CLion vs PyCharm
CLion
jetbrains.com
PyCharm
jetbrains.comSide by side
| Figure | CLion | PyCharm |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $10.90/mo | $8.33/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 5 |
| Spec score · Integrated Development Environments | 9.3 (#1) | 8.9 (#5) |
| Spec score · Integrated Development Environment Ide Software | 9.4 (#1) | 8.9 (#4) |
| Spec score · Debugging Software | 9.4 (#1) | 9.0 (#4) |
| Spec score · IDE Software | 9.4 (#2) | 8.9 (#6) |
| Spec score · Developer Tools | 9.4 (#3) | 8.9 (#7) |
| Company headquarters | JetBrains lists its headquarters at Terrace Tower, Gelrestraat 16, Amsterdam, Netherlands. | LinkedIn lists Amsterdam as JetBrains' headquarters. |
| Company legal name | Crunchbase identifies the legal entity as JetBrains s.r.o., a private for-profit company. | Crunchbase lists JetBrains s.r.o. as the company's legal name and identifies it as privately held. |
| Company size | LinkedIn places JetBrains in the 1,001–5,000 employee range and lists Amsterdam as headquarters. | LinkedIn lists JetBrains in the 1,001–5,000 employee range. |
| Debugging | CLion supports GDB and LLDB and includes memory and disassembly views, variable inspection, and core dump debugging. | PyCharm includes a configurable visual debugger that works locally, remotely, in virtual environments, and in containers. |
| Documentation | The help center covers installation, toolchains, project formats, debugging, testing, version control, profiling, remote development and plugin development. | JetBrains maintains versioned PyCharm 2026.2 documentation covering setup, interpreters, testing, debugging, databases, remote development, security, plugins, and data sharing. |
| Founded | 2000 | 2000 |
| Headquarters | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Purpose | CLion is a cross-platform IDE for C and C++ development. | PyCharm is an IDE built for web, data, and AI/ML professionals. |
| Rating on Capterra | 4.7 out of 5 from 15 reviews | 4.7 out of 5 from 371 reviews |
| Rating on G2 | 4.4 out of 5 from 55 reviews | 4.6 out of 5 from 788 reviews |
| Rating on GetApp | 4.7 out of 5 from 15 reviews | 4.7 out of 5 from 370 reviews |
| Rating on Trustpilot | 2.6 out of 5 from 102 reviews | 2.6 out of 5 from 102 reviews for JetBrains |
| Rating on TrustRadius | 8.4 out of 10 from 14 reviews | 9.3 out of 10 from 233 reviews and ratings |
| Remote development | Remote development uses an SSH server and requires local or network block storage; NFS and SMB network filesystems are unsupported. | Remote development uses a lightweight JetBrains Client connected by SSH to a Linux host; recommended hosts have at least two CPU cores, 4 GB RAM, and 5 GB disk. |
Plans
CLion
- CLion Non-CommercialFree
- CLion Commercial$10.90 a month
- CLion Commercial — Individual$10.90 a month
- All Products Pack$29.90 a month
PyCharm
- PyCharm coreFree
- PyCharm FreeFree
- PyCharm Pro personal annual first year$100 a year
- PyCharm Pro$200 a year
- PyCharm Pro commercial annual$200 a year
In their own words
CLion
CLion is a cross-platform IDE for C and C++ development, available for Linux, macOS and Windows. Its editor provides context-aware completion, code analysis, navigation and automated refactoring. Projects can use CMake, Makefile, Bazel, Meson or compilation databases. Debugging includes GDB and LLDB, variable inspection, memory and disassembly views, and core dump debugging. Remote workflows include a thin IDE client, full remote mode, Docker containers, WSL toolchains and remote debugging. For embedded development, CLion supports GCC ARM, IAR and custom toolchains, on-chip debugging, PlatformIO, STM32CubeMX, Zephyr and FreeRTOS. Testing support covers Google Test, Boost.Test, Doctest and Catch with a built-in runner. The IDE also integrates version control systems and supports CMake, Python, JavaScript, XML, HTML and Markdown, with other languages available through plugins. The non-commercial plan costs nothing and is for non-commercial use. Commercial development requires a subscription; CLion Commercial — Individual costs $10.90 a month and includes a free 30-day trial.
PyCharm
PyCharm is an IDE for web, data, and AI/ML professionals, with tools for Python development. It provides code completion, PEP 8 checks, inspections, and refactoring, alongside debugging and testing. The IDE includes an integrated terminal, package managers, Docker integration, and support for Pipenv, conda, virtualenv, and Poetry. Version control includes Git, GitHub, GitLab, Subversion, Mercurial, and Perforce; database tools cover MySQL, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Redis, and other providers. Local AI code completion can run local LLMs without sending code over the internet. Remote development supports several listed services, and remote connections use end-to-end TLS 1.3 with SSH security and host-fingerprint verification. PyCharm runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Its free plan costs nothing and includes one month of Pro. The listed Pro plan costs $200 a year, billed per user per year. PyCharm Ultimate can be evaluated free for 30 days before purchase and license activation are required.