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 #3. Microsoft holds a 11.8% mindshare in NDS, compared to Zend’s 5.2% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Zend users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Visual Studio

Read 100 Microsoft Visual Studio reviews

991 Views
991 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Zend Studio

Read 1 Zend Studio review

139 Views
139 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Visual Studio

Zend Studio

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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, Harman and others in .NET Development Services.

To learn more, read our detailed .NET Development Services Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

.NET Development Services

December 2025

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Helped 879,371 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

Ranking in .NET Development Services

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

100

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Zend Studio

Ranking in .NET Development Services

3rd

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the .NET Development Services category, the mindshare of Microsoft Visual Studio is 11.8%, down from 20.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zend Studio is 5.2%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

.NET Development Services Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Visual Studio	11.8%
Zend Studio	5.2%
Other	83.0%

.NET Development Services

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

marketacumen

President at Market Acumen, Inc.

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

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

"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."

"Microsoft Visual Studio is integrated with all tools and offers all necessary extensions, making it very convenient."

"The most valuable features of Microsoft Visual Studio are the database connections."

"I find Microsoft Visual Studio to be a good development environment; its integration with SQL and features like check-in, check-out, and integration with Visual SourceSafe and now the Azure counterpart are very effective for debugging applications."

"We use TFS for our scrums, which links our tasks to actual code changes."

"We can use different .NET features."

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 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."

"Microsoft Visual Studio can improve memory management, and packaging and reporting components."

"I would not recommend it for complex tasks."

"The interface is slow to start up."

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

"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."

"Microsoft Visual Studio could improve by being compatible with more operating systems. However, we understand the solution is proprietary to Microsoft."

"I would like to see support for rapid application development. For example, if I am developing a new project, I am repeating many similar steps again and again and again. But the platform could do this easily, instead of me. It would save me time. This is something I would like to have in Microsoft Visual Studio, to have it take over repetitive tasks from me."

More Microsoft Visual Studio cons

"Stability is sometimes lacking in updates."

"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."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost of using Microsoft Visual Studio is approximately $1,700 per user."

"You have to be a subscriber with a Visual Studio subscription to use the solution and the organization has to purchase a license that's linked to the account."

"Microsoft Visual Studio is a free product."

"There's a community edition that is absolutely free to use. It's pretty good."

"The price of Microsoft Visual Studio is reasonable but could be better."

"The introduction of the Community Version allows some people to use it free of charge."

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

"I am using the free version of Microsoft Visual Studio."

More Microsoft Visual Studio pricing and cost advice

"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."

"Licensing is reasonable for this type of tool. Although, you can cobble together a solution which is zero cost."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Performing Arts

14%

Computer Software Company

13%

Outsourcing Company

University

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	36
Midsize Enterprise	19
Large Enterprise	49

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 setup cost rates about eight out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Visual Studio?

AI integration is something that every company is trying to incorporate. While Microsoft Visual Studio is working very well currently, there is still room to improve the AI functionality.

See all answers

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December 2025

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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 â 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

December 2025

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Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Zend, Harman and others in .NET Development Services. Updated: December 2025.

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