I think Microsoft Visual Studio is a good tool.
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?
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.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Visual Studio
June 2026
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Visual Studio. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2026.
902,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.
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.
Sr. Manager of Software and Controls at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
Reliable, useful debugging, and simple implmentation
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of Microsoft Visual Studio are debugging and IntelliSense."
- "Microsoft Visual Studio is the best development environment out there, but it's also the slowest."
- "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."
What is our primary use case?
We use Microsoft Visual Studio to write desktop applications.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Microsoft Visual Studio are debugging and IntelliSense.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Visual Studio for approximately 18 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Visual Studio has excellent stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
There are six software developers using Microsoft Visual Studio.
How are customer service and support?
I have not used the support from Microsoft Visual Studio.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Microsoft Visual Studio is easy.
What about the implementation team?
Each of the six software developers that are using Microsoft Visual Studio self-manages their workstations.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost of using Microsoft Visual Studio monthly is approximately $300.
What other advice do I have?
Microsoft Visual Studio is the best development environment out there, but it's also the slowest.
I would recommend others to use Microsoft Visual Studio.
I 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.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Visual Studio
June 2026
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Visual Studio. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2026.
902,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Admin at IEC (Electoral Commission of South Africa)
Well-defined processes, beneficial team integration, and highly scalable
Pros and Cons
- "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."
- "Microsoft Visual Studio can improve by bringing back designers. They used to have designers for architecture charts and diagrams. They were able to do things, such as database design. If they can bring them back, it would be great."
What is our primary use case?
We use the Microsoft Visual Studio environment to write code for applications.
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
Microsoft Visual Studio can improve by bringing back designers. They used to have designers for architecture charts and diagrams. They were able to do things, such as database design. If they can bring them back, it would be great.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Visual Studio for approximately 20 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?
Microsoft Visual Studio can scale in terms of expected loads. It is highly scalable.
We have four people who use the solution in my organization.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using another solution prior to Microsoft Visual Studio.
How was the initial setup?
Microsoft Visual Studio's initial setup is easy. The process took approximately two to three hours.
What about the implementation team?
We did the implementation of Microsoft Visual Studio in-house. We use one person for the deployment and support of the solution.
What was our ROI?
We have seen a return on investment using Microsoft Visual Studio. Within a week you can be more proficient and see the value.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
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.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to others is they should try Microsoft Visual Studio. They will achieve quicker results in terms of being able to deliver the project compared to the competition.
I rate Microsoft Visual Studio a ten 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.
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.
Head of .NET Department at Evozon
It covers everything you need for custom software development, including architecture for automation testing
Pros and Cons
- "Visual Studio is a tool used for custom software development. It covers everything under this umbrella, including architecture for automation testing."
- "There have been some issues but not very often."
What is our primary use case?
Visual Studio is a tool used for custom software development. It covers everything under this umbrella, including architecture for automation testing. We have between 60 and 70 users working with Visual Studio.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Microsoft Visual Studio for 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Visual Studio is stable enough. There have been some issues but not very often.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Visual Studio is a development environment. It only runs on one computer. Everyone has their own installation. If we talk about the cloud version, it's scalable. It has served our needs. We plan to increase usage by 5 to 10 percent as our departments grow.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have been using Microsoft Visual Studio since .NET first came out. Prior to that, I used tools with other software development languages like Eclipse. Eclipse was an IDE-independent software vendor.
How was the initial setup?
Installing Visual Studio is easy on average. Sometimes you need to install various libraries, so it depends on your setup. I would say it's medium difficulty.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft Visual Studio nine out of 10.
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.
BI Development & Validation Manager at JT International SA
Stable solution that facilitates different software development processes
Pros and Cons
- "This solution can integrate with almost any functionality offered by Microsoft."
- "The pricing for licenses could be reduced to make this solution more competitive."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution to support a number of different web development processes across different tools and languages.
What is most valuable?
This solution can integrate with almost any functionality offered by Microsoft.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using this solution for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing for licenses could be reduced to make this solution more competitive.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Junior Software Engineer at PT Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk.
Scalable IDE for software development with easy access to support and quick updates for bugs
Pros and Cons
- "One of the most valuable features is its support. It's easy for me to get support even though I never use it. If there's a bug or a performance issue, Microsoft also provides quick updates, and this is another valuable feature of the program."
- "Microsoft Visual Studio could benefit from a more centralized education system."
- "A room for improvement in Microsoft Visual Studio is its performance. Currently, some of our devices are not that capable, so performance still needs to be improved."
What is most valuable?
One of the most valuable features is its support. It's easy for me to get support even though I never use it. If there's a bug or a performance issue, Microsoft also provides quick updates, and this is another valuable feature of the program.
What needs improvement?
A room for improvement in Microsoft Visual Studio is its performance. Currently, some of our devices are not that capable, so performance still needs to be improved.
An additional feature I'd like to see in the next release of Microsoft Visual Studio to make it better is a more centralized education system, e.g. for Microsoft to put the tutorial for the program under Microsoft Learn.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with Microsoft Visual Studio for two years, and I'm still using it.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Microsoft Visual Studio is okay, but it could be more stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Visual Studio is a scalable program. It's enough for me, and I'm utilizing it a lot, and that's one of the most important things for me.
How was the initial setup?
I'm using my company's equipment, so Microsoft Visual Studio is already set up on it. The program's easy to set up.
What other advice do I have?
I'm using the latest version of Microsoft Visual Studio, e.g. the 2022 version if I remember correctly. It depends on what my company is using.
The most valuable thing about Microsoft Visual Studio is that it's already deployed in my company and used by my company, so I can just use it. That's the reason I'm using the program.
I haven't contacted technical support for Microsoft Visual Studio.
I'm giving Microsoft Visual Studio a rating of eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Software Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Easy to integrate with GitHub, but there should be more support
Pros and Cons
- "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."
- "It is easy to integrate with GitHub; Visual Studio is very much UI-based and simple, so it's very easy to integrate GitHub with Visual Studio and it is much easier than Eclipse."
- "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 is most valuable?
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.
It is also good for debugging.
What needs improvement?
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.
I have recently shifted to Microsoft Visual Studio. Before that, I was working on Eclipse. I switched because of project requirements. Initially, it was a bit difficult to understand the debugging and other functionalities, but once I got familiar with it, I find it much easier than Eclipse. It can be made a bit easier for basic users.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with this solution for two months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Its scalability is good. In my team, we have around eight members.
How was the initial setup?
It is straightforward. I don't find it complex. I have also used Eclipse, and when I compare it with Eclipse, it is not that complex.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate it a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Business Application Solutions at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Great features, lots of helpful documentation, allows us to manage our code directly via the repository
Pros and Cons
- "I was testing how to publish in a cloud using Azure and it was very easy."
- "There are a lot of features that are very, very nice in Visual Studio, and we can publish directly to the premise's servers, and I was testing how to publish in a cloud using Azure and it was very easy."
- "You do need to do some training in order to really take advantage of the solution."
What is our primary use case?
Currently, in my daily work, I am using Visual Studio to develop different tools. Also, I am trying to use DevOps to manage code and different work items.
What is most valuable?
It's an excellent tool in general. There are a lot of features that are very, very nice in Visual Studio.
We can publish directly to the premise's servers. I was testing how to publish in a cloud using Azure and it was very easy. There are a lot of good features in Visual Studio and I'm sure we can add different add-ins or add-ons to make it a little more functional as well.
We can manage our code directly via the repository. We are trying to manage the code in DevOps. With Visual Studio, we can connect to DevOps and manage the different versions that we have using the repository.
What needs improvement?
You do need to do some training in order to really take advantage of the solution.
Currently, we have issues when Visual Studio has updates. When Visual Studio has updates, right now we have issues in terms of updating our repositories. That was the current issue that we have. We need to update Visual Studio, however, we also need to update continuously the Visual Studio version due to the fact that if we don't update the Visual Studio, we have different problems that follow us.
The initial setup can be a bit complex.
The thing that is very important is to manage your requirements and the features that you need to develop using Visual Studio. DevOps has that feature available. When we connect Visual Studio or a project with DevOps, we can manage different work items. They could improve that feature, to manage the work items requirements and different things a bit better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution since about 2012, across two different companies.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable solution We don't really deal with bugs or glitches. I don't find that it crashes or freeze. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We've found the product to be scalable. If a company needs to expand it out they can do so.
We have about 15 people using it regularly right now.
I'm not sure if we intend to expand usage just yet. We are already, this year, planning to migrate some tools to the cloud. That said, we don't know if we are going to need a little more support or people to do that.
How are customer service and support?
Currently, we use different documentation that exists on the internet to assist us with troubleshooting. We currently use the Microsoft or Visual Studio page to research different functionalities or different features that we need to implement or we need to add to our project. So far, that's been quite helpful.
How was the initial setup?
Initially, it was a little complex to set up. We needed to learn the different features that we could manage in Visual Studio. Right now, as we have had some time to pick things up, it's very straightforward to use.
In terms of deployment, for example, yesterday, I implemented a new version for one of the plants that we have. The tech was immediately published as we are able to use an option to publish the code. We only select the new version and automatically the code is published. It's very fast to publish a new version for the different tools that we have. In that sense, it doesn't take long to deploy.
Each developer is responsible for publishing his own tools and doesn't require another special group or another special people to deploy the tools that we are managing.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Regarding the licensing, I don't manage that. The license is updated each time that it's required to be as the company where I am working, requires that. I don't know if the license is updated monthly or annually, however. It may be annually.
What other advice do I have?
We're customers and end-users.
While this solution is currently on-premises, the plan is this year try to migrate some tools to the cloud using Azure.
I'd advise new users that it's important initially to do some training to implement Visual Studio. If there are people trying to implement Visual Studio in the company, it's very important to consider the training that will be involved and not just the licensing costs.
I'd rate the product at a nine out of ten. It's a good solution.
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.
Senior Software Engineer at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
Great integrated debugger, offers lots of features, and is extremely stable
Pros and Cons
- "While you're coding, it's really nice to be able to print stuff out and make sure that all the data is being organized the way you want it to be."
- "It's got a lot of tools integrated into it."
- "Technical support needs to be improved. Right now, it's not great."
- "Their help answers to random user questions are terrible, however."
What is our primary use case?
Right now I'm primarily using the solution for C-Sharp development.
I've actually been using the solution on iOS to do Xamarin apps. That might be something that's quite atypical, in terms of using the solution. It's not easy to do.
What is most valuable?
Having also done development within a text, I really enjoyed the (what I believe is called) IntelliSense feature. It helps if you are doing development within a text browser.
The integrated debugger is fantastic.
None of these are particularly new features. Everybody else has been using it for 20 years too.
I find it funny that a lot of people complain about the solution. However, I find that it provides users with so many great and useful features, like console output, for example. You always have the option to dump a whole bunch of items out if you don't need them in the production.
While you're coding, it's really nice to be able to print stuff out and make sure that all the data is being organized the way you want it to be.
It's got a lot of tools integrated into it.
There's a community edition that is absolutely free to use. It's pretty good.
What needs improvement?
If you use the professional edition, you can do unit testing much easier. You can do mock-ups and tasks of that nature. It would be nice if they made that available on the community edition as well.
There needs to be a feature upgrade, especially for the free features. They might have done so in the past or over the last few years. Still, it would be nice it if happened more often.
During some research into the product, I've discovered that they are trying to apply AI, as well as machine learning. This would be a welcome edition. They will most likely be advanced features. That means they won't be free. However, maybe in the future, they will be, given that enough time passes.
Technical support needs to be improved. Right now, it's not great.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for a long time. I would estimate I've used it on and off for 20 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is actually really stable. It's been around for so long. It's not like Microsoft Office products where a few years ago they decided to go redesign everything, and then the file formats were no longer compatible. In that case, users were confused as to which excel format to save in. This solution has been the same for 20 or so years. The format is the same. It hasn't changed. It remains very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I can't really comment on that aspect of the solution. I work on small projects, so I've never used it on any kind of scale.
There are about 20 people who use it in our organization. They're either software developers or software testers.
How are customer service and technical support?
I haven't actually used their formal tech support, but have tried using their Microsoft answers. A lot of them are out of date. They're terrible. The support is basically: "Well, we can't reproduce that."
They don't even seem to do a search for themselves on Stack Overflow. You basically Google search to see if somebody else has answered the question. I would say that of course, it is free, so you get what you pay for and therefore the bar should be low on expectations. Still, it can be frustrating.
I have considered that maybe they have some poor interns trying to answer these questions, and they certainly don't seem too interested in providing the type of detailed responses a user might require. That's just what my impression is from trying to find answers occasionally.
The nice thing about their model is if somebody asks a question, people will answer it. Then everyone can vote on the answer as the solution, and people can follow up.
On Microsoft, if you go to their forums or help section for the product, you'll see the question is five years old. Nobody will ever say whether the answer they gave was the solution helped. So users often get confused. You need to ask yourself: "Do I spend half an hour deploying this? Or do I keep Googling?" It's awful.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is really easy. You just download it and start it up.
I don't think my company uses much of an implementation strategy. There aren't as many protocols or structures. If we need it, we just download it and begin using it.
I would say the only downside with this setup is that although it's usually pretty clear what libraries you want to include, it is slow to download. You do have to set aside a time when you can start the download. It's best to go off and do something on your own. You'd hate to do it at work, as you'll have to wait and you'll have nothing else to do. It's going to take half an hour to download at least.
Maintenance requirements are extremely low. There's next to none, really.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution has a community version, which is free. It also has a paid version, with a few more premium features, but the free version is still really useful.
What other advice do I have?
I believe I am using the 2015 version of the solution. It's the default for C-Sharp programs at the very least. Depending on what programs we get in, we can often use it extensively. I don't have plans to expand the solution right now. There are other solutions that would be available to us.
For example, if we're going to do Python development, we'll probably use PyCharm instead of Visual Studio. Visual Studio does support Python, but PyCharm was in there before and everybody knows it. So we don't really force people to use it. Our company is a small company, where developers can choose their own development avenues.
In terms of advice, I would give to other users, I would suggest following a tutorial at first if you've never used it. They actually have some good tutorials online. If you actually follow them line by line, you get the setup and training that you need. Their help answers to random user questions are terrible, however.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten, mostly due to the fact that it's got a lot of features. If you want to do development, it makes it easy. I know, on the other hand, that there are some other really amazing tools out there. However, they aren't necessarily free. It's a good selling point: you get all this stuff for free, it's standard, and lots of people use it. Once you've learned it, it's quite useful.
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.
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Visual Studio Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: June 2026
Product Categories
.NET Development ServicesPopular Comparisons
Adobe AIR SDK
Zend Studio
Apache Flex
Nexaweb Enterprise Web 2.0
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Visual Studio Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.













