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Brackets VS Netbeans

Compare Brackets VS Netbeans and see what are their differences

Brackets logo Brackets

A modern, open source text editor that understands web design

Netbeans logo Netbeans

NetBeans IDE 7.0. Develop desktop, mobile and web applications with Java, PHP, C/C++ and more. Runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and Solaris. NetBeans IDE is open-source and free.
  • Brackets Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-14
  • Netbeans Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-07-13

Brackets features and specs

  • Open Source
    Brackets is an open-source text editor, which means it is free to use and has a community of developers contributing to its improvement and feature updates.
  • Live Preview
    Brackets offers a Live Preview feature that allows developers to see updates to their code in real-time, directly in the browser, enhancing the development workflow.
  • Preprocessor Support
    Brackets has built-in support for CSS preprocessors such as LESS and SASS, making it easier for developers working with these technologies.
  • Inline Editors
    The Inline Editors feature in Brackets enables developers to open a window into the code they care about, without losing context of their current position in the file.
  • Extensibility
    Brackets supports a wide range of extensions and themes, allowing users to customize the editor to suit their personal workflow and preferences.

Possible disadvantages of Brackets

  • Performance Issues
    Some users have reported that Brackets can be slow and unresponsive, especially when working with large projects or files.
  • Limited Language Support
    While Brackets excels in front-end web development, its support for non-web development languages and back-end development is less robust compared to other editors.
  • Slow Adoption of New Features
    As an open-source project, Brackets may not always adopt new features and technologies as quickly as some proprietary tools that have more resources behind them.
  • Community-Based Support
    Support for Brackets largely comes from the community, which can be less reliable and slower compared to professional, dedicated support teams available for some other tools.
  • Resource Intensity
    Brackets can be resource-intensive, consuming more memory and CPU compared to other lightweight code editors.

Netbeans features and specs

  • Open Source
    NetBeans is an open-source Integrated Development Environment (IDE), which means it is free to use and has a large community for support and contributions.
  • Modular Architecture
    Its modular architecture allows users to add or remove features easily, which provides flexibility to customize the IDE as per the developer's requirements.
  • Multi-Language Support
    NetBeans supports multiple programming languages such as Java, PHP, HTML5, JavaScript, and more, making it a versatile tool for developers working in different technologies.
  • Strong Java Support
    Originally developed for Java, it provides excellent support for Java development, including Maven and Ant integration, robust debugging tools, and pre-configured templates.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The IDE boasts an intuitive and user-friendly interface, which helps improve development speed and reduces the learning curve for new users.
  • Rich Set of Features
    NetBeans offers many built-in features like code templates, project management tools, version control integration, and support for various application servers.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    NetBeans can run on various operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, therefore accommodating a diverse range of development environments.

Possible disadvantages of Netbeans

  • Performance Issues
    Some users experience lagging and slow performance, particularly when dealing with large projects or running on lower-end hardware.
  • Resource Intensive
    NetBeans can be resource-intensive, requiring significant memory and processing power, which may be a limitation for some developers, especially those on older machines.
  • Plugin Ecosystem
    While NetBeans has a good set of built-in features, its plugin ecosystem is not as extensive or actively maintained as some other IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA or Visual Studio Code.
  • Steeper Learning Curve for Non-Java Languages
    Although NetBeans supports multiple languages, the learning curve can be steeper when using it for non-Java languages compared to other IDEs that may offer better out-of-the-box support.
  • Updates and Community
    Since transitioning to Apache, the frequency of updates and the overall maintenance has seen slowdowns, which might affect the availability of the latest features and bug fixes.
  • UI Responsiveness
    Some users have reported that the UI can sometimes become unresponsive, especially during heavy development tasks or when multiple extensions are enabled.

Brackets videos

My Favorite Text Editor - Brackets

More videos:

  • Review - Brackets Extensions - A modern, open source text editor
  • Review - Brackets Review

Netbeans videos

A Review of the NetBeans Project from Geertjan Wielenga

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How to Install & Beautify NetBeans IDE for PHP on Windows

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Brackets and Netbeans)
Text Editors
46 46%
54% 54
IDE
43 43%
57% 57
Software Development
43 43%
57% 57
IDEs And Text Editors
52 52%
48% 48

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Brackets and Netbeans

Brackets Reviews

Boost Your Productivity with These Top Text Editors and IDEs
Brackets offers features like inline editing, live preview, and preprocessor support, making it easier to design and code responsive websites. With Brackets, you can unleash your creativity and build stunning web experiences.
Source: convesio.com
13 Best Text Editors to Speed up Your Workflow
The Brackets text editor comes from the folks at Adobe, in an attempt to offer a more modern, open source solution for developers creating websites. This is a free text editor, with some appealing visual tools for previewing your work and allowing for frontend developers to examine the changes. Writing code is the main focus in Brackets, and it’s done with the help of inline...
Source: kinsta.com
Top 10 Notepad++ Alternatives for Mac in 2022
This is another Notepad++ Mac alternative. This is very lightweight and open-source. Brackets is actually a modern program developed by that of the Adobe community. It is supported by a passionate community. It has a cool feature called Live Preview. This enables web developers to connect (in real-time) to their browsers. The said features mean it is necessary to change HTML...
Source: www.imymac.com
The Top 7 Notepad++ Alternatives for You
Don’t think that this uncluttered interface means that Brackets doesn’t have a lot of features because it does. This powerful text editor hides away the many features from view to make things uncluttered for you. Brackets will highlight syntax which helps with your coding efforts. There’s also a split-screen function for easy comparison.
10 Best Notepad++ Alternatives in 2020
Brackets is a lightweight tool developed by Adobe. It is an open source text editor which is free to download. It allows you to a toggle between your source code and the browser view.
Source: www.guru99.com

Netbeans Reviews

The Best IDEs for Java Development: A Comparative Analysis
User Satisfaction: With a user rating of 4.1 out of 5 and user satisfaction of 82%, NetBeans offers a solid development experience.
Source: dev.to
9 Of The Best Android Studio Alternatives To Try Out
NetBeans IDE helps you build HTML5 applications, web applications, Java desktop applications, and mobile applications. If you are a PHP or C++ developer, it offers you great tools. NetBeans IDE has a large number of developers and users all across the globe.
What's The Best C++ IDE? Our Top C++ IDEs & Editors In 2024
Rounding out my list at number ten is NetBeans, a free and open-source integrated development environment. While often thought of as Java IDE, NetBeans also offers robust support for C++ and is favored by developers seeking a comprehensive toolset for larger and more complex projects.
Source: hackr.io
Top 10 Visual Studio Alternatives
NetBeans is another code editor and an alternative to Visual Studio Microsoft. It is regarded as an integrated development environment for Java. Here, the users can develop applications. The development of the applications is from a set of integrated software components that are named modules. NetBeans are operative on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Solaris.
Best Eclipse Alternatives to Use
NetBeans IDE is a free Java Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that enables developers to create, run, debug, and deploy Java applications on all platforms at no cost. The rest of the code is available under the NetBeans Common Public License.
Source: eclipsewin.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Brackets should be more popular than Netbeans. It has been mentiond 47 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Brackets mentions (47)

  • A list of SaaS, PaaS and IaaS offerings that have free tiers of interest to devops and infradev
    Brackets - Brackets is an open-source text editor specifically designed for web development. It is lightweight, easy to use, and highly customizable. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • What do you use to create your site?
    I recommend using a separate code editor and not the neocities one. Brackets and VSCodium (VSCode but separated from Microsoft) are pretty good ones https://brackets.io/ https://vscodium.com/. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Brackets 1.14.2 on Mac OS 10.6.8
    Please download the latest version from https://brackets.io/. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Top 5 Free HTML Editors for Beginner Web Developers
    Brackets Brackets, an open-source HTML editor by Adobe, is specifically designed for web designers and developers. Its inline editor allows you to make quick edits to your HTML code, providing instant feedback. Brackets also offers a live preview feature that updates in real-time as you edit your HTML files, making it easy to see the changes as you go. Additionally, with its extensive extension library, Brackets... - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Making a less crappy web app
    This is the original brackets https://brackets.io/ not sure why ianyanusko is naming his app bracket, just trying to confuse people. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
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Netbeans mentions (17)

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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Brackets and Netbeans, you can also consider the following products

Sublime Text - Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, html and prose - any kind of text file. You'll love the slick user interface and extraordinary features. Fully customizable with macros, and syntax highlighting for most major languages.

Microsoft Visual Studio - Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft.

VS Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

IntelliJ IDEA - Capable and Ergonomic IDE for JVM

Vim - Highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing

Xcode - Xcode is Apple’s powerful integrated development environment for creating great apps for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Xcode 4 includes the Xcode IDE, instruments, iOS Simulator, and the latest Mac OS X and iOS SDKs.