JetBrains Rider
Reddit take
AI summary of the Reddit excerpts below — not a quote
JetBrains Rider is frequently cited as a high-performance alternative to Visual Studio, particularly valued for its superior IntelliSense and proactive C# feature suggestions. While it is a paid tool, users often recommend it for Unreal Engine development and cross-platform work where Visual Studio may feel laggy or unresponsive.
Pros
- IntelliSense is often perceived as faster and more responsive than Visual Studio's native implementation.
- Proactively suggests modern C# syntax and newer language features.
- Strongly recommended for Unreal Engine development.
- Functions as a reliable cross-platform IDE where other tools may fail.
Cons
- The AI assistant (Junie) can be slow, sometimes taking minutes to complete tasks.
- Newer layout changes may hide familiar UI elements by default.
- May not be the primary choice for specific Windows-centric frameworks like WPF, MAUI, or WinForms compared to Visual Studio.
Caveats
- Requires a paid license, which some users find to be a significant consideration compared to free alternatives.
- User preference can shift back to Visual Studio following major updates to the latter.
Best for
- Unreal Engine developers.
- C# developers seeking more responsive code completion and modern refactoring suggestions.
- Developers working in environments where Visual Studio performance is a bottleneck.
Avoid if
- You are heavily reliant on Visual Studio's specific tooling for WPF, MAUI, or WinForms.
- You prefer a free IDE and do not require the advanced refactoring features of a paid tool.
This summary uses balanced time weighting with about a 6-month half-life. The evidence is older (median age of ~378 days) and comes from a limited number of discussions, primarily within a competitor's subreddit.
Sentiment
13 positive (87%) · 2 mixed (13%) · 0 negative (0%)
Trust + time weighted score: +87% · raw score 87%
What redditors said (10 of 15)
Depends on which framework the frontend is implemented - if I have to use WPF, MAUI or WinForms, Visual Studio is the best option (or maybe Rider, it depends).
Your IDE shouldn't really matter when learning cpp, do note that in the current landscape you'll likely use Rider for Unreal Engine.
and it works in rider, vs and vs code I think
Rider has it and even when I use their Junie AI assistant, I get a toast message because Junie takes minutes to finish sometimes.
Let me guess, Rider user
Sure a Rider license would be more usefully but still.
VS Code or rider.
Parent context: Are there going to be any improvements to Intellisense? I’m not saying VS Intellisense is awful, but it always felt laggy/unresponsive compared to Rider’s one (or Resharper extension). That could just be my perception though. Reply: I’m not saying VS Intellisense is awful, but it always felt laggy/unresponsive compared to Rider’s one (or Resharper extension).
In rider I get promoted to use newer features based on the c# version like using is {} or shortening stuff.
New Rider layout doesn't have it by default. I never missed it since i had it hidden in VS for years before.
Compare
JetBrains Rider vs RunableJetBrains Rider vs Claude CodeJetBrains Rider vs Visual Studio Code
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