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EdCodeEdCode 

Best IDEs for Force.com (Survey. Your opinion is welcomed)

Hello,
I am currently using SFDC's Developer Console (because it's on the cloud) but would like to know the opinion of Developers who have worked with (or may have tried) other IDEs for Force.com.
I have come across various alternative IDEs such as:
  1. MavensMate which is not supported any more (Dec-2017) and the owner suggest to look at "Visual Studio Code Extension";
  2. Visual Studio Code Extension;
  3. Welkin Suite (It looks like a paid option but cannot see the price on their website);
  4. Illuminated Cloud (hosted within JetBrains Intellij IDEA); price seem to be 65 USD for 1 or few licenses (and we never know if the vendor will charge new versions)
  5. The traditional Force.com IDE Eclips based (Free but a real pain to install in a Mac);
  6. Any other IDE?
Could you possible let us know your opinion and if you would advise using one or the other? Maybe you could comment on Pros/Cons for each IDE you know?

Thank you very much.
WEN JIEWEN JIE
I have eclipse with force.com plugin and sublime with corresponding plugin in my pc. But actually I'm used to eidt apex and vf on browser directly...
Jonathan Thornton 4Jonathan Thornton 4
I'm not a big fan of developing in a browser unless on the go. I used Eclipse Force.com for a long time but it seems to have fallen behind and last week I swtiched over to Visual Studio Code and so far am quite happy with it so far. I do not think I'll be returning to Eclipse anytime soon without a major update of the Force.com plug in.
EdCodeEdCode
Hi Johathan,
What made you switch from Eclipse Force.com to Visual Studio Code?
Have you found advantages of Visual Studio Code over Eclipse Force.com?
Thank you!
Asif Ali MAsif Ali M
I used MavensMate until I came across with Illuminated cloud plugin.This has everything that a SF dev needs They dont charge you for future updates. I am also closely watching Welking Suite since I met them at DF 16 and their features also awesome but more expensive than Illuminated cloud.
 
Destiny Vigil 5Destiny Vigil 5
I am currently using Cloud9 for Salesforce (https://cloud9-salesforce.readme.io/). I am really happy with it so far. It is simple to set up and reliable. I highly reccomend it.
EdCodeEdCode
@Asif Ali M

Thank you.
Have you (or are you) paying anything to JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA in order to add the Illuminated cloud plugin? What was/is the aproximate total amount of the solution you are using (JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA{42 USD/month?} + Illuminated cloud plugin {looks like is 65 USD one-off payment?}).

Thank you.
Asif Ali MAsif Ali M
@Learning Apex
Go for IntelliJ Community Edition (https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/download/" target="_blank) which is free and pay onetime for illuminated cloud. 

 
Kimm DyKimm Dy
@learning Apex - we use Welkin and definitely an amazing tool. It's great for development but as well as config ie. ability to mass update FLS in welkin itself per object. 
David M. ReedDavid M. Reed
I'm a big fan of MavensMate + Sublime Text. Just because it's not supported doesn't mean it doesn't work - it still works fine.

If you're using Salesforce DX, Visual Studio Code with the Salesforce extension set is great.
Aileen Kronvall 1Aileen Kronvall 1
I used Eclipse for years but recently switched to Visual Studio Code and am happy with it. I switched in order to get the most support from Salesforce after reading this blog post: https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/2018/02/salesforce-extensions-vs-code.html
"...the Salesforce Extensions for VS Code are the future of Salesforce development. We are dedicating our resources to make this the best and most enjoyable desktop editor for Salesforce developers. With this focus on Visual Studio Code, we are moving away from our support of Eclipse. While the Force.com IDE will be supported and will receive some updates in the near future, the updates will focus mainly on compatibility (and of course, security if needed). We will not be adding any new major features to the Force.com IDE and we will eventually deprecate it entirely."
Asif Ali MAsif Ali M
Aileen,
Thanks for sharing the blog link. It is really interesting to know. 
Prashanth KrishnamurthyPrashanth Krishnamurthy
I know that this is an old question, but wanted to have the update here to not miss overlooking the below.
Forget about all other IDEs now.

Code + SFDX extension + SFDX on any org (preview feature as of date) is the one that any SFDC developer will be delighted with!
https://github.com/forcedotcom/salesforcedx-vscode/wiki/Develop-Against-Any-Org-in-Visual-Studio-Code
 
Ihor ZhabolenkoIhor Zhabolenko
The Welkin Suite, is the full package. It helps developers & admins do their work more efficiently. But beyond how incredible the IDE is, the support and development team are always on the ball! The team really cares about their product and constantly improves their IDE to include client feedback. I can't see myself ever wanting to develop without it! 
https://welkinsuite.com/
Mikhail ShumenkoMikhail Shumenko

Hello, I think you find it interest to try out Jetforcer - plugin for handy Salesforce development within JetBrains IDEs.

Just take a quick overview on the plugin "Quick Started" page https://jetforcer.com/get-started
or JetBrains blog https://blog.jetbrains.com/idea/2018/02/salesforce-development-plugins-part-2-jetforcer/

Marco Zisa 2Marco Zisa 2
Hello, I would like to suggest also Salesforce Org Manager, which is an open source project proposing an org metadata manager like MavensMate, with treeview rendering of the Org's metadata and the ability to add new classes, triggers and even lightning components on the fly. It works with Visual Studio Code as IDE, this is the reference: https://github.com/mzisa/salesforce-org-manager (https://github.com/mzisa/salesforce-org-manager" target="_blank)
Matt Bostrom 2Matt Bostrom 2
With MavensMate sunsetted (that last update really irked me when they took it away at least let us continue to use it) and with Force.com IDE / Eclipse not supported/working on the latest version for the Mac I have had to purchase and move to WelkinSuite. Nothing is as good as MavensMate was though (IMHO). I couldnt get VS Studio Code working does anyone know if there is a way to connect VS Code right up to a dev org and subscribe to metadata just like with Force.com IDE and MaventMate without dealing with all the Scratch Org and command line stuff?
Aileen Kronvall 1Aileen Kronvall 1
Matt, yes. Use the ForceCode extension. It works great for me and doesn't interfere with my SFDX projects.
Matt Bostrom 2Matt Bostrom 2
Thanks Aileen. I've attempted to install but can't seem to find anywhere which we can subscribe to the metadata to populate the src folder with all the code we want to be able to edit. Should be a simple point and click setup in my mind how we have backtracked with VS Studio Code.
Aileen Kronvall 1Aileen Kronvall 1
This is a simple thing with the ForceCode extension. You might want to read the documentation, but I found the commands to be pretty self-explanatory.
th3monk3yth3monk3y
It's 2021 There is finally an SFDX GUI Client. It's called Metarocket

https://www.metarocket.io