Apache NetBeans 2026: Benefits, Features & Pricing

Name: Apache NetBeans
Rating: 4.3 (231 reviews)

On this page

Overview
User Interface
Pros and Cons
Popular Alternatives
Popular Comparisons
Pricing and Plans
Features
User Reviews

Overview

Apache NetBeans

4.3

(231)

Pricing

Pricing available upon request

Top Alternatives

About Apache NetBeans

Apache NetBeans is an open-source integrated development environment (IDE) that provides tools for Java, JavaScript, HTML5, and many other languages. It provides smart editing tools and allows users to easily refactor code. Apache NetBeans is compatible with Windows, Linux, Mac OSX, and BSD operating systems.

The IDE’s general editor features include code formatting, code folding, custom keyboard shortcuts, smart code completion, name and parameter suggestions, plus many other features. Additionally, users can access, add, or edit code templates within Apache NetBeans.

Support is available via online documentation, a wiki page, learning trails, and other resources.

Apache NetBeans User Interface

Popular Apache NetBeans Alternatives

Main Product

Apache NetBeans

4.3

(231)

Ratings Breakdown

4.17Ease of use
4.46Value for money
3.84Customer support
4.28Functionality

Pricing

Available upon request

Alternative Product

Jira

4.4

(15304)

Ratings Breakdown

4.08Ease of use
4.28Value for money
4.20Customer support
4.44Functionality

Pricing

Starting at $7.91 per month

Alternative Product

Caspio

4.6

(249)

Ratings Breakdown

4.37Ease of use
4.33Value for money
4.47Customer support
4.38Functionality

Pricing

Starting at $90.00 per month

Alternative Product

Essential Studio

4.5

(900)

Ratings Breakdown

4.32Ease of use
4.55Value for money
4.68Customer support
4.59Functionality

Pricing

Available upon request

Alternative Product

GitHub

4.8

(6151)

Ratings Breakdown

4.41Ease of use
4.63Value for money
4.35Customer support
4.66Functionality

Pricing

Starting at $4.00 per month

Alternative Product

Microsoft Visual Studio

4.6

(3004)

Ratings Breakdown

4.30Ease of use
4.41Value for money
4.21Customer support
4.63Functionality

Pricing

Starting at $45.00 per month

Apache NetBeans Pros and Cons

We analyzed 231 verified reviews for Apache NetBeans to find out what actual users really think.

Select to learn more

Smart Code Suggestions And Hints

Apache NetBeans offers helpful code completion and auto-suggestion features for various languages, making it easier to write, edit, and fix code. Syntax highlighting, code templates, and shortcut keys speed up development and help beginners and experienced users alike.

Apache NetBeans Pricing and Plans

Starting price: Pricing available upon request

Free Trial

Free Version

Basic

Pricing available upon request

No plan information available

Apache NetBeans Features

Popular features found in Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
Code Development
Code Editing
Debugging
Deployment Management
More features of Apache NetBeans
For Developers
Graphical User Interface
Integrated Development Environment
Mobile Development
Software Development
Version Control
Web App Development
Web/Mobile App Development
Website Development

Apache NetBeans User Reviews

Overall Rating

4.3

Ratings Breakdown

42%

46%

11%

Secondary Ratings

Ease of Use

4.2

Value for money

4.5

Customer support

3.8

Functionality

4.3

Dylan C.

Verified reviewer

Computer Software

Self-Employed

Used daily for less than 12 months

Review source

Reviewed December 2023

Solid, customisable, no frills Java IDE

Netbeans is like an old Volvo. It might not be the sexiest IDE to look at, but it requires very little maintenance and just gets the job done every time. It's rock steady, and has pretty much all the functionality you need.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Functionality

Pros:

The Swing GUI editor makes it extremely easy to build programs with fairly complex UI with drag and drop components, that are then easily wired up to functionality.

Cons:

It often takes a long time for new features to make it to the IDE, and it can be a bit of a learning curve to get started.

Alex M.

Verified reviewer

Banking

11-50 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed September 2023

Apache NetBeans the Perfect IDE for Programmers

Apache NetBeans is the perfect IDE in the recent technology with multiple and flexible programming platform.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Apache NetBeans provides excellent features where you can create your project using different categories such as maven, ant, Gradle, PHP and so on. It has helped me improve on my java applications where each and every time a have an idea, I am able to upgrade to a newer version.

Cons:

As far as I am concerned, every time I think there is something missing, it is always there when I research online about it.

Reasons for switching to Apache NetBeans

It has difficult Graphical user Interface from my perspective plus the information provided online does not simply solve the problem.

Javier S.

Verified reviewer

Information Technology and Services

51-200 employees

Used weekly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed August 2023

It was very good.. but now it needs a face lift

Good experience but now exists other options more lighter and with graphics interface according to this times

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Functionality

Pros:

Many many tools for devepolers. It can be configurated to support Language like PHP, JAVA, HTML etc.And the GUI can be customizable, with colorn fonts, views and customs commands.

Cons:

Its weight to load and Its needs a full redesign of its graphical interface... Much newer, much fresher. Since it keep the style of many years ago

Rodrigo D.

Verified reviewer

Computer Software

2-10 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed August 2022

Powerful, reliable and easy to use for several kinds of systems engineering and development

I've been using NetBeans since 2002, and it always impresses me how easy it makes the development process. Initially was only Java. Now, I can work in complex systems with multiple languages in only one place

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Works well with Java, with excellent WYSIWYG tools for Swing or JavaFX. Also works with C/C++, Python, PHP, Javascript and other languages. Easy to configure a system development with multiple languages, easy to deploy on the server (with config to multiple servers like test and production) or on the cloud.

Cons:

With all these features, it is a heavy app. Demands a good machine.

Reasons for choosing Apache NetBeans

Easy to use, and cost-benefit.

Reasons for switching to Apache NetBeans

Easier to work and configure than Eclipse, not a proprietary app like JBuilder or Visual J++

VŠ

Václav Š.

Verified reviewer

Information Technology and Services

Self-Employed

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed August 2021

All you need IDE for web development

For the fact that it's open source and therefore for free, the quality of it is extremely good! For my need of development in classical combo HTML + CSS + JavaScript on front-end and PHP + MySQL on back-end it's a perfect solution that has served me for years without any major problems.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Functionality

Pros:

It has support for all commonly used languages in web development. Everything needed is available from the beginning without the need to get any extra plugins. Automatic code compilations are available in settings of each project, including CSS preprocessors and use of JavaScript modules so no other tools are needed. It has support for variety of frameworks, as well as testing tools, and has also it's own history tracking in git style which saves automatic snapshots each time you save a file.

Cons:

Since it's an open source software, it's not perfect and it sometimes randomly freezes or crashes. Also because of the same reason the development of new features and updates are not as often as with other commercial software. Therefore it's not very practical for development with newer, fast changing technologies.

Reasons for choosing Apache NetBeans

NetBeans was much easier to setup. Hackable editors always seemed to be unnecessary complicated where as here I have everything I need available right away as soon as I run it for the first time.

Achille D.

Verified reviewer

Computer Software

2-10 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed June 2022

The best to develop Java applications

Some yeas ago we moved from Eclipse to NetBeans because we liked many functionalities and a stable framework that this software offers. It's a good choice, maybe the best, to develop a Java application. But when we write a web based application (eg. based on LAMP) or a mobile app, we switch to Visual Studio Code, a more complete, flexible and fast solution.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Fully features, good and proven UI, cross-platform. Good integrated tools and services: we like so much the database connector and the built-in UML modelling.

Cons:

There are only two things we like least about this software: 1. if you need do write HTML/PHP/JavaScript code, you can find other solutions with more widgets, plugins, best auto-suggestion, ... 2. as it is developed on Java, you can get some hardware resources issues (especially RAM) by using this software intensively

Reasons for switching to Apache NetBeans

We switched from Eclipse IDE to Netbeans because Netbeans is easier and more versatile (Eclipse is primarily designed for Java projects).

Maha S.

Verified reviewer

Computer Software

501-1000 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed August 2023

Apache Netbeans: A Leading IDE for Java Desktop and Web Development

Apache Netbeans is the only IDE I need for my Java Desktop application development.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Apache Netbeans is my favorite Java IDE for developing Java Desktop applications. Netbeans has a very user friendly interface with a specialized palette containing the different Swing GUI components that can be added to the application in a Drag-and-Drop fashion making the desktop GUI development very simplistic and rapid. The code auto-completion is also very decent though some advancements can still be incorporated to make it much better. Linking the desktop application to Web and Database servers is also very intuitive which makes Netbeans a complete Java IDE for rapid application development.

Cons:

Code auto completion can be enhanced with auto package importing as we witness in Google's Android Studio IDE. Moreover the performance is a bit laggy and crippled with the increase in the number of threads. This is a typical Java pattern as Netbeans is developed in Java itself.

Reasons for switching to Apache NetBeans

Netbeans is much more intuitive and documented.

Tulga O.

Verified reviewer

Computer Software

11-50 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed December 2020

PHP Development with NetBeans

It is reliable and I used to it so I can be productive. I find it very handy when I working with big PHP frameworks. It gives me whole information about structure, creation, origin of the objects and classes. It is the best part of the IDE. NetBeans does this very good and fast.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

From all other IDEs I prefer using NetBeans. People say it is old and legacy but I used to it, it does it's work good enough. Actually I use Netbeans when I work with PHP projects. So maybe it is good with the old languages not the quite new era languages or developments environments like Angular, React. I use many features of NetBeans like code completion, code templates, debugging, code upload via ftp etc. I also write HTML, Javascript codes too using NetBeans and it is pretty handy for me. I like to configure my IDE and editors my way, especially code templates and shortcuts so I can work productive.

Cons:

NetBeans becomes slow sometimes when opening the projects because of it's indexing process. It frustrates me. But I face this kind of slowness even with the latest, best IDE IntelliJ too. IDEs are always huge and bunch of processes required to run in the background. So for small or front-end javascript projects I prefer to use editors like VSCode.

Reasons for switching to Apache NetBeans

In early years of my software development career, I used Eclipse. But when I started using Netbeans I never came back.

Vinicius S.

Verified reviewer

Information Technology and Services

2-10 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed November 2022

Review for Apache NetBeans

I work daily with this IDE to develop applications in Java, C++ and Python. Apache NetBeans provides agility, high performance, cost reduction and a great integration with DevOps resources.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Easy to install, manage and use. It has features and resources for numerous programming languages through plugins. It is the perfect environment for programming systems with the Java programming language.

Cons:

I think the Apache NetBeans installation could be independent of the JDK, for example, natively developed for Windows, MacOS, and other operating systems.

Reasons for choosing Apache NetBeans

Ease of use and reduced costs for training employees to use this IDE. Apache NetBeans is a software with maturity in the market and well known by programmers.

Zala D.

Verified reviewer

Information Technology and Services

11-50 employees

Used daily for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed July 2019

Help in Fast code writing

this help us to manage the product easily and this allow to design fast for front end no need to write hard coding for the design this will automatically write code for design according to drag and drop featre

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

NetBeans is a ide that is currently idely used in industry That provide a best interface and auto suggestion for the method and class of langue that help to write a code fast that allow a auto alignment and auto complication of block .This also collapse a block that help to in easy to find a function that is written.this is provide drag and drop facility for design a page

Cons:

not a much optimized that is working slow on less configure system as compare to sublime size of software is high compared with other text editor

Reasons for choosing Apache NetBeans

in sublime project not easily manageable as comped to netbeans sublime not provide drag and drop facility

Showing 1 - 10 of 231 Reviews

See All Reviews