How Much Does popular IDEs Earn?
1. JetBrains (IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, etc.)
- A leading private company behind many widely used IDEs.
- 2024 Revenue: approximately $252 million. (Latka)
- Another source estimates $270 million for 2024. (reviewbolt.com)
- JetBrains reported 5.6% growth in revenue in 2023, following 11% growth in 2022. (Wikipedia, GlobeNewswire)
- As a private company, detailed financials aren’t publicly disclosed beyond annual highlights. (Wikipedia)
2. Eclipse Foundation (Eclipse IDE)
- A non-profit organization managing the Eclipse ecosystem.
- 2024 Revenue: $33.1 million, up from $21.9 million in 2023. (Latka)
- Annual report cites revenue of €13.5 million (approximately $14–15 million) for 2024. (Eclipse Foundation)
- Discrepancies may stem from different accounting (e.g. group vs. specific foundation segments).
3. Anysphere (Cursor)
- A newer player creating the AI-native IDE Cursor.
- 2025 ARR: over $500 million, achieved just three years after launching. (Wikipedia)
- This positions Cursor among the fastest-growing software revenue stories in recent years.
4. Visual Studio / Visual Studio Code (Microsoft)
- Microsoft doesn’t break out IDE-specific revenue separately.
- A market estimate for the “Visual Studio top domains” suggests annual revenues between $200 million – $500 million. (Similarweb)
- Given it’s part of Microsoft’s broader developer tooling (and often bundled with cloud offerings), the figure likely includes associated services—not just the IDE product itself.
- VS Code itself is free; Microsoft monetizes indirectly through ecosystem integration (e.g., Azure, GitHub Codespaces). (Reddit)
5. Open-Source IDEs (e.g., NetBeans, Atom)
- NetBeans: Fully open-source under Apache. No direct revenue—often used as feeder for other Oracle tools. (netbeans.apache.org, Wikipedia)
- Atom: Discontinued as of December 2022. No revenue since sunset. (Wikipedia, Reddit)
Summary Table
| IDE / Organization | Ownership / Type | Revenue (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| JetBrains (IntelliJ, etc.) | Private corp. | $252–270M (2024 est.) |
| Eclipse Foundation | Non-profit foundation | $20–35M (2023–2024) |
| Anysphere (Cursor) | Private startup | >$500M ARR (2025) |
| Visual Studio (MS) | Microsoft (consolidated) | $200–500M est. |
| NetBeans | Open-source (Apache) | No direct revenue |
| Atom (discontinued) | Open-source (GitHub) | No revenue (sunset) |
Takeaway:
- JetBrains and Anysphere stand out in revenue among IDE-focused companies—one established, one rapidly rising.
- Eclipse Foundation generates moderate revenue primarily through memberships and ecosystem services.
- Microsoft’s IDE-related revenue is roughly estimated and likely tied into broader cloud and developer service monetization.
- Open-source IDEs like NetBeans or Atom don’t generate direct income; Atom has even been retired.