JetBrains dropped the pricing bomb in July: first increase since 2017, and it's a big one. Some products are going up 25%. Their blog post tries to justify it with "market pressures" and "AI investments," but let's be honest - they need more money. The developer community reaction has been about what you'd expect.
What's Actually Changing (The Bad News)
Reality check:
PhpStorm, WebStorm, and IntelliJ Ultimate commercial licenses - All getting hefty bumps. If you're still doing PHP in 2025, or JavaScript development, or enterprise Java, you're getting hit hard. Check JetBrains Store for the full damage across all products.
The All Products Pack is jumping up substantially for commercial users. That's real money - like $200-300 worth of groceries.
Price increases hit October 1, 2025. All the main IDEs are getting bumped up, with commercial licenses taking the biggest hit. Check current pricing to see exactly what you'll be paying.
The Only Good News: Continuity Discounts Still Work
The one thing JetBrains didn't break is their continuity discount system. If you've been paying for a year, you get 20% off. Two years gets you 40% off.
Example: PyCharm Professional commercial gets cheaper with loyalty - 20% off in year two, 40% off in year three. Still expensive, but at least they reward you for not jumping ship.
How to Avoid Getting Screwed (For Now)
If you're already a customer, you can prepay at current prices:
- Individual licenses: Up to 3 years ahead
- Commercial licenses: Up to 2 years ahead
This basically lets you flip off the price increase until 2027 if you have the cash upfront. Smart move if you're sure you'll stick with JetBrains and can afford the lump sum. Did this myself - prepaid 3 years of PyCharm for $747 instead of the new $936 over 3 years. Basically saved $189 by throwing money at the problem.
The Real Question: Do You Actually Need This Shit?
Before you panic-renew, ask yourself: do you really use all the features that justify the new higher pricing?
90% of developers I work with just use VS Code with extensions and call it a day. VS Code dominates for good reasons - it's free, works fine for most stuff, and doesn't eat RAM like Chrome with 47 tabs open. PyCharm and the other JetBrains IDEs use significantly more memory than lighter alternatives.
The only time JetBrains really makes sense is when:
- You're doing complex refactoring daily
- Your company pays for it (lucky you)
- You work across multiple languages and can actually use the All Products Pack
- You need the database integration and don't want to juggle multiple tools
Otherwise, you might be paying for a bunch of features you'll never touch while your VS Code setup does 90% of what you need.
You get 20% off after one year of paying, 40% off after two years. So whatever you pay in year one gets cheaper over time. The catch: you lose the discount if you let your subscription lapse, even for a day. JetBrains has you by the balls once you start using their refactoring tools, but at least they reward loyalty.
Students and teachers: 
For Java: Eclipse still exists but feels ancient. VS Code with Java extensions works but lacks the deep refactoring tools. Honestly, IntelliJ is still king for Java development. For Python: VS Code with Python extensions gets you 90% there. Vim with plugins if you hate yourself. PyCharm's main advantages are the integrated debugger and database tools. For web development: Just fucking use VS Code. WebStorm is good but hard to justify when VS Code + Prettier + ESLint + Live Server does the same job for free and boots up in 2 seconds instead of 30.