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Microsoft Visual Studio vs SharePoint Designer [EOL] comparison

Microsoft Visual Studio and SharePoint Designer [EOL] are both solutions in the .NET Development Services category. Additionally, 95% of Microsoft Visual Studio users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 82% of SharePoint Designer [EOL] users who would recommend it.
Microsoft Visual Studio
Read 92 Microsoft Visual Studio reviews
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  • 900 Comparison Views
95% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary
We performed a comparison between Microsoft Visual Studio and SharePoint Designer [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Zend, Cognosys Inc Hardened Images and others in .NET Development Services.

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.NET Development Services
November 2025
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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Visual Studio
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
92
Ranking in other categories
.NET Development Services (1st)
SharePoint Designer [EOL]
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Eitan Gold - PeerSpot reviewer
Test code efficiency improves with integrated debugger and automation
The test explorer is really important for us as it aids in testing, along with the regular debugger. Even though I forgot the term for it at the moment, there is an overall debugger tool within the IDE that is very effective. This comprehensive debugger tool does the job efficiently, making our work easier.
Read full review
Raphael Haroun Ikyagh - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers ability to directly share documents and highly stable
It's been stable for me. I haven't encountered any issues with the sites I've developed locally within the organization as long as the license remains valid. It's very stable. I haven't had any issues with outages or needing to republish content. It's always accessible to authorized users, so it's stable. The stability is almost a ten out of ten for me.
Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"We like Visual Studio because you can choose the different types of languages, like JavaScript. I think it's better than the other solutions I used."
"We use TFS for our scrums, which links our tasks to actual code changes."
"It's pretty prevalent."
"The most valuable feature is that it is a complete package, with an IDE and everything that you need for software development."
"The solution can scale."
"The tool is good for interactive testing. It has good integrations and works well for remote services. The product also has features for collaborative work where it allows others to control my screen. It has a good community for every language."
"The most valuable features of Microsoft Visual Studio are the availability of many extensions, an interpreter, a code formator, and helpful dark and light modes."
"The most valuable features of Microsoft Visual Studio are the database connections."
More Microsoft Visual Studio pros
"The management and monitoring features are good."
"The technical support from Microsoft is very good."
"The most valuable features of SharePoint Designer are integration and collaboration capabilities, such as allowing more than one person to edit a file."
"What I found most valuable in SharePoint Designer is that through it, you can perform a lot of SharePoint functionalities, such as creating SharePoint lists and libraries, as well as customizing pages."
"Retrieving documents and uploading them is easy."
"We appreciate the fact that this solution can provide us with an on-premises version, as due to our geographical location, we are not able to use cloud-based tools."
"The workflow is the solution's most valuable feature."
"I would rate the solution's stability a nine out of ten."
More SharePoint Designer [EOL] pros
 

Cons

"The UI could be better, and development could be easier on Microsoft Visual Studio if there were more features like drag and drop and more frameworks, etc."
"Despite its advantages, challenges in diverse cloud environments may prompt the uninstallation of the application or entire development environment for resolution."
"The solution is not really good at debugging JavaScript, jQuery, or SQL"
"In the next version I would like to see a better development tool."
"Microsoft Visual Studio could benefit from a more centralized education system."
"There's not much help to deal with issues on Microsoft's official websites."
"Microsoft Visual Studio can improve integration with the Microsoft Office suite; this was only implemented in 2022."
"The time that it takes to load the application can be reduced"
More Microsoft Visual Studio cons
"SharePoint Designer's integration with Microsoft tools could be improved."
"It needs to align with PowerApps and Power Automate."
"SharePoint does not have enough resources to cover the security part."
"Sharepoint could improve the user interface to make it easier for everyone to navigate and use. That would be a big plus."
"Microsoft could include more applications in this. And if more applications are included, then it can be scalable that way."
"This solution could definitely be made easier to use."
"SharePoint Designer could be improved by being more user-friendly. I think that they have a new release, but the focus is on Power Automate, not Designer. Designer's interface is somewhat classical, but it should be more user-friendly."
"The solution requires more web-based publishing. It would benefit from adding in more collaboration features as well."
More SharePoint Designer [EOL] cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I use the open-source version of Microsoft Visual Studio."
"We have an enterprise-level license. The cost is expensive for small to medium-sized organizations."
"There's a community edition that is absolutely free to use. It's pretty good."
"The price is good."
"The solution is expensive."
"The introduction of the Community Version allows some people to use it free of charge."
"We are using the solution's free version."
"Licensing costs are reasonable."
More Microsoft Visual Studio pricing and cost advice
"The pricing is fair."
"We are using an enterprise SharePoint Designer license."
"SharePoint Designer is less expensive than other solutions we have used. We purchased Office 365 which SharePoint comes with the package."
"I use Macintosh devices, and because this solution is not available in the Apple Ecosystem I use it because it is cost-effective."
"This solution is free of charge."
"The entire package is expensive. There is no extra cost in addition to the standard license."
"The price is reasonable."
"SharePoint Designer is a free product. It's SharePoint that needs a license, not SharePoint Designer."
More SharePoint Designer [EOL] pricing and cost advice
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Performing Arts
17%
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business33
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise43
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Visual Studio?
We can use different .NET features.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Visual Studio?
The pricing for Microsoft Visual Studio is favorable. While many open-source solutions are available, none offer the robustness of Visual Studio, which includes a Marketplace for creating different...
See all answers
What needs improvement with Microsoft Visual Studio?
Based on my experience and my colleagues' feedback, I believe a potential area of improvement for Microsoft Visual Studio could be incorporating more AI, as it makes things easier for us, and havin...
See all answers
What do you like most about SharePoint Designer?
It saved me big time once! My car got broken into and they took my laptop with all my files. But I didn't have to worry because everything was backed up on SharePoint. It was a lifesaver!
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SharePoint Designer?
I've leased Microsoft SharePoint Designer for the enterprise, not System Center. It's for private work, web development specifically.
See all answers
What needs improvement with SharePoint Designer?
For me, it's flexible enough for most things. But maybe they could improve the user interface to make it easier for everyone to navigate and use. That would be a big plus.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

No data available
No data available
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Visual Studio
October 2025
Microsoft Visual Studio reportDownload Microsoft Visual Studio product report
Buyer's Guide
SharePoint Designer [EOL]
October 2025
SharePoint Designer [EOL] reportDownload SharePoint Designer [EOL] product report
 

Also Known As

MS Visual Studio
No data available
 

Overview

Visual Studio.NET is the umbrella that represents the key pieces of the .NET platform delivered from Microsoft, including the .NET Framework, the recently announced .NET Core, and a shared common layer of packages, compilers and runtime. Read this .NET blog post about the evolution of the platform and the different pieces that make .NET 2015.
Microsoft

SharePoint Designer is the tool of choice for the rapid development of SharePoint applications. Using SharePoint Designer, advanced users and developers alike can rapidly create SharePoint solutions in response to business needs. Advanced users can compose no-code solutions that encompass a variety of common scenarios, from collaborative sites and web publishing to Line-Of-Business data integration, business intelligence solutions, and human workflows, leveraging the building blocks available in SharePoint in an easy to use environment.

Microsoft
 

Sample Customers

Knab, Hamburg Port Authority, Kecioren Municipality, National Instruments, Hamburg Port Authority, Government of Odisha, Kongsberg Maritime AS
Pyrotek Inc., ICA, Deliver Australia, Secretary of Economy of Mexico, Aegon, ABB Switzerland, Ascent Yarns Private Limited, Bakewell Biscuits Pvt Ltd, Hitachi Consulting
Buyer's Guide
.NET Development Services
November 2025
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