CLion is suitable for any software development purpose I can think of, and probably many more than I have no envisioned. It joins offerings from Intel, Microsoft and the like providing a quality IDE that produces quality code. It checks all of the boxes a developer wants it to check. The only place it's probably not your best tool is if you are heavily invested in another IDE. In that case, I'd always recommend sticking to organizational standards for production work and explore competitive alternatives in the lab.
I think it's the best IDE nowadays for game development, mainly in Unreal, but it's also the best one in cost/benefit for Unity. It might not work for people who prefer a more lightweight IDE, it's still pretty heavy and its indexing takes around 2~3GB of ram, but it's worth the quick indexing and IntelliSense.
Helps you refactor your code into more readable and more efficient code.
Highly customizable UI, including color themes, shortcut key remappings, and the ability to put any Window, Toolbar, or Docked tab anywhere you want, even on second screens. Additionally, this functionality can be customized per project, not just globally for the whole machine.
More control over Git. Visual Studio just has the basics, but mostly all that is needed is for git repositories. It gets the job done., but Rider takes it one step further and gives you most of what you can do on the command line's simple, easy to access menu options.
If you use TeamCity, then you have complete and full integration into your TeamCity build server!
You can double tap your control key and get a quick pop up to instantly run any command. Double tap shift and you can search your entire project, filenames, AND text and filter that search!
JetBrains, the company that created and maintains CLion, is located primarily in Russia. While that doesn't concern me it does create worries for some people.
No real cons. The product is great and the support is equally excellent.
CLion does everything I ask it to do. For me, Unreal Engine 4 compatibility was essential and Epic Game and JetBrains delivered a solid alternative to spending a huge amount of money on the "standard" IDE for game development on Windows. The user interface is sharp and modern without all of the silly frills many software suites now employ. It integrates well with source control systems we use and also works well, as expected, with other JetBrains development tools and assistants.
It's easy to learn while still advanced. It has smart tricks up it's sleeve that you have to find out but that is to be expected. It has a modern new UI that some will find too compact, but it took me just a day to like it more than to switch back.
I am giving it a 9 out of 10 because I did not even need official support from the CLion team but rather, every time I came across a problem, I have been able to solve it within the community itself. This is so precious that you don't even need the help of the program's development/support team. There's a huge community of users that backs you up.
The support forums and knowledge base are extensive and the JetBrains support staff respond quickly to new posts and help resolve issues. There is also a publicly accessible issue tracking system, which allows you to stay on top of any bug fixes or enhancement requests.
Most IDEs are huge both in disk and memory which causes it to run slow, where CLion is much smaller and faster. That's what I loved about CLion, compared to its rivals. Not to mention its extensive abilities and functions in the debugging process, thanks to which, we were able to fasten our software development process.
It’s a great free tool but not as enhanced as IntelliJ platform that JetBrains Rider has. Debugging and access to database is not as comfortable to use. Sure, you can save money on IDE, but may need to spend it on sleeping and stress relief pills.
