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Microsoft Visual Studio vs SharePoint Designer comparison

Microsoft Visual Studio and SharePoint Designer are both solutions in the .NET Development Services category. Microsoft Visual Studio is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.6, while SharePoint Designer is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.7. Microsoft Visual Studio holds a 14.8% mindshare in NDS, compared to SharePoint Designer’s 8.6% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Microsoft Visual Studio users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 82% of SharePoint Designer users who would recommend it.
Microsoft Visual Studio
Read 90 Microsoft Visual Studio reviews
  • 641 Views
  • 156 Comparison Views
95% willing to recommend
SharePoint Designer
Read 49 SharePoint Designer reviews
  • 477 Views
  • 120 Comparison Views
82% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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

Find out in this report how the two .NET Development Services solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

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To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Visual Studio vs. SharePoint Designer Report (Updated: July 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Visual Studio vs. SharePoint Designer
July 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
Ranking in .NET Development Services
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SharePoint Designer
Ranking in .NET Development Services
2nd
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the .NET Development Services category, the mindshare of Microsoft Visual Studio is 14.8%, down from 23.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SharePoint Designer is 8.6%, down from 19.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
.NET Development Services
 

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 ( /categories/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

"The most valuable features of Microsoft Visual Studio are the database connections."
"The most valuable feature is that it is a complete package, with an IDE and everything that you need for software development."
"The initial setup was very easy."
"Visual Studio's best feature is debugging, which isn't available with any other Microsoft development tool."
"What I like the most about Microsoft Visual Studio is that it's useful. It's also a very stable solution, and is scalable as well. It's quick to set up as it only took me a few seconds to do it."
"The solution can scale."
"It's a universal solution. I like that I can easily find software developers for it. I can easily find staff on Microsoft forums. Also, we have other components that are running on top of Visual Studio. I like that it is open to other platforms. Finally, there are many many resources for Microsoft Visual Studio and I can easily find support. There is a large knowledge base for it as well."
"I like the product's connection with Azure analytics services and the ability to build the model on the cloud."
More Microsoft Visual Studio pros
"When you have a group project and you want to share your document with your group members, the solution is very useful."
"The product is very user-friendly."
"You can give document access to people based on their email addresses. You will also get notifications whenever the document is ready for review."
"The most valuable aspects of the solution are the user-friendly interface and easy workflow."
"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."
"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."
"The management and monitoring features are good."
"The most valuable feature is the development."
More SharePoint Designer pros
 

Cons

"File installations are heavy."
"This solution could be integrated with other open-source languages, such as Python and not only C#, .NET or Microsoft development languages."
"With the free version, we don't have that much support for Visual Studio. Its support is a little bit less and can be better."
"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."
"There have been some issues but not very often."
"Since it is a heavy product, it is somewhat slow in building and executing the code in a localhost environment and it consumes a lot of resources."
"Microsoft Visual Studio can improve by adding more features to the Mac version. There are a lot of features lacking in the Mac version, there are limitations. I can install Microsoft Visual Studio on the Mac operating system, but it is not the same as if I installed it on a Microsoft Windows system. The Microsoft Windows version has a lot of features available in Microsoft Visual Studio."
"IntelliSense could be better."
More Microsoft Visual Studio cons
"The search function should improve in the solution."
"I want the tool to be more approachable to people. I would like to see AI integration with the tool's future versions."
"The pricing is a little bit high and can be reduced."
"Adding guest users is a bit difficult on SharePoint."
"The search capabilities need to be improved."
"The solution is not scalable at all."
"It would be helpful to have the SharePoint Designer capabilities built directly into SharePoint itself, into the management page, so as to create an online version of it directly in SharePoint."
"There is zero technical support. I have to use Google to fix the issues myself."
More SharePoint Designer cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing costs are reasonable."
"There's a community edition that is absolutely free to use. It's pretty good."
"The cost of using Microsoft Visual Studio monthly is approximately $300."
"The price of Microsoft Visual Studio could be lowered. For a single developer, it is approximately $1,000."
"The price of Microsoft Visual Studio is reasonable but could be better."
"Microsoft Visual Studio is a free product."
"I am working with the open-source community version, which is free."
"The license is taken care of by my company and the price could be less expensive."
More Microsoft Visual Studio pricing and cost advice
"The price is reasonable."
"The entire package is expensive. There is no extra cost in addition to the standard license."
"We are using an enterprise SharePoint Designer license."
"It is a free solution that does not require a license."
"SharePoint Designer's pricing is okay."
"This solution is free of charge."
"Priced per user per month with different plans to choose from."
"I use Macintosh devices, and because this solution is not available in the Apple Ecosystem I use it because it is cost-effective."
More SharePoint Designer pricing and cost advice
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Performing Arts
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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?
The patching aspect can continue to be improved. Although Visual Studio has very expressive refactor solutions and efficient, reliable patching for code, there is always room for enhancement in the...
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
June 2025
Microsoft Visual Studio reportDownload Microsoft Visual Studio product report
Buyer's Guide
SharePoint Designer
June 2025
SharePoint Designer reportDownload SharePoint Designer 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
Microsoft Visual Studio vs. SharePoint Designer
July 2025
Free Report: Microsoft Visual Studio vs. SharePoint Designer
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Visual Studio vs. SharePoint Designer and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
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