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Best IntelliJ Themes in 2026, Ranked

Quick answer: One Dark is the best IntelliJ theme for most people: 11.8 million downloads, a 4.84 rating, a June 2026 release and native support for JetBrains' new Islands UI. Catppuccin is the best if you switch between light and dark, Gerry Themes is the best large collection, and Dracula is the best-known theme that is still actively shipping.

Most "best IntelliJ themes" lists on the first page of Google were written years ago, and it shows: they recommend themes whose last release predates the IDE you are running. A theme from 2021 will still install, but JetBrains has reworked the UI twice since then, and old themes leave the new surfaces unstyled.

So this list is ranked on what you can check. On 6 October 2026 we pulled the 40 most-downloaded themes from the JetBrains Marketplace, with each one's latest release date, compatible IDE range and rating. The current stable IntelliJ IDEA is 2026.2.3.

What did the Marketplace data show?

Of the 40 most-downloaded JetBrains themes:

| Last release | Themes | |---|---| | 2026 | 18 | | 2025 | 5 | | 2024 | 4 | | 2023 | 1 | | 2022 or earlier | 12 |

Twelve of the top 40 have not shipped since 2022 or earlier, and three can no longer be installed on the current IDE at all. Only eight ship variants for the Islands UI, the redesigned look JetBrains rolled out in 2025. Those eight are where the maintained end of the market is, and most of the ranking below comes from them.

How should you judge an IntelliJ theme?

  1. Does it support the Islands UI? If you have moved to the new UI, a theme without an Islands variant falls back on older colour keys and the panels look inconsistent.
  2. When was it last released? JetBrains ships three major versions a year. A theme that stopped shipping in 2022 missed a lot of new UI.
  3. Is the rating high relative to its downloads? Downloads are cumulative and never fall. A low rating on a huge download count usually means a past change annoyed a lot of people.
  4. Does it ship a light variant? Bright rooms need one, and switching theme families twice a day is worse than picking one that ships both.

The best IntelliJ themes in 2026, ranked

1. One Dark

Verdict: the best default. 11,758,685 downloads, rating 4.84, last release 29 June 2026, Islands variants included. A port of the Atom One Dark palette with Vivid and Italic options, and the second most-downloaded theme on the Marketplace. Requires IDE 2025.3 or newer.

2. Catppuccin

Verdict: the best if you use both light and dark. 2,177,084 downloads, rating 4.81, last release 18 July 2026, Islands variants included. Four flavours from the same palette design: Latte (light), Frappé, Macchiato and Mocha. Moving between them changes brightness without relearning what each colour means. It is also the same theme family we ranked second for VS Code, which matters if you use both editors.

3. Gerry Themes

Verdict: the best large collection, and the highest-rated theme in the top ten. 3,758,081 downloads, rating 4.94, last release 5 August 2026. The free plugin bundles dozens of dark, violet, oceanic and light themes, each in Islands and legacy versions. A paid Gerry Themes Pro adds more. Start here if you want to browse rather than commit.

4. Dracula

Verdict: the famous one, and in JetBrains it is still maintained. 3,603,642 downloads, rating 4.42, last release 5 September 2026, Islands variants included. Dracula, Dracula Colorful and the light Alucard variant. This is the opposite of the VS Code situation, where the official Dracula theme has not shipped since 2024. It is also one of the few themes in our own directory, with ports for terminals and most editors.

5. Nightfall

Verdict: the best-rated minimal dark theme. 522,884 downloads, rating 4.91, last release 1 May 2026, Islands variant included. A single deep-blue dark theme without dozens of variants to choose between. Requires IDE 2024.3 or newer.

6. GitHub Primer

Verdict: the maintained GitHub theme. 372,236 downloads, rating 4.90, last release 3 April 2026, Islands variants included. GitHub Dark and Dark Dimmed based on GitHub's Primer colours. The older, more-downloaded GitHub Theme (665,745 downloads) last shipped on 4 August 2024 and has no Islands support, so this is the one to install.

7. Xcode Theme

Verdict: the best Apple-style theme, light and dark. 930,255 downloads, rating 4.87, last release 9 May 2026, Islands variants included. Xcode Light and Xcode Dark. Skip the similarly named Xcode-Dark Theme: 1,178,605 downloads, but last released on 4 July 2021.

8. Gruvbox (Gruvbox - Theme)

Verdict: the best low-contrast theme for long sessions. 311,289 downloads, rating 4.85, last release 14 September 2026. Light and dark in soft, medium and hard contrast. Note the name: the older "Gruvbox Theme" plugin has more downloads (546,333) but only supports IDEs up to 2022.2, so it cannot be installed on a current IntelliJ.

What about Material Theme UI?

It is the most-downloaded theme on the Marketplace by a distance, with 18,871,565 downloads, and its latest release on 14 September 2026 shows it is maintained. But it is freemium, its rating is 3.96, and its newest version only supports IDE 2026.2 and 2026.3. It is a theme engine as much as a theme, bundling dozens of palettes plus UI customisation. If you want that level of control, try it. If you just want good colours, everything above is free and rated higher. Monokai Pro is similar: freemium, actively released (8 September 2026), but rated 2.97.

Which popular IntelliJ themes have stalled?

Checked today, sorted by downloads:

  • Solarized Theme: 2,461,028 downloads, last release 28 January 2025. Still installs, no Islands variant.
  • Dark Purple Theme: 1,988,852 downloads, last release 18 February 2022. The Cyan Light and Gray themes share that exact release date.
  • Gradianto: 1,964,862 downloads, last release 26 October 2023.
  • Visual Studio Code Dark Plus: 1,520,860 downloads, last release 23 August 2024.
  • Atom One Theme: 1,026,606 downloads, last release 12 May 2022. One Dark, ranked first above, is the maintained alternative.
  • Nord: 835,023 downloads, last release 24 October 2020.

Three popular themes no longer install on IntelliJ 2026.2 at all: Gruvbox Theme (supports up to 2022.2), Doki Theme (up to 2025.1) and IntelliJ Light Theme (up to 2019.3). You do not need the last one: IntelliJ Light has shipped with the IDE for years.

What font should you pair with your IntelliJ theme?

IntelliJ ships JetBrains Mono as its default editor font, and it is a strong one. If you change it, test the font against your theme at your real size: low-contrast palettes such as Gruvbox need a heavier stem weight to stay crisp. Our best coding fonts post ranks the monospace options, and the font category lists 20 font resources, including Google Fonts for free monospace families.

If you are still choosing between IDEs, IntelliJ IDEA and the rest of the JetBrains family are in our editor category, and our best code editor ranking compares them with VS Code and the rest.

FAQ

How do I install a theme in IntelliJ IDEA?

Open Settings, go to Plugins, search the Marketplace tab for the theme name, and click Install. Then choose it under Settings, Appearance & Behavior, Appearance, Theme. Most theme plugins add several variants to that list, so preview each one.

Do IntelliJ themes work in PyCharm, WebStorm and other JetBrains IDEs?

Yes. Themes are installed from the same JetBrains Marketplace and work across IntelliJ-based IDEs, including PyCharm, WebStorm, GoLand, PhpStorm, Rider, CLion and Android Studio. Check the plugin's compatibility range, because a few themes lag behind the newest IDE versions.

What is the most popular IntelliJ theme?

By downloads, Material Theme UI at about 18.9 million, followed by One Dark at about 11.8 million. Downloads are cumulative, though, so they reward age. One Dark has the stronger rating and is the better default.

Are JetBrains themes free?

Almost all of them. 37 of the 40 most-downloaded themes are free. Material Theme UI and Monokai Pro are freemium, and Gerry Themes Pro is paid. Every theme ranked above is free.

What is the Islands theme in IntelliJ?

Islands is the redesigned UI look JetBrains rolled out in 2025, with separated, rounded tool-window panels. Theme plugins need specific Islands variants to style it properly, which is why this ranking favours themes that ship them.