Python‘s explosive growth as a programming language in fields like data science, DevOps and web development mirrors the increasing importance of Python developers making the right integrated development environment (IDE) choice for their needs. With development velocity and efficiency on the line, the stakes feel high to pick correctly!
In this completely updated 2021 guide, we will explore that crucial decision by comparing two frontrunners: Microsoft‘s open source Visual Studio Code and JetBrains‘ Python-focused PyCharm. You‘ll see real usage metrics, expert opinions, and side-by-side analysis of key factors like performance, flexibility, framework support and more.
Let‘s cut through the ambiguity, and figure out which solution may serve your Python ambitions best!
Why Care So Much About Your Python IDE?
First, it‘s worth stepping back to clarify just why Python coders should even care so deeply about their IDE? Frankly put, it can make or break your productivity and enjoyment of coding!
As Python‘s grown from powering Instagram and Spotify to CGI filmmaking and automating AWS, Python developers now build everything from tiny scripts to massive enterprise apps. An IDE that slows you down introduces needless friction into that flow. Nobody wants that pain and frustration!
On the flip side, an IDE like VS Code or PyCharm intelligently accelerates nearly every aspect of development from writing code quicker thanks to autocomplete templates, to running and debugging code more smoothly thanks to built-in terminals and visual debuggers. Top Python IDEs are force multipliers that pay serious dividends over a text editor – improving output, reducing bugs, and simply making programmers happier.
When 94% of developers work over 40 hours per week, optimizing for effectiveness and enjoyment really matters. Understanding VS Code‘s open source approach compared to PyCharm‘s commercial polish will give you confidence pursuing Python mastery with the best-fit tools.
Defining Visual Studio Code vs PyCharm
Before evaluating features, first quick primers on what exactly VS Code and PyCharm are at their core:
Visual Studio Code
Released in 2015, Microsoft‘s free and open source VS Code quickly soared to become 2020‘s most popular developer environment overall. Beyond Python, it supports JavaScript, Java, C++ and more.
Known for its speed, lightweight architecture, vast extensions marketplace and remote development capabilities, VS Code checks all the boxes not just for Python development, but polyglot coding across languages.
In Stack Overflow‘s massive 2020 survey of developer trends, VS Code was ranked the most loved environment across all programmers:
PyCharm
Developed specifically with Python developers in mind, JetBrains‘ PyCharm was first released in 2010 as commercial software with 30-day trials available.
The Czech software maker is renowned for beloved premium tools like IntelliJ IDEA for Java and WebStorm for JavaScript. PyCharm aims to bring the same sophistication those products are known for into the Python ecosystem.
Available in both a free community version and $199/year professional edition, PyCharm offsets its pricing by inclusion of integrated tools for web development, databases, remote work and Google collaborations right out of the box.
With those quick primers in place differentiating VS Code‘s flexibility versus PyCharm‘s laser focus on Python, let‘s dig into the data!
Usage and Popularity Metrics
Judging an IDE‘s quality by pure usage statistics tells only part of the story. But seeing tools‘ real-world adoption can provide quick reference points before assessing them hands-on.
Starting with VS Code, its insulation as 2020‘s most used development environment overall speaks for itself. Specific to Python, Python extension usage paints an impressive picture:
- 33% of all VS Code users actively use Python extensions, numbering 14 million coders
- The Microsoft-official Python extension itself has over 24 million installs
These millions of developers choose to augment VS Code‘s out-of-box experience with Python functionality – suggesting a best-of-both approach combining the editor‘s strengths with specialized functionality via extensions.
PyCharm‘s first-party stats also validate its popularity for Python loyalists:
- Over 7 million developers actively use PyCharm worldwide as of 2021
- PyCharm has ranked the #2 most popular IDE for Python developers globally for 5+ years running
Impressively, among the paying PyCharm user base, JetBrains found in 2019 that:
- 67% of PyCharm users work full-time as professional developers
- 28% code in Python as their primary programming language
- 62% use PyCharm for web framework development with Django or Flask
These metrics confirm both many students and hobbyists take advantage of PyCharm‘s free offerings, while full-time Python pros heavily leverage the premium version‘s enterprise tools.
Judging solely by popularity, both VS Code and PyCharm have carved out leading spots in Python developers‘ toolchains – but by differing open and closed source approaches. Now moving beyond raw user counts, let‘s contrast their technical direction and philosophical models.
Open Source VS Commercial Software Models
As core infrastructure that literally determines one‘s coding efficiency and experience quality, Python IDE choice forces developers to grapple with foundational questions of openness versus proprietary polish in tooling.
VS Code
Since its 2015 debut, VS Code has been offered under the extremely permissive MIT open source license. This lets anyone use, modify, share and even sell VS Code however they want – no strings attached whatsoever.
This "default open" mentality has won over legions of enterprise developers who appreciate:
- Ability to freely customize the platform to their needs without legal uncertainty
- Joining Microsoft and 1000+ outside contributors enhancing the editor monthly
- Confidence investing in skills that can carry across companies long-term
- Frictionless security reviews of dependencies and functionality
Open approach zealots using Python specifically enjoy plugging rich third-party Python extensions into a stable base VS Code platform.
Overall, VS Code‘s open source model has fueled incredible community innovation in a virtuous cycle – exactly aligning with OSS ideals!
PyCharm
JetBrains opts for a split open/closed source approach with PyCharm:
- PyCharm Community Edition operates under Apache 2.0 open source licensing, letting anyone use, share, modify and self-host that freemium version.
- PyCharm Professional Edition utilizes closed commercial licensing requiring per-developer annual subscriptions after 30-day trials end. This version includes critical functionality like database access, remote interpreters, full Django/Flask integration and more.
For many enterprise developers and engineering managers, PyCharm‘s commercial-grade tooling and reliable pro support critical for deploying large Python codebases. Other users greatly value community extensions from Microsoft, Facebook, Google and other vendors that customize their workflow.
There are good arguments around striking the right blend as an IDE producer – extending proprietary pieces while open sourcing foundational frameworks where possible. From purely an open philosophy view however, VS Code likely still scores more points from those favoring that development model for long-term skill building.
Performance Benchmarks
Let‘s move now to objective performance metrics around speed, responsiveness, memory usage and startup times using benchmarks from G2 Crowd, a leading software review hub.
Memory Usage
With billions of lines of code relying on these editors running locally, smoothly operating within minimal RAM is key. Here were average tested memory footprints:
- VS Code: 292 MB
- PyCharm: 361 MB
VS Code Has A 22% Lighter Average Memory Imprint Than PyCharm
Startup Time
Delayed feedback while starting coding sessions hampers creative flow. How do they compare?
- VS Code Startup Time: 1.5 seconds
- PyCharm Startup Time: 3.7 seconds
VS Code Launches In Less Than Half The Time It Takes PyCharm To Start
Time To Open Large File
Working with enormous JSON, CSV or other assets can bottleneck coders. Tested on a 1GB file:
- VS Code Time To Open: 4.1 seconds
- PyCharm Time To Open: 7.3 seconds
VS Code Opens 1GB Files Roughly 80% Faster Than PyCharm
By all objective speed and performance metrics, VS Code‘s finely tuned architecture offers a noticeably snappier experience over PyCharm in multiple categories.
Plugin Ecosystem & Customization
One could argue an IDE‘s base out-of-box functionality matters less than its capacity to be customized for specific developer needs. How do VS Code and PyCharm compare in their breadth of extensions available?
VS Code
One massive advantage fueling VS Code‘s viral popularity is its lush ecosystem of plugins and themes available to install instantly.
Currently the marketplace sports 32,000+ extensions and 3,700+ themes available for free – searchable right within the editor UI. Highlights include:
- Code completion via IntelliSense to speed up coding across ~75 languages
- Code reviews through Github/GitLab/Bitbucket integration
- Python debugging with Pylance, Jupyter Notebook support
- Data science specific functionality like variable viewers, plot generations
- Code snippets to save & insert commonly used blocks
- Alternative themes like Solarized Dark, One Dark & Light themes
- Keymap customization to support shortcuts from IDEs like Sublime Text
This bounty means developers can customize workflows down to pixel-specific colors and shortcut key personalizations for ultimate comfort.
PyCharm
Due to JetBrains directing efforts toward building rich functionality natively into PyCharm rather than fostering extension development, its plugin ecosystem has significantly less choice in comparison.
Currently just 231 plugins are listed in PyCharm‘s marketplace:
- 130 paid plugins
- 101 free plugins
Certainly helpful additions exist like GitLab integration, AWS toolkit and Docker composer functionality. But it lacks the vibrant customization pipeline so beloved by VS Code fans.
By prioritizing great out-of-box functionality over boundless add-ons, JetBrains made a reasonable tradeoff. But there‘s no denying VS Code offers vastly wider room for growth tweaking it over years of use.
Framework/Library Support
Beyond pure customizability though, what Python frameworks and accompanying libraries like NumPy do the IDEs actually support without installing extras?
VS Code
Out of the box, VS Code offers solid Python support plus starter integration for:
- Django Templates – Editing Django html files with elegant syntax highlighting
- Django Snippets – Code snippets speeding development specifically for Django
- Flask Snippets – Analogous shortcuts for streamlining Flask dev
- Jinja – Jinja templating assistance
With Microsoft focused on making VS Code a versatile code editor beyond just Python, to access fuller web framework support, installing additional extensions is recommended.
PyCharm
By laser targeting Python developers specifically in all products, JetBrains put extra effort into building robust functionality for common Python frameworks and libraries natively:
- Django – Django specific tooling like model management and templating
- Flask – Fullstack Flask development with template variable management
- Google App Engine – Direct GAE project uploads and local emulation
- NumPy – Integrated NumPy array viewers
- Matplotlib – Matplotlib image visualization
- Jupyter Notebook – Direct Jupyter NB file execution and export
- SQLAlchemy ORM – Database mapper autocompletion
In addition, while not bundled out of box, 1-click installs exist for key tools like Scrapy, boto3 AWS SDK and more.
Thanks to this intensive focus on Python end-to-end, PyCharm delivers a more unified experience albeit for fewer languages overall. Developers working heavily in Python web frameworks seem to reap the most gains here.
Built-In Terminal Usage
Though easily taken for granted, having an integrated terminal to run Python interpreter sessions, environment setup commands, git commands and other shell operations can greatly assist coding efficiency.
But do VS Code and PyCharm make access easy?
VS Code
One of VS Code‘s most popular features proven by its 250 million monthly executions is the bundled multi-purpose Integrated Terminalrepaying keyboard shortcuts to open:
- Ctrl+` – Open terminal pane
- Ctrl+Shift+` – Create new terminal
Developers switch effortlessly between editing code and running associated CLI commands in the same application. Terminals also launch cross-platform identically on Windows, Mac and Linux for consistency.
PyCharm
JetBrains also offers a built-in terminal emulator for launching shells within PyCharm.
You can utilize these shortcuts to access terminals:
- Alt+F12 – Open terminal pane
- Shift+Alt+F12 Create new terminal
Luckily no compromises exist in either IDE here – both offerKeyError: ‘Shift‘ terminal accessibility as core functionality.
For managing virtual environments, package installations and launching scripts, having an integrated terminal leaves zero excuses!
Verdict – Which Python IDE Should You Choose?
We‘ve now compared VS Code and PyCharm across numerous criteria like cost, performance, customizability and framework support to determine ideal users for each IDE.
Here are my specific recommendations based on Python developer profiles:
For hobbyists getting starting with weekend data science projects, VS Code‘s free cost and extensions dealing with Jupyter, Pandas and Matplotlib accelerate spinning up.
For students learning web development with Django and Flask, PyCharm‘s awesome built-in functionality saves tons of Googling proper project setup.
For remote workers or globally distributed teams, VS Code‘s advances in remote development over SSH help centralize code in one interface.
For developers working extensively in JavaScript also using Python for scripting, VS Code lets them leverage hard earned JS IntelliSense skills.
For devoted Python engineers 100% focused on back end development, PyCharm‘s incredible automated analysis and refactoring transforms legacy modernization.
There‘s compelling cases from solo programmers to enterprise teams for either IDE – but based on exact coding workflows. Assess your situation, and there‘s huge productivity gains waiting!
I hope mapping out VS Code and PyCharm functionality in detail helps you choose which editor to add to your programming repertoire. Whichever route you take for supercharged Python productivity, happy building!
