I am using Microsoft Visual Studio for developing WPS applications.
Product Design Engineer at Cummins Inc.
Intelligent, good UI design, and useful developing .NET applications
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of Microsoft Visual Studio is the good intelligence and UI."
- "The stability of Microsoft Visual Studio could improve. There are times it hangs or stops working and I have to restart the program."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of Microsoft Visual Studio is the good intelligence and UI.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Visual Studio for approximately five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Microsoft Visual Studio could improve. There are times it hangs or stops working and I have to restart the program.
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Microsoft Visual Studio
September 2026
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Microsoft Visual Studio is good.
We have approximately 10 people in our company's automated department using the solution.
How are customer service and support?
Our manager has spoken to the technical support from Microsoft Visual Studio.
How was the initial setup?
Microsoft Visual Studio is easy to set up. The deployment took approximately 30 minutes.
What about the implementation team?
We did the deployment in-house of Microsoft Visual Studio.
What other advice do I have?
This is a good solution for developing .NET applications and other applications.
I rate Microsoft Visual Studio an eight 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.
CDO at SGROUP
Needs better stability and scalability for complex tasks but easy to use for simple tasks
Pros and Cons
- "It is great for integration with Excel."
- "I would not recommend it for complex tasks."
- "If you use a lot of data, it's not stable, but if you use it for business tasks, it's stable because they are simple tasks."
What is our primary use case?
It is great for integration with Excel. For example, with Microsoft Access, you can make fast elementary analyses for the business. It is very easy to use.
How has it helped my organization?
Microsoft Visual Studio is a powerful product that we can use for visualization. We currently use it for simple business tasks and financial graphics.
What needs improvement?
The scalability could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using this solution for more than ten years, and it is deployed on cloud.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability depends on the solution that you need. If you use a lot of data, it's not stable, but if you use it for business tasks, it's stable because they are simple tasks.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is not scalable, and it could be better. About 200 people use Microsoft Visual Studio in my company.
What other advice do I have?
I rate this solution a four out of ten. I would recommend this solution depending on the business case. It is a very simple and nice tool for simple tasks, but I would not recommend it for complex tasks.
I can't speak to performance because it's a cloud solution, and it depends on the cloud. When you are using real-time data, you need the results immediately, so if the cloud is not fast enough, it's an issue. Results aren't provided in real-time, but if it is on-premises, this can be avoided. But if it is on-premises, you must give up some features. Therefore, it is challenging to determine performance.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Visual Studio
September 2026
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Visual Studio. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2026.
915,383 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Penetration tester at KNBS (Kenya National Bureau of Statistics)
Reasonably priced, updated regularly, and offers great extensions
Pros and Cons
- "The solution can scale."
- "It supports different types of software development for websites, web apps, mobile apps, computer programs, or any other web services."
- "I'd like the product to become more secure. You could potentially, for example, download an extension that contains malware."
What is our primary use case?
We use it basically for just coding.
What is most valuable?
It's great for personal use.
The extensions are valuable. I was able to download the extensions that were important to me. For example, I can use the solution to highlight syntax on the code or change the theme of Visual Studio. Or, if I'm working on PHP, I can download the PHP extension. If it's Python, I can download Python extensions. Et cetera. It's flexible and gives you options.
The solution can scale. The solution is also very stable.
It's updated regularly.
The cost is reasonable, and they do have a free option.
What needs improvement?
I can't speak to any necessary improvements. It does what I need it to do.
I'd like the product to become more secure. You could potentially, for example, download an extension that contains malware.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution over the past three or four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. It has regular updates. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is able to scale.
I basically use the solution myself for my purposes.
How are customer service and support?
I didn't really use tech support so much. I wouldn't know much about it.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I did not previously use a different product.
How was the initial setup?
You just download the solution and have it running on your system. Therefore, the setup is pretty straightforward. It only takes a few minutes to get everything up and running.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation can be done in-house. We didn't need any integrators or consultants to assist us.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is a free version of the solution, which I 've used. I'd rate the cost of the solution overall eight out of ten. It's pretty reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend the product to others. It supports different types of software development for websites, web apps, mobile apps, computer programs, or any other web services.
I'd rate it eight 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.
Handles tasks well, helps simplify tasks, and can scale
Pros and Cons
- "It's pretty prevalent."
- "You can get two tables, child and parents tables, and you can handle tasks such as invoicing, receipts, et cetera; I like to have the results on hand fast, it's making my life easy, and many firms can use it."
- "We'd like the solution to be more secure."
What is our primary use case?
It's up to the client or the software we are using. I use VB .NET or C# sometimes.
What is most valuable?
You can get two tables, child and parents tables, and you can handle tasks such as invoicing, receipts, et cetera. I like to have the results on hand fast. It's making my life easy.
Many firms can use it. It's pretty prevalent.
I like the copy-paste all capabilities.
The stability is okay.
You can expand usage if you would like to.
What needs improvement?
I had to use VB .NET in place of using C# immediately with the child and parent table.
Generally, the solution works well and I haven't really had issues with it.
We'd like the solution to be more secure.
The installation can take a long time.
We'd like the solution to be more stable.
Technical support does not respond quickly.
The ability to scale can be difficult.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is mostly stable. It's rate it six or seven out of ten. It could be better.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution can scale, however, it's not straightforward. Sometimes it's very confusing in terms of what you need to do to make it happen.
We have three users on the solution right now.
We do plan to increase usage in the future.
How are customer service and support?
We are in Lebanon and we had to wait for Microsoft to reply to us. We used it two years ago, however, and they were responding fairly well.
They could be faster.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I started with VB Access and Visual FoxPro.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is pretty hard to set up.
It took too long to install it. We also needed the new hard discs. It's very big. It's not a light application. It's about 25GBs.
The deployment took about two hours.
What about the implementation team?
We handled the installation ourselves without ht need of integrators or consultants.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I can't speak to the exact cost of the solution. It's not an aspect that I deal with.
What other advice do I have?
I'd recommend the solution to others.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Soft Engineer at SECP
A solution that is easy to access all the basic templates for development but may be cost prohibitive for smaller organizations
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of Microsoft Visual Studio is how easy it is to access all the basic templates for development. There are so many features you get with Visual Studio that it's really helpful for the deployment, the development, and the intelligence behind it."
- "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."
- "For small to medium-sized organizations, the licensing for Visual Studio may be too expensive."
What is our primary use case?
We use Microsoft Visual Studio for development.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of Microsoft Visual Studio is how easy it is to access all the basic templates for development. There are so many features you get with Visual Studio that it's really helpful for the deployment, the development, and the intelligence behind it.
What needs improvement?
The product and its features have come a long way over the years. There are so many features available that you can't use them all. 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. It would be better if Microsoft Visual Studio familiarized me with all the updates and new feature sets. Help tips would be really helpful.
I would like to see a design preview feature. In the 2013 version and partially in the 2015 version, there was a design screen within Visual Studio. Now, you can't really see the design elements during development without deploying the whole design template. The design preview would be beneficial in future updates.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. It has not crashed.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Visual Studio is scalable enough for us. Teams work on it and can collaborate on their work. The number of users depends on the strength of the team and the requirements of the project.
How are customer service and support?
The support for Microsoft Visual Studio is good. All the templates for different types of development like Windows, APIs, and Angular development are all supported.
Other than the Microsoft line-up, you can work on the open source languages as well. They support open source languages like Angular and Node.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously we worked with different IDEs. We use Visual Studio in parallel with VS Code in parallel with Atom. We also work with Eclipse.
I prefer Visual Studio because I am also working with Microsoft Teams.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Visual Studio is straightforward for anyone familiar with the solution. Newer users will experience a learning curve, but it is not because of the GUI, the user experience is good.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We have an enterprise-level license. The cost is expensive for small to medium-sized organizations.
What other advice do I have?
Microsoft Visual Studio is an excellent IDE, but the features are more of VS Code. For small to medium-sized organizations, the licensing for Visual Studio may be too expensive. It is really suited for companies that work on the cloud, or have large teams working on Microsoft Stack. Many open-source tools provide similar feature sets.
On the other hand, you will find Visual Studio more user-friendly than open source. It has a better GUI and is more plug-and-drop compared to other IDEs.
It is also a personal preference. If you are comfortable with command terms, then Visual Studio provides that. If you require a TFS repository, you do need Visual Studio as an IDE, as they are really tightly coupled and easy to do all your CI/CD. Lastly, if you use a version control other than TFS, then you may prefer a different IDE, like VS Code or an open-source IDE.
The main factor is going to come down to cost.
I would rate Microsoft Visual Studio an eight out of ten overall.
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.
CEO at Konus
Useful, easy to set up, and quick to deploy, but its user interface needs improvement
Pros and Cons
- "What I like the most about Microsoft Visual Studio is that it's useful, it's also a very stable solution and is scalable as well, and it's quick to set up as it only took me a few seconds to do it."
- "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."
- "What I don't like about Microsoft Visual Studio is its user interface. It could be better."
What is our primary use case?
I use Microsoft Visual Studio to develop software.
What is most valuable?
What I like the most about Microsoft Visual Studio is that it's useful. It's also a very stable solution, and is scalable as well. It's quick to set up as it only took me a few seconds to do it.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Microsoft Visual Studio for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Visual Studio is a very stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Visual Studio is a scalable solution.
How are customer service and support?
We use the internet, for example, YouTube sites to solve issues about Microsoft Visual Studio. We don't contact their support team.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup for Microsoft Visual Studio wasn't complex. It was very easy. The process was easy to understand. It only took me five seconds to deploy Microsoft Visual Studio.
What about the implementation team?
I implemented Microsoft Visual Studio myself. You can do it in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft Visual Studio is free. It's freeware, so you don't have to pay for its license.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I evaluated WebStorm, IBM Eclipse, and Angular.
What other advice do I have?
In my company, three users work with Microsoft Visual Studio.
I would recommend WebStorm to others, rather than Microsoft Visual Studio.
My rating for Microsoft Visual Studio is six out of ten, though my friends would probably rate the solution a ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Mobile Engeneer at ServiceLInk inc
Beneficial UI functionality, complete development kit, and performs well
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of Microsoft Visual Studio are the UI functionality where you can do software development. Everything is available there that you need. You can create the UI, and code, develop and compile it."
- "My advice to others is Microsoft Visual Studio is a good tool for development."
- "Microsoft Visual Studio can improve by adding more features to the Mac version. There are a lot of features lacking in the Mac version, there are limitations. I can install Microsoft Visual Studio on the Mac operating system, but it is not the same as if I installed it on a Microsoft Windows system. The Microsoft Windows version has a lot of features available in Microsoft Visual Studio."
What is our primary use case?
I'm using Microsoft Visual Studio for developing mobile applications using Xamarin. It's similar to a software development kit (SDK).
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Microsoft Visual Studio are the UI functionality where you can do software development. Everything is available there that you need. You can create the UI, and code, develop and compile it.
What needs improvement?
Microsoft Visual Studio can improve by adding more features to the Mac version. There are a lot of features lacking in the Mac version, there are limitations. I can install Microsoft Visual Studio on the Mac operating system, but it is not the same as if I installed it on a Microsoft Windows system. The Microsoft Windows version has a lot of features available in Microsoft Visual Studio.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Visual Studio for approximately nine years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Microsoft Visual Studio is good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Visual Studio is scalable. I can write a lot of code and there is not any problem with performance.
We have approximately 200 IT department people using this solution in my organization.
How are customer service and support?
When we have an issue we generally put it in the online forum or email to receive a reply. They provide a response within 24 hours, which is good.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of Microsoft Visual Studio is approximately $400 annually.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to others is Microsoft Visual Studio is a good tool for development. It is easy to handle and use, and it has a clean UI design. Overall it is not complicated. Anyone can use it to develop any web application or mobile application. It's cross-platform, it can run on Microsoft Windows and macOS. The cross-platform features are good.
I rate Microsoft Visual Studio a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Software Development Manager at Anadolu Hayat Emeklilik
After the initial setup, it is easy to use with different languages
Pros and Cons
- "The stability is fine."
- "Microsoft Visual Studio is an excellent product."
- "The initial setup could be more straightforward."
How has it helped my organization?
I think Microsoft Visual Studio is a good tool.
What is most valuable?
I think it is very successful and easy to use. I currently do not see any areas to develop. Microsoft Visual Studio is an excellent product.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is fine.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have a very scalable solution with Microsoft Visual Studio.
How are customer service and support?
We have not had the need to use technical support, but the website has been good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup could be more straightforward. After the initial setup, it is easy to use and develop codes in different languages.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
A license is required. I think it is a good product, but the price is high. They could sell it at a better price point.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Microsoft Visual Studio 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.
Enterprise Architect - Integrations at BCA
Comprehensive and has features that work for different plans; powerful and efficient
Pros and Cons
- "What we like about Microsoft Visual Studio is that it's a comprehensive tool. It has features that work for different plans and it has a wide variety of use cases. It's also a powerful tool and it's quite efficient."
- "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."
What is our primary use case?
We use Microsoft Visual Studio for various builds such as building our .NET applications, and in some cases, we use it for design, and for building specifications.
What is most valuable?
What we like about Microsoft Visual Studio is that it's a comprehensive tool. It has features that work for different plans and it has a wide variety of use cases. It's also a powerful tool and it's quite efficient.
What needs improvement?
There's always room for improvement in any product, and in Microsoft Visual Studio, it can be spread into other areas of development and design. It's pretty much Microsoft-oriented at the moment. It can be spread into other open source or open source-based developments. That's why I gave it a rating of eight. There's always room for improvement, for example, 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.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using Microsoft Visual Studio for the past three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Visual Studio is a stable tool. It has improved in terms of stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In terms of scalability, I don't know if scalability applies to Microsoft Visual Studio, to be honest.
How are customer service and support?
We never required technical support from Microsoft Visual Studio because it's a straightforward tool. Online help is great, for example, the community support and forums are all good and widely used.
How was the initial setup?
Microsoft Visual Studio has improved a lot over the years, and setting it up is quite straightforward now.
How fast the tool is deployed depends on project to project, but usually deployment is quite efficient and fast. We usually take on average fifteen days to build a feature and deploy it in DevOps.
What about the implementation team?
We both have an in-house team and partners that take care of the implementation of Microsoft Visual Studio.
What was our ROI?
I've seen ROI from Microsoft Visual Studio.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The development license for Microsoft Visual Studio is free. I don't know if there's a licensing cost to it.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Eclipse and also used other tools, but Microsoft Visual Studio is good.
What other advice do I have?
My company has been using Microsoft Visual Studio for development purposes, particularly Microsoft Visual Studio for .NET development.
I would highly recommend Microsoft Visual Studio to others looking into implementing it. I would also advise that it has some learning curve to use, in particular, people need the technical skill to use the tool properly.
My rating for Microsoft Visual Studio is eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Consultant at ATOS
Easy setup with good interface and lots of languages
Pros and Cons
- "The product integrates well with Azure Cloud, and it supports a ton of languages."
- "It has a ton of options and that sometimes can become very, very overwhelming for a new person, a new developer."
- "A ton of time is just spent trying to keep ourselves up with the frequent releases that Microsoft rolls out."
What is most valuable?
The product integrates well with Azure Cloud, and it supports a ton of languages.
It also has a very good interface for Git source code management. Then there are a couple of add-ins or plug-ins that are out there in the marketplace that sometimes come in handy. From a developer standpoint, it does a very good job when it comes to debugging. It's a great development tool.
The initial setup was pretty straightforward.
The solution has good technical support.
What needs improvement?
It has a ton of options and that sometimes can become very, very overwhelming for a new person, a new developer. If something can be done around simplifying the product, for example, if there's a way, to just have enough options that are relevant for me, that could probably help.
The upgrade system is a bit complex. If they're upgrading something, then they should not force us to go to the next version. Maybe they should probably just release a fix or something that, and once we implement that fix, it gives us at least a choice that you're good for some time even if you don't want to upgrade.
A ton of time is just spent trying to keep ourselves up with the frequent releases that Microsoft rolls out. That is something that takes away from our productive time that we could have invested that time to enhance your application, and could have worked on additional features or functionalities, however, you end up spending that time just to upgrade your current solution to the next version that they roll out.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for three years, however, my team members have been using it for ten to 12 years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In terms of the stability, the frequent upgrades that they roll out and then they force us to upgrade the solution, upgrade the tool itself, those sometimes can be a nuisance.
Most of the time, I see my team members end up spending a lot of time just upgrading the application to the next .NET framework. Or sometimes even the Microsoft Visual Studio version that gets rolled out and then you just have to do that upgrade. Therefore, the frequent upgrades that happen just don't support the older ones, they just take it off support, which causes a lot of nuisance.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The project that I'm part of is a huge team for sure. We are a team of a couple hundred.
How are customer service and support?
There have been instances in the past where we have reached out to Microsoft.
Support-wise, they're doing a fair job. I don't mind that. Whenever we reach out, we do get help.
How was the initial setup?
It was a pretty easy setup. For us, basically, it comes with some preconfigured settings. The license that we have is a project from our customer. It is fairly straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
We had a third party help us with the initial setup. We did not do it completely by ourselves.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'm not someone who concerns myself with the cost. That said, my understanding is the license cost is a lot. Before customers roll out a license for any developer, they make sure that it is relevant and it's required for the job.
What other advice do I have?
We use the enterprise edition of the product. We're using the latest version.
We're end-users of Visual Studio. We're also using Microsoft Teams as well.
We have a couple of applications running on-prem. The roadmap is to move as much as possible onto Azure.
I'd rate the solution eight 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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