head to head · open source
Harness vs intellij
Harness has 38,798 GitHub stars, 3,451 forks, 106 open issues and last shipped yesterday. intellij has 818 stars, 343 forks, 224 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Harness leads on adoption by 4,643% (38,798 vs 818 stars). Harness is written in Go under Apache-2.0; intellij is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Harness has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, intellij 42%. Harness was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Harness | intellij | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 818 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.5K | ⑂ 343 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Harness if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick intellij if
- You want the intellij feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and intellij fits your workflow better
About Harness
Harness Harness Open Source is an open source development platform packed with the power of code hosting, automated DevOps pipelines, hosted development environments (Gitspaces), and artifact registries. Overview Harness Open source is an open source development platform packed with the power of code hosting, automated DevOps pipelines, Gitspaces, and artifact registries. Running Harness locally The latest publicly released docker image can be found on harness/harness. To install Harness yourself, simply run the command below. Once the container is up, you can visit in your browser. The Harness image uses a…
read the full Harness overview →
About intellij
A CLion plugin for Bazel projects As of July 1, 2025, the Bazel for IntelliJ and Bazel for CLion plugins are maintained by JetBrains. These plugins are not offered by nor affiliated with Google. The Bazel trademark and logo are the property of Google LLC. This project uses binary bundles licensed under JetBrains User Agreement. The Bazel for CLion plugin is uploaded to the JetBrains Marketplace regularly from the state of this repository. See the releases tab for more information. Community The Bazel project is hosting a Special Interest Group (SIG) for Bazel IntelliJ IDE plug in. Details about the SIG and how…
read the full intellij overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Harness or intellij more popular?
Harness has 38,798 GitHub stars and intellij has 818. Harness has the larger community by that measure.
Are Harness and intellij free?
Both are open source. Harness is licensed under Apache-2.0 and intellij under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Harness and intellij?
Harness is written in Go and intellij in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Harness or intellij?
Choose Harness if you want the larger community (38,798 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose intellij if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.