DrJava

Windows · Mac · Linux

Freedom report

Three barsScore 6.5

DrJava is ranked #8 of 23 in Java IDEs on Freedom251. It runs on Linux, macOS, Windows. There is a free plan.

DrJava plans and pricing

Free Free Java 8 compatible beta; distributed as a JAR cs.rice.edu · 5 Oct 2026

Purpose: DrJava is a lightweight development environment for writing Java programs, designed primarily for students.
Interactive coding: Its Interactions pane lets users evaluate Java code interactively.
Editor: DrJava includes an intelligent program editor.
Testing and debugging: The project describes support for JUnit testing and a source level debugger.
Documentation: DrJava can generate Javadoc documentation for source files.
License: DrJava is released under a standard BSD open-source license.
Java requirement: The current beta release is compatible with Java 8, which the page identifies as the only supported version of traditional Java.
Platform packaging: The page says the current beta is distributed only as a JAR to minimize cross-platform compatibility issues.
Eclipse plugin: The download page describes the Eclipse plugin as very old and compatible only with Eclipse versions from the same era.
Support: Bug reports and feature requests require a SourceForge account login.
Linux limitation: The FAQ reports an incompatibility between DrJava and the Compiz window manager on Linux and recommends disabling Compiz if the issue occurs.
Founded: 2001
Price from: Free

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