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Visual Studio Test Professional vs Zeenyx AscentialTest comparison

Microsoft and Zeenyx are both solutions in the Functional Testing Tools category. Microsoft is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.4, while Zeenyx is ranked #17 with an average rating of 10.0. Microsoft holds a 1.2% mindshare in FT, compared to Zeenyx’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Zeenyx users who would recommend it.
Visual Studio Test Professi...
Read 53 Visual Studio Test Professional reviews
  • 1,306 Views
  • 562 Comparison Views
96% willing to recommend
Zeenyx AscentialTest
Read 13 Zeenyx AscentialTest reviews
  • 801 Views
  • 521 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Visual Studio Test Professional and Zeenyx AscentialTest are both robust testing tools in the software testing category. Zeenyx AscentialTest seems to have the upper hand due to its comprehensive features.

Features: Visual Studio Test Professional integrates well with Microsoft products, offers automated testing capabilities, and has a straightforward interface. Zeenyx AscentialTest provides advanced scripting, ease of use, and a wide range of testing functionalities.

Room for Improvement: Visual Studio Test Professional could improve ease of use and debugging tools, and refine reporting capabilities. Zeenyx AscentialTest users desire better documentation, more training resources, and simplified user interface enhancements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Visual Studio Test Professional offers straightforward deployment and strong customer service. Zeenyx AscentialTest has more complex deployment but helpful customer support.

Pricing and ROI: Visual Studio Test Professional is more cost-effective and offers good value. Zeenyx AscentialTest is more expensive but delivers superior ROI with its richer features, justifying its higher cost.

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To learn more, read our detailed Visual Studio Test Professional vs. Zeenyx AscentialTest Report (Updated: December 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Visual Studio Test Professional vs. Zeenyx AscentialTest
December 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.8
Visual Studio Test Professional boosts efficiency and productivity with cost-saving benefits, significantly enhancing development environments and quality.
Sentiment score
7.3
Zeenyx AscentialTest boosts productivity, reduces costs, and improves project outcomes through intuitive design, automated testing, and enhanced test coverage.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Customers appreciate Visual Studio Test Professional's support, though some highlight navigation challenges and delays reaching knowledgeable staff.
Sentiment score
9.2
Zeenyx AscentialTest customer service is praised for its prompt, knowledgeable support, efficiently resolving issues and ensuring smooth user experiences.
Sometimes, the documentation is not readable, being too long or too detailed and not connected to my problem.
CharlesChang
Department Manager, Certification Project Management at Institute for Information Industry
For more quotes and insights, download the Visual Studio Test Professional report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the Zeenyx AscentialTest report
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Visual Studio Test Professional is highly scalable, adaptable, and supports large teams, though some find licensing costs a concern.
Sentiment score
8.0
Zeenyx AscentialTest excels in handling large-scale testing efficiently, supporting numerous users and test cases without performance issues.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Visual Studio Test Professional is stable with high ratings, minor bugs, and reliable updates, despite occasional third-party integration issues.
Sentiment score
8.0
Zeenyx AscentialTest is praised for its stability, reliability, and bug resistance, making it ideal for diverse testing needs.
 

Room For Improvement

Visual Studio Test Professional needs better integration, user-friendliness, scalability, modern features, and improved performance and documentation.
Users find Zeenyx AscentialTest's reporting, integration, stability, and documentation inadequate, with a steep learning curve for new users.
Additionally, in Visual Studio Code, we have an agent mode for GitHub Copilot, which is very helpful in testing or development phases, while Visual Studio's GitHub Copilot is a bit tricky and sometimes does not provide my desired output.
Payel Saha
Test Automation Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Sometimes, the library version is not compatible with other libraries, causing errors in my application.
CharlesChang
Department Manager, Certification Project Management at Institute for Information Industry
The product needs contextual help integrated within its interface.
ALFONSO LORENZO-RODRÍGUEZ
Chief Product Officer at Gradiant
For more quotes and insights, download the Visual Studio Test Professional report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the Zeenyx AscentialTest report
Payel Saha - PeerSpot reviewer
CC
ALFONSO LORENZO-RODRÍGUEZ - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Setup Cost

Visual Studio Test Professional's pricing is high, yet valued for its functionality, offering free and professional licensing options.
<p>Zeenyx AscentialTest offers cost-effective, scalable pricing with annual and perpetual licenses, suitable for both small teams and large organizations.</p>
The price is expensive.
CharlesChang
Department Manager, Certification Project Management at Institute for Information Industry
For more quotes and insights, download the Visual Studio Test Professional report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the Zeenyx AscentialTest report
 

Valuable Features

Visual Studio Test Professional offers robust integration, user-friendly tools, and customization for efficient cross-platform development and team collaboration.
Zeenyx AscentialTest is praised for its ease of use, powerful automation, flexibility, detailed reporting, and reliable performance.
Visual Studio Test Professional is highly valuable because it provides extensive extensions and plugins that assist in measuring code quality.
ALFONSO LORENZO-RODRÍGUEZ
Chief Product Officer at Gradiant
We have a retrospective in our auto projects that we are using frequently to get lessons learned, what went well, and what is going wrong.
Payel Saha
Test Automation Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It supports cross-platform functionality.
CharlesChang
Department Manager, Certification Project Management at Institute for Information Industry
For more quotes and insights, download the Visual Studio Test Professional report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the Zeenyx AscentialTest report
ALFONSO LORENZO-RODRÍGUEZ - PeerSpot reviewerPayel Saha - PeerSpot reviewer
CC
 

Categories and Ranking

Visual Studio Test Professi...
Ranking in Functional Testing Tools
10th
Ranking in Test Management Tools
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
53
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zeenyx AscentialTest
Ranking in Functional Testing Tools
17th
Ranking in Test Management Tools
12th
Average Rating
9.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Functional Testing Tools category, the mindshare of Visual Studio Test Professional is 1.2%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zeenyx AscentialTest is 0.8%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Functional Testing Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Visual Studio Test Professional1.2%
Zeenyx AscentialTest0.8%
Other98.0%
Functional Testing Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Payel Saha - PeerSpot reviewer
Payel Saha
Test Automation Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Integrated collaboration with automated test management has improved our agile workflows and continuously supports quality reporting
Visual Studio Test Professional could be improved as earlier we had flexibility in automation testing with TFS, which became a bit difficult moving to Azure DevOps. Additionally, in Visual Studio Code, we have an agent mode for GitHub Copilot, which is very helpful in testing or development phases, while Visual Studio's GitHub Copilot is a bit tricky and sometimes does not provide my desired output.For future improvements, I would like to see prompt fixing, as currently, if something goes wrong in Visual Studio, the fixing options are not always correct. If that intelligence is embedded, it would be very helpful.
Read full review
Tobias Roth - PeerSpot reviewer
Tobias Roth
Software developer at Weiss GmbH Softwarelösungen
Robust automation with reusable steps and seamless integration
The concept of reusable steps in Zeenyx AscentialTest has significantly enhanced our test automation efficiency. Encapsulating common actions into modular steps reduces redundancy in test scripts and ensures consistency across scenarios. This approach streamlines maintenance efforts, allowing updates to be applied universally, making our test suite more agile and adaptable to evolving project requirements. The concept of reusable steps is a key factor in maximizing reusability and maintainability in our test automation strategy. AscentialTest's object recognition in snapshots is a robust feature that goes beyond standard elements, even accurately identifying objects within Datawindows. This capability ensures precise interaction with various components of an application's interface, further enhancing the reliability and effectiveness of our automated tests.
Read full review
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
16%
Performing Arts
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Healthcare Company
21%
Government
12%
University
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise24
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Visual Studio Test Professional?
The most valuable features of the solution are its ease of use and availability.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Visual Studio Test Professional?
The tool is free, resulting in no costs associated with its use. The absence of price makes it cost-effective.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Visual Studio Test Professional?
Visual Studio Test Professional could be improved as earlier we had flexibility in automation testing with TFS, which became a bit difficult moving to Azure DevOps. Additionally, in Visual Studio C...
See all answers
What do you like most about Zeenyx AscentialTest?
AscentialTest's object recognition in snapshots is a robust feature that goes beyond standard elements, even accurately identifying objects within Datawindows.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Zeenyx AscentialTest?
While Zeenyx AscentialTest has proven to be a valuable asset in our testing processes, there are areas where improvements could enhance the overall user experience. One notable aspect is the user i...
See all answers
What is your primary use case for Zeenyx AscentialTest?
We use AscentialTest for automated testing of Powerbuilder applications via CI/CD pipeline with GitLab. We have fully integrated all tests in our CI/CD pipeline. Thanks to the integration, much wor...
See all answers
 

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Visual Studio Test Professional
December 2025
Visual Studio Test Professional reportDownload Visual Studio Test Professional product report
Buyer's Guide
Zeenyx AscentialTest
December 2025
Zeenyx AscentialTest reportDownload Zeenyx AscentialTest product report
 

Also Known As

No data available
AscentialTest
 

Overview

Visual Studio Professional Edition provides an IDE for all supported development languages. As of Visual Studio 2010, the Standard edition was dropped. MSDN support is available as MSDN Essentials or the full MSDN library depending on licensing. It supports XML and XSLT editing, and can create deployment packages that only use ClickOnce and MSI. It includes tools like Server Explorer and integration with Microsoft SQL Server also. Windows Mobile development support was included in Visual Studio 2005 Standard, however, with Visual Studio 2008, it is only available in Professional and higher editions. Windows Phone 7 development support was added to all editions in Visual Studio 2010. Development for Windows Mobile is no longer supported in Visual Studio 2010; it is superseded by Windows Phone 7.
Microsoft
AscentialTest™ by Zeenyx Software is an enterprise level Test Management System that encompasses Test Planning, Development, Data Management, Execution and Defect Tracking for applications running on Windows, the web, java, dotNet, terminals and PowerBuilder. This “next generation” testing solution allows users to build robust automated and manual tests from reusable components created by its powerful object recognition engine without recording or scripting. Our patented ‘snapshot’ technology generates graphical representations of the application under test which allows users to build ‘Steps’ by dragging and dropping objects in a visual test editor. Reusable Steps are combined to form a multitude of automated and manual tests that are easy to create and maintain. With AscentialTest, companies realize a dramatic reduction in test creation and maintenance times, resulting in increased productivity and lower costs.
Zeenyx
 

Sample Customers

Transport for Greater Manchester, Ordina, Bluegarden A/S, CLEAResult, Jet.com, OSIsoft, Australian Taxation Office, BookedOut, Tracasa
TJX Companies, Nuance Communications, Ericsson Inc., Transatlantic Reinsurance Company, Accenture, Nutrition Coordinating Center, Univ. of MN, iConectiv, Fortress Software, and LMP Corp.
Buyer's Guide
Visual Studio Test Professional vs. Zeenyx AscentialTest
December 2025
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