IntelliJ IDEA vs MCreator
IntelliJ IDEA
jetbrains.comMCreator
mcreator.netSide by side
| Figure | IntelliJ IDEA | MCreator |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $8.33/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 5 | 1 |
| Spec score · Minecraft Mod Development Tools | 9.2 (#1) | 7.8 (#15) |
| Spec score · Java IDEs | 9.1 (#1) | 7.5 (#14) |
| Intended users | JetBrains describes IntelliJ IDEA as the leading IDE for professional Java and Kotlin development. | The maker describes MCreator as used by Minecraft players, aspiring mod developers, educators, online classes, and STEM workshops. |
| What it does | IntelliJ IDEA is an integrated development environment for Java, Kotlin, Groovy and Scala that combines editing, debugging, testing, code completion, static analysis and refactoring. | MCreator is open-source software for making Minecraft Java mods, Bedrock add-ons, resource packs, and data packs. |
Plans
IntelliJ IDEA
- Free feature setFree
- IntelliJ IDEA coreFree
- IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate individual$19.90 a month
- IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate subscription$100 a year
- IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate annual$199 a year
In their own words
IntelliJ IDEA
IntelliJ IDEA is an IDE for professional Java and Kotlin development, available on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It offers context-aware completion, static analysis, and automated refactoring. The JVM debugger includes breakpoints, variable inspection, expression evaluation, and step-by-step execution. Gradle and Maven integrations cover building, packaging, testing, and deployment, while version-control support includes Git, Mercurial, Perforce, and Subversion. Users can process GitHub pull requests in the IDE, and plugins from JetBrains Marketplace add support for other languages, frameworks, and technologies. Core Java and Kotlin functionality remains free after the included 30-day Ultimate trial ends. The Ultimate subscription adds advanced tools and integrations and costs $100.00 for the first year, $199.00 for the second year, and $159.00 per year from the third year onward. Listed minimum hardware is a 4-core x86_64 or arm64 CPU, 8 GB total RAM, and 10 GB of disk space. Users can choose in IDE settings whether to share anonymous usage data.
MCreator
MCreator is free, open-source software for making Minecraft Java mods, Bedrock add-ons, resource packs and data packs. A visual interface lets users create many mod elements without programming knowledge, while the integrated code editor provides syntax highlighting, autocomplete, formatting and breakpoint support. Asset tools include texture and animation editors, a mob animation wizard and a sound manager. Built-in testing and a Java debugger support Minecraft client and server work. MCreator Link connects Arduino and Raspberry Pi hardware with Minecraft through procedures, commands and an API. Community plugins can add generator types, procedure blocks, AI tasks and API support, although the maker warns that especially Java plugins can be powerful and should not come from unknown sources. The application runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and internet access is needed during setup to download dependencies. Its desktop app collects anonymous usage data, with analytics disablement available in modern versions. Support includes a knowledge base, wiki, forum and issue tracker. The listed plan costs nothing, with voluntary donations.