JetBrains AI Assistant Review 2026: Native AI for JetBrains IDEs

What Is JetBrains AI Assistant?

JetBrains AI Assistant is an AI coding tool built directly into JetBrains IDEs — IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, GoLand, CLion, and others. Junie is the companion agent component for multi-step tasks. Together they represent JetBrains’ first-party approach to AI-assisted development: integrated with the IDE’s code analysis, inspections, and refactoring systems rather than bolted on as a third-party extension.

What Sets It Apart

The deepest advantage is integration. Because AI Assistant is built by JetBrains, it accesses the IDE’s type system, code analysis, and project model directly. Suggestions and edits are informed by the same static analysis that powers JetBrains’ inspections and refactoring tools. No third-party extension can reach this level of IDE integration.

Free unlimited local completions are a genuine differentiator. These run without sending code to the cloud, providing fast, private autocomplete at zero cost on all plans. For developers who primarily need smart autocomplete, this is real daily value with no expiration. Cloud-powered features — chat, inline editing, documentation generation — use AI Credits to access GPT, Claude, and Gemini models, giving you multi-model flexibility.

Junie handles multi-step tasks like test generation and cross-file refactoring, but it is more conservative than fully autonomous agents. It works within the IDE and keeps you in the loop rather than operating independently. This is more predictable but less powerful than agents like Devin or Claude Code that can run autonomously for extended periods.

The credit-based pricing adds complexity. Different models consume credits at different rates, and it is not always clear how many credits a request will cost. Flat-rate tools are simpler to budget for. And the JetBrains-only limitation is significant — if your team uses VS Code or other editors, this is not an option.

Who It’s For

• Developers already committed to JetBrains IDEs who want AI without switching editors
• Teams standardized on JetBrains tooling across the organization
• Developers who value free, private local completions without cloud dependency
• Not suited for VS Code or Neovim users, or developers who need fully autonomous agentic capabilities

Sources

• JetBrains AI Assistant
• Junie Documentation
• JetBrains AI Pricing