Today, JavaScript is one of the most used programming languages. Various IDEs and code editors were introduced to improve the JavaScript developer experience with this increased popularity.

However, choosing one isn’t easy since they all have their unique features. So, in this article, we will introduce the 7 best IDEs for JavaScript development and discuss their features to help you choose the best one.

What is an IDE?

Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is a software application that provides a user interface for code development, testing, and debugging. In addition, it offers various tools and features to simplify the development process based on the programming language.

Why do you need an IDE?

In simple terms, IDEs act as a whole package for software developers. They increase software development productivity by bringing a variety of features to a single application.

Some of the common features provided by IDEs are:

• Breakpoint control
• Remote debugging
• Tracking variables
• Creating executables
• Examining the call stack
• Code refactoring
• Code compiling

These features allow developers to code, debug and deploy their applications using a single tool. Apart from that, developers can use various third party integrations and extensions with IDEs to make the development process faster.

1. Visual Studio

Visual Studio is a feature-rich IDE that covers several elements of software development. The Visual Studio IDE is a powerful development environment that lets you edit, debug, build, and publish apps. Although it is known as an IDE for C, C++, and C#, it can be easily used for JavaScript development.

Features

• Provides inbuilt debugging tools
• Provides comprehensive testing tools to ensure high-quality codes
• Can be easily extended with third party extensions
• Provides a good developer experience with easy navigation
• Version control sup

Pros:

• Helps to improve team communication while also saving time
• Allows to build and test code on the fly and deploy code locally
• Supports multiple languages including, HTML, JavaScript, C#, .NET (Xamarin), and C++

Cons:

• Steep learning curve to use it 
• The launch of the application is very slow
• Installation and updates can take time
• Not completely free

2. WebStorm

WebStorm is another popular IDE provided by JetBrains for JavaScript and related technologies. It automates most of the routine developer operations and enables developers to handle complex tasks easily.

Features

• Specialized in JavaScript development. Works well with JS, TS, React, Vue, Angular, Node.js, HTML, and CSS
• Understand the project structure
• Built-in developer tools
• Improved search and navigation options
• Code together features
• Tools like Mocha, Karma test runner, Jest, and others make it simple to test your code
• This IDE comes with a plethora of WebStorm plugins and templates
• It easily reverts to earlier versions
• Customize the coding style, fonts, themes, and shortcuts

Pros:

• Provides a dedicated environment for JavaScript
• As a JetBean product, the UI is quite similar to the other IntelliJ products
• Code auto-completion and suggest fixes for errors
• Can easily integrate third party extensions like build tools and linters

Cons:

• Slower than other IDEs compared to VS Code and Sublime Text.
• Hard to get used to since there are many features and options.
• Need to purchase.

3. Sublime Text

Sublime Text is a powerful cross-platform IDE with many customization features. Many developers choose Sublime Text as their IDE since it has a simple interface with a significant speed boost.

Features

• Supports GPU rendering
• Native support for Apple silicon processors in Mac devices
• Easy navigations with multi-select tabs
• Auto-complete suggestions
• Quick navigations to class or method’s definition

Pros:

• Sublime Text is powerful when you need it to be, but it’s also simple to use
• Supports TS, JSX, and TSX
• A command palette is provided by Sublime Text to hold commonly used functions
• Provides helpful keyboard shortcuts and multi-selection choices 

Cons:

• Working language auto-detection is frequently wrong, especially when working with newer frameworks
• Work environment features are lacking

4. Komodo

Komodo is an open-source IDE for dynamic programming languages like JavaScript. It is an excellent choice for end-to-end development because of its extensive programming and markup language support, including refactoring, debugging, and profiling.

Features

• Powerful editor with key bindings, multiple windows, split views, code folding, and change tracking
• DOM viewer
• Code refactoring
• XML Autocompletion
• Pair programming and collaboration tools
• Supports multithreaded debugging, multi-process debugging, and Chrome debugging

Pros:

• Supports Python, PHP, Ruby, Perl, HTML/CSS/JavaScript, and more
• High speed
• Cross-Platform support
• Add-Ons and Customization
• Regularly maintained

Cons:

• The number of navigation tabs and buttons is excessive, and it may confuse newcomers.
• Komodo IDE is no longer supported and maintained by developers for Python

5. VS Code

Visual Studio Code is one of the most used IDEs among developers. This is one of the greatest IDEs for developing JavaScript. It is feature-rich and completely free to use.

Features

• Provides an interactive debugger
• Build-in version control support
• Multiple build systems are supported
• Repetitive programming activities are automated
• Database editor and UML designer with a lot of features
• Built-in support for Node.js development with JavaScript and TypeScript

Pros:

• Completely free
• Lighting fast
• Easy to install and use
• Support hundreds of languages
• The plugin support is excellent
• It has version control built-in, so you can go back to a previous state or version of a website you’ve saved

Cons:

• The IDE’s built-in console can be slow

6. Atom

Atom is another popular open-source IDE for JavaScript development. It is also known as the “hackable” text editor since it is highly customizable. Atom is based on the Electron, and developers prefer to use it for its simplicity and customizability.

Features

• The command palette in the IDE allows you to run available commands
• GitHub integration
• It has an integrated package manager

Pros:

• Support for Multiple Platforms
• Integration with Git
• Open-source with a large community
• Available for free
• Highly customizable

Cons:

• Large application size
• Unstable at times
• Code Execution Issues

7. IntelliJ IDEA 

IntelliJ IDEA is a smart, context-aware IDE for JVM languages like Kotlin, Scala, and Groovy. But, it also supports JavaScript development and can aid in developing full-stack web applications.

Features

• It’s a database editor and UML designer
• Coding assistance
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Google App Engine, Grails, and GWT are all supported
• Most application servers have deployment and debugging tools
• Version control is integrated
• HTML, CSS, and Java text editors that are intelligent

Pros:

• The IntelliJ IDEA plugins support is fantastic
• Easy and interactive user interface
• Accurate autocompletion
• A free version is available as IntelliJ IDEA Community

Cons:

• Steep learning curve to use it
• Free version doesn’t support JavaScript
• The IDE’s built-in console is a little slow
• Indexing issues

Summary

In this article, we presented the 7 best IDEs for JavaScript, along with their features, pros, and cons. Each of them has unique features, so their suitability depends on the needs of your Software Development team. Therefore, it is important to consider your own requirements and preferences when choosing the perfect IDE for you. 

TabNine is easily integrated with any of these IDEs, so your teams can write code faster and more accurately regardless of which IDE they are using. If you would like to know more about how TabNine can improve the efficiency of your team, contact us today.