emIDE vs. uVision

This is in fact a major advantage of both emBlocks and emIDE (as descendants of Code::Blocks):
They both inherit multi-threaded build, which basically means that your
build speed scales with the number of CPU cores.

4 cores: 4 times the speed, so 5 seconds instead of 20.
This can be quite significant on larger builds.
I would expect a commercial tool chain such as Keil or IAR to be
at least as good as a free one, so Keil should work on this.

I still prefer emIDE, it is easier to use. Very easy to create
a project and supports any ARM device. Works 100%bout of the box.
However, both are nice.

This is in fact a major advantage of both emBlocks and emIDE (as descendants of Code::Blocks):
They both inherit multi-threaded build, which basically means that your
build speed scales with the number of CPU cores.

4 cores: 4 times the speed, so 5 seconds instead of 20.
This can be quite significant on larger builds.
I would expect a commercial tool chain such as Keil or IAR to be
at least as good as a free one, so Keil should work on this.

I still prefer emIDE, it is easier to use. Very easy to create
a project and supports any ARM device. Works 100%bout of the box.
However, both are nice.

Both are nice but emblocks debugger is much more sophisticated and it is coming with a lot of plugins (doxygen, spelling etc). emblocks has the uVision look and feel but much faster, even the memory window is equal to uVision (with the scrolling address window at the sidebar)

Pro's emblocks

- set the $pc at cursor line (useful for algorithm debugging)
- editor highlight of assembler files
- debugger has visual feedback in assembler files
- disassembly window is much better readable (highlight of arm-code and grayed source code)
- memory window can show characters/integers, signed and unsigned
- register window has fully explainable flags (like uVision)
- peripheral view can also change values (and color syntax of the type of register)
- auto update of memory view at every step with color syntax on changed values
- stlink is working out-of-the-box (not Jlink only)

Pro's emIde

- debugger setup is easier because it has only Jlink support.

I love the hover on variables in the EmBlocks debugger to see the current values. I hardly use watches any more.

If you really compare both by using them then there is a big difference. All the mentioned upcoming features for emIDE are already in EmBlocks (not accidentally i think). You should really try them both side-by-side. It's not because both use GCC and both uses a codeblocks source that it's equal nice.

OK, I tried them all:
emIDE: Nice, no problems to use
emBlocks: Nice, no problems to use
uVision: Very nice, but code size limited

Short: You are looking for a free tool chain. one of the first 2 it is.

I have used uVision and emBlocks (not tried out emIDE yet) and CoIDE (in the same light as emblocks).

With the commercial product, you get support - but you pay for that support; With the free product, you are on your own.

If you are starting out, and money is tight, try the free ones. If you are making a living on those tools, it is safer to go with the commercial ones.