--- title: "Microsoft Visual Studio Software Reviews, Demo & Pricing - 2026" description: "Review of Microsoft Visual Studio Software: system overview, features, price and cost information. Get free demos and compare to similar programs." source_url: "https://www.softwareadvice.com/project-management/microsoft-visual-studio-profile/" page_type: "product" language: "en" --- [Home](https://www.softwareadvice.com/) / [Application Development Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/app-development/) / Microsoft Visual Studio Software Advice offers objective insights based on verified user reviews and independent product and market research. When our advisors match you to a software provider, we may earn a referral fee. Overview [Reviews](https://www.softwareadvice.com/product/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/reviews/)[Alternatives](https://www.softwareadvice.com/product/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/alternatives/) # Microsoft Visual Studio Review From $45-$499.92/month Free version Free trial 5 plans On this page - Overview - User Interface - Popular Alternatives - Pros and Cons - Pricing and Plans - Features - Integrations - User Reviews - Popular Comparisons ## Overview Microsoft Visual Studio 4.6 [(3016)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/product/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/reviews/) FrontRunner 2026 Pricing Starting at $45.00 per user per month Top Alternatives ### About Microsoft Visual Studio Visual Studio is an application development solution that helps businesses create web, mobile, Mac and Windows-based applications and games. It allows developers to streamline processes related to debugging, testing, and deployment on a centralized platform. Visual Studio comes with built-in testing tools and project templates, which allows businesses to write, execute, and debug unit tests in multiple languages and test frameworks. It enables staff members to navigate codes, identify errors and apply code fixes. Administrators can utilize the live share module to set up collaborative code editing and debugging sessions with access rights and custom editor settings to enforce adherence to predefined coding guidelines. Additionally, it provides multiple keyboard shortcuts for operations, such as search, navigation, editing, refactoring and testing. Visual Studio facilitates integration with several third-party solutions, such as ReSharper, CodeMaid, and Github Extension. Pricing is available on request and support is extended via community forum, FAQs, documentation, live chat and other online measures. Do you work for Microsoft Visual Studio? [Manage this product listing](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-visual-studio/claim_requests/new?auto=true) ## Microsoft Visual Studio User Interface ## Popular Microsoft Visual Studio Alternatives Main Product Microsoft Visual Studio 4.6 [(3016)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/product/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/reviews/) Ratings Breakdown - 4.30Ease of use - 4.41Value for money - 4.21Customer support - 4.63Functionality Pricing Starting at $45.00 per month Alternative Product [GitLab](https://www.softwareadvice.com/project-management/gitlab-profile/) 4.6 [(1226)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/project-management/gitlab-profile/reviews/) Ratings Breakdown - 4.37Ease of use - 4.48Value for money - 4.20Customer support - 4.57Functionality Pricing Starting at $29.00 per month Alternative Product [Airtable](https://www.softwareadvice.com/project-management/airtable-profile/) 4.6 [(2244)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/project-management/airtable-profile/reviews/) Ratings Breakdown - 4.45Ease of use - 4.48Value for money - 4.41Customer support - 4.54Functionality Pricing Starting at $20.00 per month Alternative Product [Essential Studio](https://www.softwareadvice.com/app-development/essential-studio-profile/) 4.6 [(947)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/app-development/essential-studio-profile/reviews/) Ratings Breakdown - 4.33Ease of use - 4.56Value for money - 4.68Customer support - 4.60Functionality Pricing Starting at $2995.00 per year Alternative Product [GitHub](https://www.softwareadvice.com/project-management/github-profile/) 4.8 [(6206)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/project-management/github-profile/reviews/) Ratings Breakdown - 4.41Ease of use - 4.63Value for money - 4.34Customer support - 4.66Functionality Pricing Starting at $4.00 per month Alternative Product [Jira](https://www.softwareadvice.com/project-management/atlassian-jira-profile/) 4.4 [(15493)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/project-management/atlassian-jira-profile/reviews/) Ratings Breakdown - 4.08Ease of use - 4.28Value for money - 4.20Customer support - 4.44Functionality Pricing Starting at $7.91 per month ## Microsoft Visual Studio Pros and Cons We analyzed 3,016 verified reviews for Microsoft Visual Studio to find out what actual users really think. Select to learn more Comprehensive And Flexible Ide Platform Visual Studio provides a full-featured development environment with broad language support, powerful debugging, and project management tools. Its customizable interface and reliable ecosystem help developers build applications for desktop, web, mobile, and cloud, supporting both individual and team workflows. Coding Tools And Productivity Boosters Visual Studio offers robust code editing with features like IntelliSense, syntax highlighting, and auto-completion. Its support for multiple languages, customizable interface, and extensive extensions help streamline coding, reduce errors, and make development more efficient for both beginners and experienced programmers. Extensive Extension And Tool Support You can easily integrate Visual Studio with a wide range of plugins, version control systems like Git, cloud services, and external tools. The extension marketplace and built-in support for frameworks and databases allow you to tailor the IDE to your workflow and collaborate smoothly on diverse projects. Resource-Heavy And Slow Performance Users often experience slow startup times, lag, and high resource consumption, especially with large projects or many extensions. These performance issues can affect productivity, particularly on older or less powerful hardware, and may require frequent restarts or troubleshooting. Update And Compatibility Challenges Frequent updates and version changes can cause compatibility issues, disrupt workflows, and introduce bugs. Migrating projects between versions may be problematic, and some updates require manual intervention or lead to instability until patches are released. High Cost For Premium Editions Visual Studio’s Professional and Enterprise editions come with steep licensing fees, making them less accessible for freelancers, small teams, or organizations with limited budgets. The pricing model and added costs for premium features can be a barrier compared to more affordable alternatives. ## Microsoft Visual Studio Pricing and Plans Starting price: $45.00 per month Free Trial Free Version Enterprise Standard $499.92 per user, per month Plan includes: - Visual Studio Enterprise - Azure DevOps (Basic + Test Plan) - $150 Azure Credit Per Month - Premium Dev/Test Software - Extended Training And Support - Power BI Pro - Perpetual IDE License Included - Azure DevOps Server License And CAL Included - Test Plans Included - Self-Hosted Pipelines Included Read More Professional Standard $99.99 per user, per month Plan includes: - Visual Studio Professional - Azure DevOps (Basic Plan) - $50 Azure Credit Per Month - Basic Dev/Test Software - Training And Support - Perpetual IDE License Included - Azure DevOps Server License And CAL Included - Artifacts Included - Microsoft 365 Developer Subscription (E5) - Windows Store Developer Account Read More Enterprise Monthly $250.00 per user, per month Plan includes: - Visual Studio Enterprise - Azure DevOps (Basic + Test Plan) - Microsoft SQL Server Developer Edition - Test Plans Included - Self-Hosted Pipelines Included - Artifacts Included Professional Monthly $45.00 per user, per month Plan includes: - Visual Studio Professional - Azure DevOps (Basic Plan) - Microsoft SQL Server Developer Edition - Artifacts Included IDE Standalone $499.00 flat rate, one time Plan includes: - Perpetual Licensing Without Subscription Benefits ## Microsoft Visual Studio Features - Popular features found in Application Development API Collaboration Tools Compatibility Testing Debugging Deployment Management Drag & Drop Pre-built Templates Source Control Third-Party Integrations Version Control - More features of Microsoft Visual Studio 2D Drawing 3D Games Animation Code Development Code Editing Data Modeling For Developers Game Development Graphical User Interface In-App Purchase In-Game Analytics Integrated Development Environment Mobile Development Multi-player Gaming Network Software Development Web/Mobile App Development Website Development ## Microsoft Visual Studio Integrations GitHub Integration rated 4.7 from 51 reviews Microsoft SQL Server Integration rated 4.8 from 23 reviews Microsoft Azure Integration rated 4.7 from 20 reviews Unity Integration rated 4.8 from 16 reviews ## Microsoft Visual Studio User Reviews ## Microsoft Visual Studio customer ratings - Overall rating: 4.6/5 - Total reviews: 3,016 ### Rating distribution - 5 stars: 1,977 reviews (66%) - 4 stars: 936 reviews (31%) - 3 stars: 90 reviews (3%) - 2 stars: 9 reviews (0%) - 1 star: 4 reviews (0%) ### Secondary ratings - Ease of use: 4.3/5 - Value for money: 4.4/5 - Customer support: 4.2/5 - Functionality: 4.6/5 --- ### Powerful IDE for professional development work - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Junaid E. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Hospitality - Company size: 201-500 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: January 2026 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Overall, Microsoft Visual Studio is dependable IDE designed for serious development work. it excels in building, debugging, and maintaining complex applications. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Microsoft Visual Studio is a powerful and complete development environment that brings everything you need into one place. User Interface looks great and easy to navigate around. #### Cons Visual Studio can feel heavy and resource intensive, espacially on lower spec machines. Startup time and updates can be slow and the large number of features can be overwhelming for beginners. --- ### Primary IDE for years! - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Edwin V. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Information Technology and Services - Company size: 10000+ employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: July 2026 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Overall, Microsoft Visual Studio has been a dependable development environment that has helped me complete projects ranging from small utilities to larger business applications. I have used it for C#, .NET, desktop development, API development, and even game-related projects with Unity. The combination of reliable debugging tools, strong IntelliSense, integrated testing, and Git support creates a smooth workflow from writing code to deployment. The recent AI-assisted features have been useful for speeding up repetitive coding tasks, generating boilerplate code, and suggesting improvements during development, although I still rely on manual review before accepting any generated code. The user interface is familiar once you spend time customizing it, and the extensive extension marketplace allows the IDE to adapt to different types of projects. Even though it requires a fairly powerful computer, I consider it one of the most complete development environments available for professional software development. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Microsoft Visual Studio has been my primary IDE for years because it brings almost everything I need into one place. We use in our team to building our POC's. The debugging tools are probably my favorite feature. Being able to set breakpoints, inspect variables, view the call stack, and use Hot Reload saves a huge amount of development time. I also like how easy it is to manage large C# and .NET solutions without constantly switching between different tools. The built-in Git integration makes committing and reviewing changes simple, and the project templates help me start new applications quickly. I have also found the AI-assisted coding features useful for generating repetitive code, suggesting refactoring ideas, and explaining unfamiliar APIs. They are not perfect, but they speed up routine work while still letting me review everything before committing. The interface feels organized, and features like code navigation, IntelliSense, profiling, and package management make it a strong choice for desktop, web, and game development projects. #### Cons The biggest downside of Microsoft Visual Studio is that it can be a very heavy application, especially when working with large enterprise solutions. Also only available on PC (no Mac or you run Parallels Desktop or other VM). Startup times are slower than lighter editors, and memory usage can become noticeable when several extensions are installed. Occasionally, after major updates, I have experienced extension compatibility issues or had to rebuild caches before everything worked normally again. Some configuration screens are also spread across different menus, which makes certain settings harder to find than they should be. While the AI coding features are helpful, they sometimes generate code that looks correct but does not fully match the project's architecture or coding style, so I always review the suggestions carefully. Licensing for the Professional and Enterprise editions may also be expensive for smaller teams or independent developers who only need a subset of the advanced features. --- ### Experience - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Jatin B. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Retail - Company size: 10000+ employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: January 2026 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered In my own experience I'm very satisfied with the overall experience in the visual studio working very best #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Visual code now is much more better than the previous one always getting better better it's so satisfactory to see like this for me my personal experience Says it's Goin to be more fun in the future #### Cons Sometimes with the the minimum specs it's lag alot and sometimes it's crashes also should work on that by visual studio --- ### Visual Studio is still the king - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Paul S. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Computer Software - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: February 2026 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Visual Studio gets more powerful with each new version. What it can do is almost endless. Working on enterprise level Windows OS solutions, it is still the tool to use. Sometimes it can take a while to implement a feature, but you never fear that with Visual Studio it cannot be done. It is still the most powerful development environment for our needs. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Value for money: 3/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros With Visual Studio you can develop the most complex enterprise level applications, especially for Windows operating systems. It provides comprehensive features and third party plugins, great debugging, vast documentation and support, and of course, integration to the Microsoft ecosystem. #### Cons Visual Studio is resource intensive and requires a decent machine. There is a steep learning curve, even for experienced users, for each new version, as the feature set is so vast. Works great for Windows (obviously) - support for other platforms is limited. Other than the free community edition, the paid versions can be expensive for individuals. --- ### Good IDE for C# - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Health, Wellness and Fitness - Company size: 201-500 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: March 2026 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Overall good a lot of features are available for advanced programmers and very useful for C# programming. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Microsoft Visual Studio has been a great IDE for implementing our web app in an ASP.NET MVC pattern framework. This IDE is very helpful with complete features for C# programming. #### Cons Microsoft Visual Studio features are complex which have a high learning curve that is not typical for beginners. It is also consumes higher system resources than other IDE's. --- ### It is widely used AI tool - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Mudit M. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Information Technology and Services - Company size: 10000+ employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: November 2025 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. It has been great using VS code and Microsoft visual studio. Looking forward to future updates that should have more AI features #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros VS code is easy to use , it offers a great platform for the devs to build,write code . It has 2 color modes to interact with giving it a good ux #### Cons The AI plugins are not built in . One needs to install external plugins to enable AI intellisense. Most plugins have AI now --- ### Easy and helpful coding app - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Simon S. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Information Technology and Services - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for less than 12 months - Reviewed: March 2026 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered My experience with Visual Studio is good. It has guides and helps for learning code. Customer support helps if there is a problem. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Value for money: 3/5 - Customer support: 2/5 - Functionality: 3/5 #### Pros I like Visual Studio because it is easy to use. I can write code and build projects. It helps me learn programming. It has many tools and good features. The interface is easy to understand and use. #### Cons Sometimes it is slow when projects are big. Some advanced features need the paid version. It can be confusing for beginners. --- ### Great for beginners or pros - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Jon J. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Dairy - Company size: 501-1000 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for less than 12 months - Reviewed: January 2026 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered A modern and clean interface with excellent community built around it. There are few development environments that compare. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros MS Visual Studio is easy to use, and flexible for use across a wide range of development environments. With support for various code bases, as well as HTML, the programme provides all you need for building and developing websites, email, applications and widgets. A clear and clean interface, with great community support, documentation and plugins. #### Cons Nothing to dislike really. With plenty of online tuition, forums and community support; you can do whatever you want - guided by the system. --- ### Visual Studio for the win. - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Wesley W. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Computer Hardware - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for less than 2 years - Reviewed: January 2026 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Phenomenal experience. It's helped me and my team create many apps and fix numerous amounts of problems. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 3/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros The amount of options available that cover all aspects of app development is extremely useful and makes it very easy to build and develope. #### Cons The layout can be a bit much at first but after using it for a while it grows on you and becomes easier. --- ### Stable and Productive IDE for Complex Projects - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Mathieu R. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Gambling & Casinos - Company size: 1001-5000 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for less than 12 months - Reviewed: December 2025 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros I really appreciate how smooth the debugger is and how well everything integrates, especially when I’m working on gameplay prototypes or testing behaviors in real time. Built-in tools like IntelliSense save a lot of time, and the overall stability of the IDE is a big advantage for complex projects. #### Cons Once everything is set up the way you like, Microsoft Visual Studio becomes much easier and more pleasant to work with, so there isn’t much to complain about. --- Showing 1 - 10 of 3016 Reviews [See All Reviews](https://www.softwareadvice.com/product/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/reviews/) ## Microsoft Visual Studio Popular Comparisons [Essential Studio vs Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/133264-essential-studio/vs/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/)[GitHub vs Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/397820-github/vs/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/)[Jira vs Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/4315-atlassian-jira/vs/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/)[IntelliJ IDEA vs Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/207805-intellij-idea/vs/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/)[Sublime Text vs Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/285067-sublime-text/vs/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/)[Microsoft Azure vs Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/397793-microsoft-azure/vs/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/)[Apache NetBeans vs Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/207943-apache-netbeans/vs/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/)[Eclipse IDE vs Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/207988-eclipse-ide/vs/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/)[GitLab vs Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/28004-gitlab/vs/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/)[Docker vs Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/vs/430741-Docker/)[Notepad++ vs Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/115605-notepad/vs/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/)[Google Cloud vs Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/172144-google-cloud-platform/vs/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/)[Google App Engine vs Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/339449-google-app-engine/vs/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/)[Unity vs Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/236566-Unity/vs/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/)[Airtable vs Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/205546-airtable/vs/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/)[Claris FileMaker vs Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/162826-filemaker/vs/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/)[DHTMLX vs Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/192859-dhtmlx-suite/vs/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/) [Compare All Alternatives](https://www.softwareadvice.com/product/410128-microsoft-visual-studio/alternatives/) ## See what companies are saying about Software Advice