Alternatives to Code::Blocks
A free, plugin-based IDE for C, C++ and Fortran with a consistent interface across platforms. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Code::Blocks
A free, plugin-based IDE for C, C++ and Fortran with a consistent interface across platforms.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Code::Blocks.
CodeLite
A free, open-source cross-platform IDE for C, C++, Rust, Python, PHP and Node.js.
CodeLite is a free GPL-2.0 IDE that adds Rust, Python, PHP and Node.js to C and C++ and also runs on macOS and FreeBSD.
Visual Studio
Microsoft's integrated development environment for .NET, C++ and Windows development, with a free Community edition.
Visual Studio offers a complete C++ toolset with IntelliSense and a free Community edition, but it is Windows only, proprietary and a much larger install.
CLion
C and C++ IDE with CMake integration and deep static analysis.
CLion adds CMake integration, deep static analysis and remote and embedded debugging on Windows, macOS and Linux, but commercial use requires a paid subscription.
Qt Creator
A cross-platform IDE for building C++ and Qt applications, maintained by the Qt project.
Qt Creator is an open-source C++ IDE for Windows, macOS and Linux with regular releases, focused on projects that use the Qt framework.
KDevelop
A cross-platform open-source IDE from KDE for C, C++, Python, QML/JavaScript and PHP.
KDevelop is an open-source KDE IDE with semantic C and C++ completion, CMake and QMake support and built-in Git, and it also runs on macOS.
Geany
A small, fast IDE built on GTK that starts instantly and does not depend on a heavy desktop environment.
Geany is a lighter GTK-based open-source IDE that starts almost instantly with a configurable build command, but debugging needs a plugin and refactoring is essentially absent.
Eclipse IDE
Long-established open-source IDE with a very large plugin marketplace.
Eclipse IDE is open source under EPL-2.0 with a huge plugin marketplace covering many languages, though its perspective model and uneven plugin quality can be confusing.
Visual Studio Code
Microsoft's code editor, free to use but shipped under a Microsoft licence rather than an open one.
Visual Studio Code is a free general-purpose editor using extensions for C and C++, shipped under a Microsoft licence with telemetry on by default.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Lazarus
A cross-platform, Delphi-compatible IDE for rapid application development with the Free Pascal compiler.
jEdit
A mature, plugin-driven programmer's text editor written in Java for many operating systems.
CudaText
A fast, cross-platform open-source code editor written in Object Pascal and extensible with Python.
Notepad++
The fast Windows text and source code editor that replaced Notepad for a generation of users.
