Toolradar Research
IDE and code editor statistics 2026
First-party data on the 125 IDEs and code editors Toolradar tracks: 90% free tier, the highest in this wave, and Turbopack at 3.00 from 4,912 reviews against Notepad++ at 4.60.
Founder, Toolradar & Dupple
Key findings
What the data shows.
- 01
125 IDEs and code editors tracked, holding 37,890 aggregated third-party reviews. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)
- 02
90% offer a free tier, the highest free-access share in this research wave. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)
- 03
Turbopack sits at 3.00 from 4,912 reviews. Notepad++ sits at 4.60 from 4,525. VS Code sits at 4.60 from 2,732. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)
- 04
JetBrains leads the commercial cut at 4.50 from 5,053 reviews. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)
- 05
The median paid plan starts at $10 a month. Most editors never reach a paid tier. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)
About the research
How we built this report.
Toolradar tool database. Editorial review with weekly pricing verification.
2026. Snapshot taken September 17, 2026. Refresh due Dec 17, 2026.
Public scoring rubric. See how we rate for the full criteria.
Creative Commons BY 4.0. Quote, link, and reuse with attribution.
IDEs are free, and one bundler in the pile is not. Toolradar tracks 125 editors holding 37,890 reviews. 90% offer a free tier. JetBrains holds 5,053 reviews at 4.50. Turbopack holds 4,912 at 3.00. Notepad++ holds 4,525 at 4.60. VS Code holds 2,732 at 4.60. The category mixes editors with a compiler toolchain. The 3.00 is the toolchain, not the editor.
Every figure below is computed from the Toolradar directory on September 17, 2026. The live dashboard is IDEs and code editors statistics. The buyer ranking is best IDEs and code editors.
How large the category is
We track 125 published tools, or 1.2% of the 10,619 tools in the directory. 78% (98 of 125) were added to Toolradar in 2026. "Added" means added to our directory, not founded this year.
A $10 IDE seat is a JetBrains plan. VS Code and Notepad++ do not live on that median.
How these tools are priced
10% of the 125 tools are paid-only. 90% offer a free tier or freemium plan (113 tools). 50% are fully free.
n = 125 tools, September 17, 2026How IDEs and code editors are priced
For the 21 tools that publish a paid tier, the median entry price is $10 a month and the mean is $40.
n = 21 tools with a published paid tierEntry price distribution
The catalog-wide median entry is $20 (software pricing statistics).
How these tools are rated
66 of 125 tools carry a rating (53%). Those ratings rest on 37,890 reviews. Unweighted mean 4.32. Review-weighted mean 4.21.
n = 66 rated toolsRating distribution
The most-reviewed tools on September 17, 2026:
| Tool | Rating | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| JetBrains | 4.50 | 5,053 |
| Turbopack | 3.00 | 4,912 |
| Notepad++ | 4.60 | 4,525 |
| IntelliJ IDEA | 4.10 | 3,752 |
Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.
Read Turbopack as a tagged toolchain, not as a VS Code rival. Among actual editors, Notepad++ and VS Code sit at 4.60 and JetBrains at 4.50. The free editors hold the score.
The highest-rated tools with at least 150 aggregated reviews:
| # | Tool | Rating | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Notepad++ | 4.60 | 4,525 |
| 2 | Visual Studio Code | 4.60 | 2,732 |
| 3 | Jupyter | 4.60 | 332 |
| 4 | DataGrip | 4.60 | 161 |
| 5 | Jetbrains | 4.50 | 5,053 |
| 6 | Sublime Text | 4.50 | 3,165 |
| 7 | Syncfusion | 4.50 | 1,772 |
| 8 | Android Studio | 4.50 | 773 |
| 9 | Replit | 4.50 | 568 |
| 10 | Studio 3T | 4.50 | 286 |
Notepad++ leads at 4.60.
Review volume by platform:
| Review platform | Tools with a profile | Aggregated reviews | Mean rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| G2 | 55 | 24,795 | 4.50 |
| Capterra | 20 | 6,813 | 4.63 |
| Trustpilot | 13 | 5,835 | 3.01 |
| SourceForge | 18 | 447 | 4.41 |
Three tools worth comparing are Notepad++, VS Code, and JetBrains.
How often pricing moves
Our pricing tracker logged 11 pricing changes for these tools in 2026, 0 of them applied.
How this data was measured
Every figure in this report is computed live from the Toolradar directory on September 17, 2026, covering the 125 published tools we categorize under IDEs and code editors. Pricing model is read from each vendor's official pricing page. The entry price is the cheapest positive monthly tier a tool publishes. Ratings and review counts are aggregated from third-party platforms (G2, Capterra, Trustpilot and others), not from Toolradar's own reviews. The leaderboard floor is 150 aggregated reviews. This is a directory snapshot, not a survey.
Cite this report
- APA: Corneloup, L. (2026). IDE and code editor statistics 2026. Toolradar Research. https://toolradar.com/reports/ide-code-editors-statistics
- MLA: Corneloup, Louis. "IDE and code editor statistics 2026." Toolradar Research, 17 Sept. 2026, toolradar.com/reports/ide-code-editors-statistics.
Browse the full category on the best IDEs and code editors page, or explore all of Toolradar Research.
Cite this report
Use the data, credit the source.
Released under Creative Commons BY 4.0. You may quote, link, and reuse the data with attribution.
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