BlueJ

A free Java Development Environment designed for beginners, used by millions worldwide. Find out more...

"One of my favourite IDEs out there is BlueJ"
— James Gosling, creator of Java.

Created by
Supported by

Download and Install

Version 5.4.1, released 19 September 2024 (Fix bug with errors not showing, see more)

Windows

Requires 64-bit Windows, Windows 8 or later. Also available: Standalone zip suitable for USB drives.

macOS

Requires macOS 11 or later. Also available: A version for Macs with Intel processors (2021 and earlier) - see this link for how to tell which processor you have.

Ubuntu/Debian

Requires 64-bit Intel processor running Debian 11 or Ubuntu 20.04 or later. Also available: A version for ARM64 processors (e.g. Raspberry Pi).

Other

Please read the Installation instructions. (Works on most platforms with Java/JavaFX 21 support).

Note: BlueJ now uses Java 11+, which requires a 64-bit operating system, which 95+% of users will have.
For 32-bit operating systems, download BlueJ 4.1.4 instead.
Download previous versions or old source code archives.
The source code for BlueJ is now available on Github.
The copyright for BlueJ is held by M. Kölling and J. Rosenberg.
BlueJ is available under the GNU General Public License version 2 with the Classpath Exception (full license text, licenses for third party libraries).

Useful Resources

Textbook

"Objects First with Java: A Practical Introduction Using BlueJ" is a textbook co-written by the developers of BlueJ and has sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide.

Teacher support

Our free Blueroom website offers teaching resources and the chance to engage with other educators using BlueJ around the world.

Documentation

Tutorials and reference materials for working in BlueJ.

Extensions

We have several extensions available that add to BlueJ's base functionality.


Technical Support

If you have a technical issue with the BlueJ software itself (e.g. installation problems, failing to start, etc), you can view our FAQ, contact our technical support or view our bug database.

Acknowledgements

The BlueJ project is supported by Oracle. We benefit from an open source licence for JProfiler (a Java profiler).