IntelliJ IDEA vs NumenText
IntelliJ IDEA
jetbrains.comNumenText
github.comSide by side
| Figure | IntelliJ IDEA | NumenText |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | — |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 1 |
| Spec score · Go IDEs | 9.2 (#1) | 8.4 (#9) |
| Headquarters | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Canada |
| Intended users | JetBrains describes IntelliJ IDEA as the leading IDE for professional Java and Kotlin development. | The README describes it as an option for people who want an IDE in the terminal without learning Vim or modal editing. |
| Product | IntelliJ IDEA is an IDE for professional development in Java and Kotlin. | NumenText is a terminal-based IDE written in Go, designed as a menu-driven editor with familiar shortcuts. |
| System requirements | The 2026.2 guide specifies a four-core x86_64 or arm64 CPU and 8 GB total RAM with 3 GB available to IDE processes. | Installing from source requires Go 1.25 or later, and the project describes the application as a single binary with no runtime dependencies. |
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.
NumenText
NumenText is a terminal-based IDE written in Go, with a non-modal, menu-driven editor for people who want an IDE in the terminal without learning Vim or modal editing. It has multiple tabs, familiar shortcuts, and syntax highlighting for more than 20 languages. Build and run shortcuts cover C, C++, Go, Rust, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Java, and Kotlin. Its LSP client provides autocomplete, go-to-definition, hover information, and diagnostics; its DAP client supports breakpoints and step-by-step debugging. A test runner handles output from go test, pytest, cargo test, Maven, and Gradle, alongside configurable formatters and linters. Other tools include an integrated PTY terminal, regex search and replace, Markdown preview, a hex viewer and editor, bookmarks, TODO/FIXME scanning, and Git diff markers. It runs on macOS and Linux and is available free under Apache License 2.0. The project describes it as a single binary without runtime dependencies; compiling from source requires Go 1.25 or later.