, the math often works out in IntelliJ's favor. That surprised me. I wanted VS Code to win this round.

[Link: Developer productivity tools and their true cost]

Round 4: Large Project Performance

The 52,000-line monolith was my stress test. This is where debates about VS Code vs. IntelliJ usually get heated, so let me share my observations.

Initial indexing time: Both IDEs took several minutes to index the project. Exact time varied depending on the day and what else was running on my machine, but IntelliJ generally completed indexing faster in my experience. Your mileage will vary significantly based on hardware, project structure, and configuration.

Memory usage during typical work (8 files open, debugger running): IntelliJ consistently used more memory than VS Code in my setup. Exact figures varied based on which extensions I had running in VS Code and what IntelliJ had indexed, but IntelliJ is hungrier. No question. If you're running on a laptop with 8 GB of RAM, this matters.

The "find all usages" test on a commonly used utility method: IntelliJ was noticeably faster, often returning results nearly instantly while VS Code took a few seconds. The performance gap was consistent across multiple tests, though exact timings varied.

Renaming a widely used interface: IntelliJ handled this significantly faster in my testing, and it caught usages in configuration files I'd forgotten existed. VS Code completed the task but took longer, and I had to manually verify some results.

Here's what really mattered for large project work: IntelliJ's refactoring tools actually understood my code. When I extracted a method, it suggested appropriate parameter types. When I moved a class, it updated imports across the project and warned me about package-private access issues.

VS Code's refactoring felt like sophisticated text manipulation. It usually worked, but I didn't trust it for major refactors without manual review. With IntelliJ, I'd refactor with confidence and move on.

The Verdict: Who Should Pay and Who Shouldn't

After six months, here's my honest breakdown for whether professional developers should use paid IDEs:

Use IntelliJ IDEA if you:

• Work on Java projects larger than 10,000 lines regularly
• Debug complex applications frequently
• Do serious refactoring as part of your workflow
• Value your time and can expense the cost
• Work with Spring, Jakarta EE, or other enterprise frameworks

Stick with VS Code if you:

• Write Java occasionally alongside other languages
• Work on smaller projects or microservices under 5,000 lines
• Have a tight budget and can't expense software
• Prioritize minimal resource usage
• Primarily need an editor with some IDE features

What about full-stack developers who need both? Is the JetBrains All Products Pack worth it? That's complicated. I found myself missing VS Code's polyglot flexibility when working in IntelliJ. WebStorm vs. VS Code for TypeScript projects? Honestly, VS Code wins there. PyCharm vs. VS Code for Python? For ML work, I still prefer VS Code with the Python extension.

[Link: Best development environments for full-stack work]

Here's what I actually use now: IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate for Java work, VS Code for everything else. Switching IDEs based on what I'm doing, not based on ideology.

If you're making this decision, ask yourself three questions:

First, how much of your week involves Java specifically? If it's less than 30%, VS Code is probably fine. More than that, and IntelliJ's advantages compound.

Second, what's your debugging situation? Basic breakpoints and variable inspection? VS Code handles it. Complex data structures, concurrent code, or production debugging? Pay for IntelliJ.

Third, can you expense software? If your employer pays for tools, there's no reason not to use IntelliJ for Java. If you're paying out of pocket, the equation changes.

The VS Code vs. IntelliJ for Java development 2024 answer isn't universal. It depends on your work, your projects, and your budget. But I hope this experiment gives you real data instead of opinions.

One final thought: the best IDE is the one you know well. Whichever you choose, invest time learning its shortcuts and features. A developer who knows VS Code deeply will outperform someone fumbling through IntelliJ's menus. Tools matter less than skill with those tools.

Now stop reading comparison articles and go write some code.