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🦉 WE READ 88 OWNER COMMENTS
JetBrains Fleet: what owners actually say
Fleet aimed to be JetBrains' VS Code killer but owners found it neither a full IntelliJ replacement nor compelling enough for VS Code switchers — and JetBrains is killing it in December 2025.
What owners complain about
- Product being discontinued SOME
JetBrains announced Fleet will no longer be available for download starting December 22, 2025, being replaced by a new 'agentic development' product. Owners reacted with frustration — one simply said 'Fuck.'
- Not feature-complete COMMON
Owners report Fleet isn't feature complete enough to consider as an IntelliJ alternative, and is too different for VS Code users to take seriously. One commenter called it a failed strategy to counter VS Code.
- Plugin support lacking SOME
Fleet did not support custom (non-bundled) plugins for a long time. Users had to manually download zips and copy folders to install plugins like vim. As of the comments, the extensibility model was still unclear or incomplete.
- Doesn't bring enough vs VS Code COMMON
Multiple commenters say it doesn't really bring much compared to VS Code, limiting its appeal to existing JetBrains users rather than drawing in new ones.
- Confusing positioning SOME
Users are confused about Fleet's relationship to IntelliJ IDEA — whether it replaces it, coexists, or what the actual differences are. One commenter compared it to 'Microsoft Windows syndrome: too many versions, all almost the same.'
What owners love
- Distributed architecture concept
Owners appreciate the smart-distribution model where the IDE core can run on a server and be disabled when not needed, potentially improving resource consumption and enabling seamless remote development that some say is hard to notice is running remotely.
- JetBrains refactoring quality
Refactoring across JetBrains products is described as 'infinitely better' than VS Code and an 'insane productivity boost,' which owners hope carries into Fleet.
- Remote development potential
The ability to install a Fleet backend on a remote server via a simple curl command and debug Python remotely is seen as a genuinely useful approach to remote development that addresses a real gap in IntelliJ's offerings.
Surprising patterns
- Owners discovered manual workarounds for plugin installation — downloading zips, unzipping, and copying folders into the plugin directory — because the UI offered no plugin management.
- Some users abandoned Fleet for Zed, noting they only need two IDEs: a full-featured one like IntelliJ IDEA and a lightweight one that opens JSON files in under a second.
- The word 'agentic' in JetBrains' replacement product announcement generated visceral hostility, with one owner calling it their 'most hated word.'
WHO SHOULD SKIP IT
Anyone seeking a long-term stable editor — Fleet is being discontinued in December 2025, and even before that, owners found it not feature-complete enough to replace either IntelliJ or VS Code.
Synthesised from 88 real owner comments across 4 platforms. Every point is grounded in the comments — no marketing, no AI guessing. How we do it →