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Microsoft Visual Studio vs Zend Studio comparison

Microsoft and Zend are both solutions in the .NET Development Services category. Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.8, while Zend is ranked #5. Microsoft holds a 12.6% mindshare in NDS, compared to Zend’s 4.9% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Zend users who would recommend it.
Microsoft Visual Studio
Read 92 Microsoft Visual Studio reviews
  • 823 Views
  • 823 Comparison Views
95% willing to recommend
Zend Studio
Read 1 Zend Studio review
  • 132 Views
  • 132 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary
We performed a comparison between Microsoft Visual Studio and Zend Studio 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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To learn more, read our detailed .NET Development Services Report (Updated: November 2025).
Buyer's Guide
.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
Ranking in .NET Development Services
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
92
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zend Studio
Ranking in .NET Development Services
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the .NET Development Services category, the mindshare of Microsoft Visual Studio is 12.6%, down from 21.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zend Studio is 4.9%, up from 3.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
.NET Development Services Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Visual Studio12.6%
Zend Studio4.9%
Other82.5%
.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 that is very effective. This comprehensive debugger tool does the job efficiently, making our work easier.
Read full review
marketacumen - PeerSpot reviewer
It has higher quality code, faster debugging, and higher quality projects
* Stability is sometimes lacking in updates. * Search/replace across multiple files is not ideal. * The debugger often has problems determining where to map files to local projects, as well as setting breakpoints, which often are ignored depending on your configuration. * The product requires a subscription to Zend Server Developer, which used to be free and now has an annual fee, but it is still worth the money.
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

"I was testing how to publish in a cloud using Azure and it was very easy."
"I like the performance, stability and ease of use."
"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."
"It is easy to integrate with GitHub. We integrate with GitHub, and we deploy our solution on our local system. We need this integration for pushing our code. When we were working with Eclipse, we had to write everything in the command prompt, which is a little bit tricky, whereas Visual Studio is very much UI-based and simple. So, it's very easy to integrate GitHub with Visual Studio. It is much easier than Eclipse."
"The code analysis tool is particularly valuable as it eliminates the need for manual code reviews."
"Microsoft Visual Studio helps my company improve efficiency in software development suites."
"I like that it works fine and that it performs better than competing products. I'm very happy with Microsoft Visual Studio."
"Visual Studio is a tool used for custom software development. It covers everything under this umbrella, including architecture for automation testing."
More Microsoft Visual Studio pros
"It has the ability to jump to any file in your project with a few keystrokes, as well as the ability to command-click on any token in your code and have it jump to the token's definition."
"It has higher quality code, faster debugging, and higher quality projects."
 

Cons

"The tool's interface should be more user-friendly."
"The hot reload feature is good, but sometimes it doesn't work. It could be improved."
"Could be improved with the ability to personalize the interface and development style and to edit extension requirements."
"This solution could be integrated with other open-source languages, such as Python and not only C#, .NET or Microsoft development languages."
"Microsoft Visual Studio could improve by making it faster. Every time they add a new feature or plugin it slows it down. They should allow the user to turn off features they do not use."
"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."
"What I don't like about Microsoft Visual Studio is its user interface. It could be better. WebStorm is a better solution for me as it has a good user interface and is more user-friendly, though my friends like Microsoft Visual Studio. I worked with WebStorm for the web layer, and for the server layer, I worked with IBM Eclipse which is my favorite software. I also dealt with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS through Angular."
"I would like to see more on-premise tips and tools along with development time so that I don't need to go to a third-party site."
More Microsoft Visual Studio cons
"The debugger often has problems determining where to map files to local projects."
"Most recent set of patches (2018) on Mac OS X caused the app to crash when you would cut more than 10 lines of code. Apparently, this was due to a bug in Eclipse, but regardless, it took several months for Zend to post a patch."
"Stability is sometimes lacking in updates."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The development license for Microsoft Visual Studio is free. I don't know if there's a licensing cost to it."
"The price of Microsoft Visual Studio could be lowered. For a single developer, it is approximately $1,000."
"We purchased an expensive enterprise version of Microsoft Visual Studio."
"Microsoft Visual Studio is a free product."
"I'm using the platform's open-source version."
"We use the free version, and you don't need a license."
"The price of Microsoft Visual Studio is approximately $400 annually."
"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."
More Microsoft Visual Studio pricing and cost advice
"Licensing is reasonable for this type of tool. Although, you can cobble together a solution which is zero cost."
"The product requires a subscription to Zend Server Developer, which used to be free and now has an annual fee, but it is still worth the money."
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Top Industries

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

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business33
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise43
No data available
 

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
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Comparisons

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Visual Studio
October 2025
Microsoft Visual Studio reportDownload Microsoft Visual Studio product report
Buyer's Guide
.NET Development Services
November 2025
Zend Studio reportDownload Zend Studio 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
Zend Studio – the PHP IDE for smarter development. It codes faster with up to 3X performance improvements in indexing, validation, searching of PHP code. It has superior PHP 7.1 support, PHP 7.1 express migration assistant, and seamless integration with Zend Server 9. It provides robust debugging capabilities with Xdebug, Zend Debugger, and Z-Ray integration. Zend Studio has an extensive plugin capabilities provided by the large Eclipse eco-system and supports for best-in-class dev tools including Docker and Git Flow Intelligent code editor. Deploy PHP applications on any server including cloud support for Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure and support for HiDPi displays - scale graphics (ala 4K resolution).
Zend
 

Sample Customers

Knab, Hamburg Port Authority, Kecioren Municipality, National Instruments, Hamburg Port Authority, Government of Odisha, Kongsberg Maritime AS
CDS Global, EnglishCentral, BNP Paribas, Carlo Gavazzi, Sunstate Equipment, Novadex GmbH, CONFTEC, Marilan, Mediaspike, Cisco WebEx, Corvette America, Value Drug Mart Associates Ltd., Allied Beverage Group
Buyer's Guide
.NET Development Services
November 2025
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