NetBeans allows applications to be developed from a set of modular software components called modules.

[4] NetBeans began in 1996 as Xelfi (word play on Delphi),[5][6] a Java IDE student project under the guidance of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology at Charles University in Prague.

In 1997, Roman Staněk formed a company around the project and produced commercial versions of the NetBeans IDE until it was bought by Sun Microsystems in 1999.

NetBeans contains all the modules needed for Java development in a single download, allowing the user to start working immediately.

[10] Oracle has donated NetBeans Platform and IDE to the Apache Foundation where it underwent incubation and graduated as a top level project in April 2019.

That research uncovered specific techniques that can be used to lower the overhead of profiling a Java application.

[15][16] JavaScript editor features comprise syntax highlighting, refactoring, code completion for native objects and functions, generation of JavaScript class skeletons, generation of Ajax callbacks from a template; and automatic browser compatibility checks.

Users can choose to download NetBeans IDE bundles tailored to specific development needs.

Users can also download and install all other features at a later date directly through the NetBeans IDE.

NetBeans also supports the JSF 2.0 (Facelets), JavaServer Pages (JSP), Hibernate, Spring, and Struts frameworks, and the Java EE 5 and J2EE 1.4 platforms.