head to head · open source
Neovim vs intellij
Neovim has 103,312 GitHub stars, 7,395 forks, 1,900 open issues and last shipped yesterday. intellij has 818 stars, 343 forks, 224 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Neovim leads on adoption by 12,530% (103,312 vs 818 stars). Neovim is written in Vim Script under a custom or non-standard licence; intellij is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Neovim has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, intellij 42%. Neovim 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
| Neovim | intellij | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 103K | ★ 818 |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Vim Script | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.4K | ⑂ 343 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Neovim if
- You weight community size — 103K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Vim Script
- 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 Neovim
Documentation Chat Neovim is a project that seeks to aggressively refactor Vim in order to: Simplify maintenance and encourage contributions Split the work between multiple developers Enable [advanced UIs] without modifications to the core Maximize extensibility See the Introduction wiki page and [Roadmap] for more information. Features Modern GUIs API access from any language including C/C++, C , Clojure, D, Elixir, Go, Haskell, Java/Kotlin, JavaScript/Node.js, Julia, Lisp, Lua, Perl, Python, Racket, Ruby, Rust Embedded, scriptable terminal emulator Asynchronous job control Shared data (shada) among multiple…
read the full Neovim 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 Neovim or intellij more popular?
Neovim has 103,312 GitHub stars and intellij has 818. Neovim has the larger community by that measure.
Are Neovim and intellij free?
Both are open source. Neovim has no licence declared in this registry, and intellij is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Neovim and intellij?
Neovim is written in Vim Script 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, Neovim or intellij?
Choose Neovim if you want the larger community (103,312 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose intellij if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.