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, 96% 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 102 Microsoft Visual Studio reviews

1,596 Views
1,596 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

SharePoint Designer [EOL]

Read 49 SharePoint Designer [EOL] reviews

82% willing to recommend

Microsoft Visual Studio

SharePoint Designer [EOL]

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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, Harman, Cognosys Inc Hardened Images and others in .NET Development Services.

To learn more, read our detailed .NET Development Services Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

.NET Development Services

March 2026

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Helped 884,933 peers since 2012

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

102

Ranking in other categories

.NET Development Services (1st)

SharePoint Designer [EOL]

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

Eitan Gold

SQA Manager at Elmo Motion Control Ltd.

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

Vladimir Vasilev

Digital Lead at Baker Tilly

Helps to centralize and share files and has an easy setup

I'm using the solution for creating different sites in our organization. We also use it for a file repository mainly. It's provided us with a centralized document database that is available to all collaborators 24/7. There are good features in general. It helps centralize and store files. It's…

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 feature of Microsoft Visual Studio is its integration with Azure DevOps."

"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."

"The solution can scale."

"The most valuable features of Microsoft Visual Studio are the way we are able to design code, deploy, and test our application. It is easy to move an artifact from the start to the deployment stage. It has well-defined processes that you can integrate with any team. Additionally, the solution is always improving."

"The features available in Microsoft Visual Studio are beneficial for making builds, deployments, and everything related to dot net projects with C#, which provides great efficiency in my work."

"We see savings in terms of time and money; if I take the manual testing against automatic testing, we see about an 80% saving."

"Microsoft Visual Studio provides comprehensive development capabilities; you can create any type of application, including mobile applications, console applications, Windows applications, WPF, ASP.NET MVC, and .NET Core."

"It's a universal solution; I like that I can easily find software developers for it, I can easily find staff on Microsoft forums, we have other components running on top of Visual Studio, it is open to other platforms, and there are many resources and a large knowledge base so I can easily find support."

More Microsoft Visual Studio pros

"The initial setup is very straightforward."

"What I like most about this solution, is that we can use it as a secondary customization platform."

"One of the most valuable features is that it's free. If you have SharePoint and you want to do some branding, then the only tool available is SharePoint Designer. Microsoft gives the portal, the content management system, and, on top of that, it gives you Designer. So we don't have a choice, but Designer is good."

"We mostly used this solution for file storage and basic functions, etcetera."

"The new version doesn't have the option to view data, but it has other, better features though."

"SharePoint Designer is easy to deploy and it is one of the most valuable features. The whole process took a couple of days and it is easy to work on."

"I am a developer, and whatever is not possible with the SharePoint default feature, we make custom features available for our clients. Anything which is not possible using all the methods within the solution we can customize."

"We like that the interface is very user-friendly making it easy to use."

More SharePoint Designer [EOL] pros

Cons

"IntelliSense needs better management of using clauses, with auto add/remove using reference and auto detect/suggest references or NuGet packages."

"Microsoft Visual Studio needs to improve integration."

"For Visual Studio, the only challenge I've faced is referencing any package or new concept I'm trying to debug or run."

"The product could be improved by including axle intelligence."

"The GUI of Microsoft Visual Studio could improve."

"The time that it takes to load the application can be reduced"

"The stability of Microsoft Visual Studio could improve. There are times it hangs or stops working and I have to restart the program."

"It is simple to use for most developers and nearly impossible to use for non-developers."

More Microsoft Visual Studio cons

"If they included some training modules, I would give them a ten, because that would make it even more user-friendly."

"There is zero technical support. I have to use Google to fix the issues myself."

"The search capabilities need to be improved."

"The pricing is a little bit high and can be reduced."

"Further development for SharePoint online would be ideal. However, I'm not sure if it's true that Microsoft will no longer develop SharePoint Designer in the future or not."

"The new SharePoint Designer is very limited."

"If you compare the workflow with other engines like Olympus and K2, it is very complicated to create a workflow."

"I am not sure how stable the solution will be once Microsoft stops supporting it."

More SharePoint Designer [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Microsoft Visual Studio is not expensive. Its licensing costs are expensive."

"The price of Microsoft Visual Studio is approximately $400 annually."

"I'm using the platform's open-source version."

"The development license for Microsoft Visual Studio is free. I don't know if there's a licensing cost to it."

"While the enterprise version can be relatively expensive due to its comprehensive features, I find the license I currently possess to be reasonable, considering it includes the full suite without additional activations or charges."

"The cost of using Microsoft Visual Studio monthly is approximately $300."

"The license is taken care of by my company and the price could be less expensive."

"Visual Studio Team System is expensive, but it is worth the money."

More Microsoft Visual Studio pricing and cost advice

"I use Macintosh devices, and because this solution is not available in the Apple Ecosystem I use it because it is cost-effective."

"The tool's pricing is cheap."

"SharePoint Designer is a free product. It's SharePoint that needs a license, not SharePoint Designer."

"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've never paid for SharePoint Designer. What I paid for, is the SharePoint license, the cava, and then the client accesses the line fee."

"SharePoint Designer's pricing is okay."

"Priced per user per month with different plans to choose from."

More SharePoint Designer [EOL] pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Marketing Services Firm

18%

Performing Arts

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Outsourcing Company

Marketing Services Firm

20%

Comms Service Provider

Performing Arts

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	36
Midsize Enterprise	20
Large Enterprise	50

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	21

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Visual Studio?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that since we install it directly from downloads, the cost is minimal. If we have a Microsoft Visual Studio enterprise license, I'm not sure...

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What needs improvement with Microsoft Visual Studio?

I think Microsoft Visual Studio is good at the moment. When I think of additional improvements, I would like to have the ability to use Claude in my Microsoft Visual Studio account since I believe ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Visual Studio?

My main use case for Microsoft Visual Studio is for writing code. Since I'm a data engineer, projects I work on using Microsoft Visual Studio are related to data engineering. We have GitHub or Bitb...

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More SharePoint Designer [EOL] Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Visual Studio

March 2026

Download Microsoft Visual Studio product report

Buyer's Guide

SharePoint Designer [EOL]

February 2026

Download 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

March 2026

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