I, like many others, first started developing on Salesforce using the built-in Developer Console but once you see the light there is no going back.

The first IDE (Integrated Development Environment) I used for Salesforce was the Force.com IDE, aka Eclipse, and although it had all the features you would need it was not very user friendly and was eventually retired.

Next Salesforce shifted to Microsoft’s VS Code with the Salesforce Extension Pack plugin.

VS Code is by far, way more user friendly than Eclipse, has extensive documentation (like a whole Trailhead module), and supports Salesforce DX, which is awesome, but I don’t think it deserves the title of “Best Salesforce IDE”.

After working on it for over a year IntelliJ with the Illuminated Cloud plugin has it ALL! The combination of a robust, feature-rich IDE with the Salesforce capabilities you crave.

My most frequently used features:

• Dark Theme!
• Retrieve and deploy metadata
• Anonymous Apex and SOQL Query modules
• Run Test Classes
• Analyze Debug Logs
• Compare code with Server, another Org/ Sandbox, or version in VCS
• Reformat code – auto-aligns and formats code
• VCS commit – integration is seamless
• Structure view – shows the variables and methods in a class

NOTE: Since great software requires dedicated developers to continue supporting and enhancing it, you do have to pay about $100+/yr for the Illuminated Cloud plugin and IntelliJ Community Editon (open-source version) is free but for the Ultimate Edition it is $500 for the first year and drops from there.

TLDR: Winner is Intellij with Illuminated Cloud!