This is something that I was also confused about. Is it exactly the same, or almost the same, and if it is not, then what are the tradeoffs? After a bit of googling I found this on PyCharm's confluence site: http://confluence.jetbrains.net/display/PYH/PyCharm+vs.+Inte...

I decided to just get PyCharm, considering that I will not need Jython intergration, interface is less cluttered, and IntelliJ Python plugin does not handle Flask projects natively, whereas PyCharm does.

One other thing to consider is that If I don't need most of IntelliJ's features, paying $100 a year for updates is a bit wasteful if all that I need is covered by a $59 PyCharm renewal.

edit: typos

I've not tried it. Best would be if you downloaded both trials of PyCharm and IntelliJ and tried it out yourself.

The "Open Directory" feature made me get WebStorm in addition to IntelliJ.

If you want that feature in IntelliJ, please vote for: http://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-75833