IntelliJ IDEA

Every issue, all time, most people first

1. Editor lags, forcing users to slow their typingUnreviewed

   22 people since 2010, in 10 different years · 1 this year

   20102026
   • Editor is sluggish and performs poorly for the user2025-12-05
   • UI is slow, with bizarrely high latency when typing2025-05-18
   • Typing lags badly, characters take seconds to render in the editor2024-10-31
   Something wrong here?

2. Autocomplete is forced on and aggressively intrusive to switch offUnreviewed

   7 people since 2011, in 6 different years · none this year

   20102026
   • Autocomplete is only single line and was bad last time tried2025-02-06
   • Autocomplete suggests types the user never uses, requiring repeated manual exclusion2024-05-01
   • Autocompletion often wrong and the IDE lags during text editing2022-12-13
   Something wrong here?

3. Shortcuts are unintuitive and many actions require mouse clicksUnreviewed

   7 people since 2013, in 5 different years · none this year

   20102026
   • Default text editing is clumsy, forcing mouse use and slowing programmers down2023-03-03
   • Mouse-discoverable UI requires many more clicks than other apps, frustrating new users2022-10-18
   • Requires excessive mouse clicks to do everyday development tasks2021-01-01
   Something wrong here?

4. Too much cluttered UI overwhelms and makes focus hardUnreviewed

   6 people since 2013, in 6 different years · none this year

   20102026
   • Cluttered UI with essential functions hidden in tiny side panels and obscure icons2025-02-11
   • UI feels overwhelming, covered in buttons and panels, cluttered and cramped2023-09-14
   • Interface feels cluttered and bloated, hard to work in on a small screen2022-10-18
   Something wrong here?

5. Menus take several seconds to respond after clickingUnreviewed

   6 people since 2015, in 6 different years · 1 this year

   20102026
   • Menus appear in random places and the app feels sluggish with mixed scaling2025-12-25
   • Command+space takes seconds to show the context menu, making it slow to use2021-04-07
   • Menus take several seconds to respond after clicking, feeling sluggish2019-04-18
   Something wrong here?

6. Takes five to ten minutes to start upUnreviewed

   4 people since 2020, in 3 different years · none this year

   20102026
   • Takes 5-10 minutes to start and is too slow to do anything in2025-08-10
   • Takes nearly two minutes to start, with a blank window and long waits2021-05-06
   • Takes around 30 seconds to open, too slow for quick code reading2021-03-06
   Something wrong here?

7. Interface is really slow to respond on 4K displaysUnreviewed

   4 people since 2016, in 3 different years · none this year

   20102026
   • Slow to respond, making it frustrating to use2023-07-26
   • IDE becomes laggy and slow to respond on a 4K external monitor2019-02-12
   • The interface is really slow to respond on 4K displays2019-02-12
   Something wrong here?

8. Code completion suggestions are worse and slow to appearUnreviewed

   4 people since 2017, in 2 different years · none this year

   20102026
   • Constant freezes and seconds-long delays before suggestions appear2024-02-18
   • Code completion suggestions are getting worse and slow to appear2024-02-18
   • Completion suggestions no longer put the user's typical choices at the top, forcing scrolling2017-11-04
   Something wrong here?

9. Frequent re-indexing makes the computer unusable and restarts hangUnreviewed

   3 people since 2022, in 3 different years · none this year

   20102026
   • Randomly re-indexes, slowing the whole system to a crawl2024-01-25
   • Slow and prone to index corruption with annoyances the user can't easily fix2023-07-17
   • Frequent re-indexing makes the workstation unusable and restarts can hang2022-08-17
   Something wrong here?

10. Users click Git UI without understanding commands, damaging branchesUnreviewed

    3 people since 2018, in 3 different years · none this year

    20102026
    • Users click through git warnings without reading, losing changes and rewriting history2022-10-15
    • Users click through IDE Git UI without understanding what commands do, causing branch damage2021-08-01
    • Git UIs get in the way and slow down complex tasks, forcing a return to the command line2018-08-05
    Something wrong here?

11. Whole-project compile errors hide behind obscure settingsUnreviewed

    3 people since 2018, in 3 different years · none this year

    20102026
    • Whole-project compile errors only show after obscure, changing settings that are hard to find2021-03-17
    • Can't run code until whole project compiles, so trivial syntax errors surface late2020-07-17
    • Misses errors until a manual build; unrelated compile errors block running unit tests2018-02-24
    Something wrong here?

12. Editor is sluggish on startup as background services loadUnreviewed

    3 people since 2014, in 3 different years · none this year

    20102026
    • Editor is sluggish on startup because background services load before the user can interact2023-12-28
    • Slows the whole system down just by being open in the background2022-03-24
    • Background indexing freezes the whole machine and other apps2014-01-04
    Something wrong here?

13. Keyboard shortcuts are inconsistent with the browser and other toolsUnreviewed

    3 people since 2019, in 3 different years · none this year

    20102026
    • Every keystroke takes seconds to render when the IDE window is maximized2023-09-14
    • Keyboard shortcuts differ across IDEs and platforms, so they are hard to keep track of2021-10-08
    • Keyboard shortcuts are inconsistent with other tools like the browser, and the IDE is slow2019-08-27
    Something wrong here?

14. Font rendering makes source code hard to read comfortablyUnreviewed

    3 people since 2010, in 3 different years · none this year

    20102026
    • Sluggish performance and font rendering on macOS hurts the eyes2016-04-22
    • Font rendering on Linux looks wrong until the user edits font hinting data2013-04-03
    • Font rendering is so poor the source code is hard to read comfortably2010-03-25
    Something wrong here?

15. Gradle build only works after running the build step through the IDEUnreviewed

    3 people since 2020, in 3 different years · none this year

    20102026
    • IDE stops providing type and plugin help in Gradle Groovy build files2023-04-26
    • Gradle tasks ran without prompting and broke the user's build2021-11-30
    • Gradle build only works after running the build step through the IDE2020-04-13
    Something wrong here?

16. No way to use git's staging area, forcing command line useUnreviewed

    3 people since 2013, in 3 different years · none this year

    20102026
    • Partial staging and diffing are harder to do than in the git command line2024-02-02
    • Missing staging tooling forces the user to fall back to the command line2018-10-17
    • No way to interact with git's staging area, so users fall back to the command line2013-12-11
    Something wrong here?

17. Compiling and running takes seconds to a minuteUnreviewed

    3 people since 2013, in 3 different years · none this year

    20102026
    • Starting a Java program in a Maven project is excruciatingly slow, done countless times daily2023-07-26
    • Compiling and running takes seconds to 60 seconds, slower than Eclipse2019-12-17
    • Compilation of larger Android projects is too slow to be usable2013-03-12
    Something wrong here?

18. Debugger button location and icons are non-intuitiveUnreviewed

    3 people since 2012, in 3 different years · none this year

    20102026
    • Redesigned build and debug buttons took days to find again2021-01-04
    • Debugger button location and icons are non-intuitive to users2017-09-30
    • Debugger buttons are inscrutable, hard to tell what they do2012-12-05
    Something wrong here?

19. Must wait for indexing before searching, even in recent projectsUnreviewed

    3 people since 2022, in 3 different years · none this year

    20102026
    • File search takes multiple seconds to find a file in project root2024-07-11
    • Must wait for indexing before searching, even when project was opened recently2023-09-14
    • Index rebuilds take about 10 minutes and projects need a minute before becoming usable2022-10-18
    Something wrong here?

20. Keeps losing caches, forcing slow rebuildsUnreviewed

    3 people since 2016, in 3 different years · none this year

    20102026
    • Performance is atrocious and it keeps losing caches2023-07-11
    • Slow and laggy with memory leaks, stutters and hangs that developers constantly curse at2020-07-17
    • Gets too slow over time, swaps memory and uses a third of RAM2016-11-22
    Something wrong here?

This list counts all time; the period switch above only changes the ranking. Each issue is a group of similar complaints raised by at least 3 people in 3 different months and threads. Each line under an issue is Claude Haiku's summary of one of its latest comments, not a quote; follow it to read the comment on Hacker News.