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it_user1077 - PeerSpot reviewer
Developer at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Jul 2, 2012
Visual Studio.NET is a state of the art, Integrated Development Environment (IDE) from Microsoft Corporation.
Pros and Cons
  • "Offers an excellent platform to develop Desktop, Web, and Mobile Applications."
  • "Code editor is expensive."

What is most valuable?

Offers an excellent platform to develop Desktop, Web, and Mobile Applications.Supports various programming languages.Includes various features for rapid application development (Like Drag & Drop, IntelliSense).

What needs improvement?

As .NET Framework bundles more and more components, utilities, and API's, the size of the downloadable is large..NET desktop applications can run only on a windows platform.Code editor is expensive.

What other advice do I have?

Even though Visual Studio.NET offers great features and functions, the cross-platform issues cannot be overlooked.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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it_user6579 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user6579Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Consultant

Great article by author Engineer359, certainly the Visual Studio.NET is a state of the art, Integrated Development Environment available in the market. Even there are some advantages and disadvantages of the framework which i would like to add:

Advantages:
1) Easy to learn
2) Can be used for creating Desktop, Web and Mobile Applications

Disadvantages:
1) As said by the author .NET Framework bundles more and more components, utilities, and API's so the learning curve is big.
2) Desktop Applications cab be created for windows platform only.

reviewer2784906 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 5
Dec 5, 2025
Debugging and team collaboration have improved, but theme customization still needs work
Pros and Cons
  • "My advice to others looking into using Microsoft Visual Studio is that if you're running a .NET project, it's the best IDE we've found so far, and it's a solid, stable product."
  • "There could be some additional customization on the themes for the visual aspect to make it easier to read the code, though plugins are available for that."

What is our primary use case?

My main use case for Microsoft Visual Studio is as an IDE.

I use Microsoft Visual Studio for any of my .NET work.

I use Microsoft Visual Studio for debugging, testing, and collaborating with teammates.

What is most valuable?

The best features Microsoft Visual Studio offers are the debugging tools, which are quite effective.

What I appreciate about the debugging tools in Microsoft Visual Studio is the UI, which makes it easy to use.

Microsoft Visual Studio has positively impacted my organization by helping with productivity through collaboration. It has helped with productivity because we use it to collaborate.

Microsoft Visual Studio has helped with collaboration by using mob.sh for team projects.

What needs improvement?

Microsoft Visual Studio is a solid IDE overall. There could be some additional customization on the themes for the visual aspect to make it easier to read the code, though plugins are available for that.

I don't have other needed improvements for Microsoft Visual Studio beyond themes or plugins.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Visual Studio for about four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Visual Studio is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Microsoft Visual Studio has worked well so far. I haven't run into any significant issues.

How are customer service and support?

I haven't had to reach out to customer support for Microsoft Visual Studio.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

It's project to project with Microsoft Visual Studio, but sometimes we use JetBrains and sometimes we use Visual Studio, depending on the project.

How was the initial setup?

I don't remember my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing because the company handled most of that for me.

What was our ROI?

Microsoft Visual Studio has likely saved some time and money because we can use it for many plugins, though I don't know the specifics.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to others looking into using Microsoft Visual Studio is that if you're running a .NET project, it's the best IDE we've found so far, and it's a solid, stable product. I would rate this review a 7.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Dec 5, 2025
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Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Visual Studio
March 2026
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Visual Studio. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
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reviewer2216280 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Developer at a financial services firm with 1-10 employees
Real User
Aug 9, 2023
Has good community support and interactive testing feature
Pros and Cons
  • "The tool is good for interactive testing. It has good integrations and works well for remote services. The product also has features for collaborative work where it allows others to control my screen. It has a good community for every language."
  • "I have faced configuration issues with Microsoft Visual Studio."

What is our primary use case?

I use the product to develop software. 

What is most valuable?

The tool is good for interactive testing. It has good integrations and works well for remote services. The product also has features for collaborative work where it allows others to control my screen. It has a good community for every language. 

What needs improvement?

I have faced configuration issues with Microsoft Visual Studio. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for two years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would rate Microsoft Visual Studio's scalability an eight out of ten. 

How are customer service and support?

I haven't reached out to the tool's support. 

How was the initial setup?

Microsoft Visual Studio's setup is straightforward. It is easy to download the solution and you need to allow permissions depending on whether you are a Mac or Windows user.  

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I use Microsoft Visual Studio's free version. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate the tool a nine out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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it_user1479564 - PeerSpot reviewer
Contractor/ Developer at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Real User
May 29, 2022
User-friendly, reliable, and has a good online community support
Pros and Cons
  • "It's a useful integrated development environment."
  • "Basically everything, it's a useful integrated development environment and it is easy and simple to use for me."
  • "It is simple to use for most developers and nearly impossible to use for non-developers."
  • "It is simple to use for most developers and nearly impossible to use for non-developers."

What is our primary use case?

I work as a developer. I code in it using Microsoft Visual Studio.

What is most valuable?

Basically everything. It's a useful integrated development environment.

It is easy to use.

It is simple to use for me.

What needs improvement?

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

For how long have I used the solution?

For the last 10 to 20 years, I've been using various versions of Microsoft Visual Studio.

I am working with the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Visual Studio is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability does not apply to the solution.

I am the only user in my company.

How are customer service and support?

It's good. Again, I'm using the community edition, which is the free version. It's an open-source, free version. It lacks support because I am not paying anything. I'm getting help from various public forums and community websites.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I am familiar with Google Chrome, Gmail, and Visual Studio. I now own a small company that does some development. I am a one-man operation.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I am working with the open-source community version, which is free.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others who are interested in using it.

I would rate Microsoft Visual Studio a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2784903 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 5
Dec 5, 2025
Using an intuitive IDE has boosted project productivity and supported flexible plugin workflows
Pros and Cons
  • "Microsoft Visual Studio has positively impacted my organization because it's very easy to use, very easy for the people to pick up on, and we can all have the same configuration or personalize it as needed."
  • "I don't see a return on investment with Microsoft Visual Studio."

What is our primary use case?

My main use case for Microsoft Visual Studio is as an IDE and code editor for my personal, academic, and professional projects.

For a class project recently, I used Microsoft Visual Studio to pull down the repo, make changes, review the code, and get data as needed, which was a memorable project for me. They also have really nice plugins that integrate very well with the work I'm doing.

What is most valuable?

The best features Microsoft Visual Studio offers include the shortcut commands that are pretty efficient and easy to pick up, and the baked-in plugins that they have, which are pretty nice.

I find the Copilot feature to be a very nice plugin, and for any plugins, I need any language support, like Java, Go, Gradle, and Maven. Really, any coding language or tool that I need has a plugin, which is very nice.

Microsoft Visual Studio has positively impacted my organization because it's very easy to use, very easy for the people to pick up on, and we can all have the same configuration or personalize it as needed. It has improved productivity for sure, and when someone is onboarded, we know exactly what settings to get them and what plugins to recommend, which makes it easier for them to use the tool in the future.

What needs improvement?

I don't have any suggestions for improvements for Microsoft Visual Studio; I like the general look. Figuring out how to hide the plugins on the side would be useful, and just having more clear documentation, perhaps, could help.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Visual Studio for about six years, and four years, actually.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Visual Studio is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Microsoft Visual Studio is good.

How are customer service and support?

I'm not sure about the customer support for Microsoft Visual Studio.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used other IDEs before, and I use Microsoft Visual Studio for my personal projects because it's free and it's pretty easy to use, and then for work, I use whatever IDE is best suited for the team.

What was our ROI?

I don't see a return on investment with Microsoft Visual Studio.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Microsoft Visual Studio is that I was able to expense it through my company, so it wasn't bad, and it was pretty easy to get a license for it. I'm also pretty sure it's free; I'm not sure.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before choosing Microsoft Visual Studio, I did not evaluate other options.

What other advice do I have?

Microsoft Visual Studio deserves a nine on a scale of one to ten.

I choose a nine for Microsoft Visual Studio because I like the way it works, but some of the UI in other IDEs like IntelliJ I prefer a little more.

My advice for others looking into using Microsoft Visual Studio is that it's a great tool to start with if you're new to IDEs, and I would say to just jump right in.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Dec 5, 2025
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reviewer2784381 - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Dec 5, 2025
Developing and debugging complex backend services has become faster and more reliable
Pros and Cons
  • "If you are looking for a very complete IDE for developers that can support their job with a lot of functionalities and plugins, choose Microsoft Visual Studio."
  • "Microsoft Visual Studio can be improved by integrating an agent that can support developers in the development process."

What is our primary use case?

I use Microsoft Visual Studio for developing .NET applications. I developed the backend of web applications, microservices, and APIs deployed on Kubernetes using Microsoft Visual Studio.

What is most valuable?

Microsoft Visual Studio is an IDE that supports developers during development, which I find very valuable and helpful. Microsoft Visual Studio simplifies developer work, and for example, code autocompletion speeds up development. The integrated test and debug functionalities help developers accomplish their tasks more effectively.

What needs improvement?

Microsoft Visual Studio can be improved by integrating an agent that can support developers in the development process. I did not give Microsoft Visual Studio a 10 because I believe it can still be improved, even though it is a very good IDE.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used Microsoft Visual Studio for several years and continue to use it currently.

What other advice do I have?

If you are looking for a very complete IDE for developers that can support their job with a lot of functionalities and plugins, choose Microsoft Visual Studio. I rate this product highly based on its comprehensive features and reliability.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Dec 5, 2025
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