If you maintain an active open-source project, JetBrains provides free all-products pack including PyCharm Professional.
If you cannot qualify for a free Professional license, consider these powerful IDEs that rival or exceed PyCharm v4.0.5: If you maintain an active open-source project, JetBrains
| IDE | Free? | Web/Django Support | Database Tools | Remote Dev | |------|--------|--------------------|----------------|--------------| | VS Code | Yes (MIT) | Yes (extensions) | Yes | Yes | | Eclipse + PyDev | Yes (EPL) | Partial | No | Yes | | IntelliJ IDEA CE | Yes | No (needs Ultimate) | No | No | | Thonny | Yes | No | No | No | | Spyder (for science) | Yes | No | Yes (via plugin) | No | Migration tip: You can open any PyCharm project
| Myth | Reality | |-------|---------| | “Old versions have no activation check” | False – v4.0.5 phones home unless patched (illegal). | | “Free license server still works” | False – servers were shut down years ago. | | “Cracked version has no malware” | False – 99% contain keyloggers or miners. | | “I can use it for legacy Python only” | Why risk malware when you can use free Community Edition safely? | If you maintain an active open-source project, JetBrains
Migration tip: You can open any PyCharm project in VS Code – only .idea/ folder is ignored.