JetBrains AI Review: Features, Pricing & Alternatives

What is JetBrains AI?

JetBrains AI is the umbrella name for the AI features inside JetBrains IDEs such as IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm and Rider. It bundles AI Assistant (chat, inline generation, code completion, commit messages and explanations), Junie, JetBrains’ own coding agent, and access to third-party agents such as Claude Agent, OpenAI Codex and Gemini CLI through the Agent Client Protocol.

AI Assistant arrived in late 2023, and Junie followed in 2025 alongside a free tier. In 2025 JetBrains moved to an AI credit quota, where one credit is worth about one US dollar of model usage. In March 2026 it launched Air, an agentic development environment in macOS preview, plus a beta Junie CLI, and announced JetBrains Central, a governance platform for agent work at company scale.

What sets it apart is how deeply it ties into the IDE. Agents and chat can use JetBrains’ code indexing, refactorings, inspections and test runners rather than working from raw text alone. You can choose models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and xAI, bring your own API keys, or run local models, so you are not locked to a single provider.

Key features of JetBrains AI

• AI Assistant chatAsk about your project, generate code, explain errors and write tests in a chat panel that knows your project structure.
• Junie coding agentDelegate multi-step tasks such as fixing failing tests. Junie plans, edits files, runs tests and reports back.
• Third-party agentsRun Claude Agent, Codex, Gemini CLI and other ACP-compatible agents inside the IDE alongside JetBrains’ own tools.
• Code completionCloud and local completion models, including JetBrains’ Mellum model, suggest code inline. Completion is unlimited even on the free tier.
• Bring your own key and local modelsConnect your own provider API keys or local models, which helps with cost control and privacy-sensitive projects.
• Air and Junie CLIAir runs several agents in parallel with terminals, Git and previews; Junie CLI brings the agent to the terminal and CI.

Who is JetBrains AI best for?

• Java and Kotlin developers because the AI features sit on top of IntelliJ’s mature code analysis and refactoring tools.
• Python, web and .NET developers who already use PyCharm, WebStorm or Rider and want AI help without changing editors.
• Teams with existing JetBrains licences since AI Pro is included with the All Products Pack and dotUltimate subscriptions.
• Organisations that need governance who want shared credit pools and admin controls.

Popular ways to use JetBrains AI

• Feature work: ask Junie to implement a small feature, run the tests and present a diff for review.
• Code explanation: highlight unfamiliar legacy code and get a plain-English explanation in chat.
• Test generation: generate unit tests for a class and run them with the IDE’s built-in test runner.
• Commit messages: draft commit messages and pull request descriptions from your staged changes.
• Agent comparison: try Junie, Claude Agent and Codex on the same task to see which suits you.

JetBrains AI pricing (October 2026)

JetBrains lists AI Pro at $10 to $20 a month and AI Ultimate at $30 to $60 depending on licence type, with organisations at the higher end. One credit is roughly $1 of usage and top-ups last 12 months.

JetBrains AI pros and cons

How to get started with JetBrains AI

1. Update your JetBrains IDE to the latest version.
2. Open the AI Chat or Junie window and sign in.
3. Activate AI Free or a paid plan, or add your own API key.
4. Pick a model and start with a small, well-defined task.
5. Review every diff and run your tests before committing.

Tips to get better results from JetBrains AI

• Use cheaper models for simple questions to stretch your credits.
• Add project guidelines so Junie follows your code style.
• Watch the quota indicator before enabling top-ups.
• Try local models for code you cannot send to a cloud provider.

JetBrains AI vs alternatives

Against GitHub Copilot, JetBrains AI offers tighter use of IDE inspections and refactorings, while Copilot has broader editor support and deep GitHub integration. Cursor is an AI-first editor built on VS Code, so it suits developers willing to switch tools, whereas JetBrains AI keeps you in IntelliJ-based IDEs.

If you mainly want an agent, Claude Code or OpenAI Codex can run inside JetBrains IDEs through ACP, so you can combine them. For privacy-focused completion, Tabnine is another option that works across JetBrains products. See all best AI coding tools.

Our verdict: is JetBrains AI worth it?

JetBrains AI FAQs

Pricing and features change often. Details on this page were last reviewed in October 2026. Always confirm current plans on the official JetBrains AI website.