I am using Microsoft Visual Studio for internal application development within our organization. For example, small application developments.
Lead Technical Consultant (Information Technology) at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Beneficial usability, plenty of built-in tools, and documentation available online
Pros and Cons
- "Microsoft Visual Studio's most valuable features are usability. It's an integrated development environment, they have a lot of built-in tools that will be helpful for a new developer to quickly develop their applications, such as mobile applications or web applications."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Microsoft Visual Studio's most valuable features are usability. It's an integrated development environment, they have a lot of built-in tools that will be helpful for a new developer to quickly develop their applications, such as mobile applications or web applications.
There are a lot of materials or online resources that are available. Microsoft Visual Studio is easy to figure out and start working on it.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Visual Studio for approximately 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Microsoft Visual Studio is good.
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have not seen any difficulties when scaling Microsoft Visual Studio.
We have four users in the IT department using this solution in my company.
How are customer service and support?
I did not face any issues needed to use the technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have not used a previous solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Microsoft Visual Studio is not complex, it is simple. When using Azure DevOps for the deployment of Microsoft Visual Studio it only takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes.
What about the implementation team?
We did the deployment of Microsoft Visual Studio in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of Microsoft Visual Studio is reasonable but could be better.
What other advice do I have?
I am satisfied with the solution. I would recommend this solution to others.
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.
Head of .NET Department at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
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.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Visual Studio
December 2025
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Visual Studio. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
879,310 professionals have used our research since 2012.
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."
- "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
Solution Architect at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Powerful and convenient solution with cross-platform support and robust architecture
Pros and Cons
- "You can easily create, edit, and test any software and develop applications for all the major platforms, including cloud, desktop, and mobile."
- "Could be improved with the ability to personalize the interface and development style and to edit extension requirements."
What is our primary use case?
My primary business is designing architecture, and I use Visual Studio to demonstrate how to use VS code in the browser. For example, if someone has a business idea for a banking application and is starting to think about how to develop it, they can use Visual Studio to make a very quick prototype. The pipelines then deliver this project to the new environment, and the end-user can see how quickly the application works.
How has it helped my organization?
Visual Studio improves communication between teams, which saves valuable time.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the lightweight cross-platform support and the robust architecture. You can easily create, edit, and test any software and develop applications for all the major platforms, including cloud, desktop, and mobile.
What needs improvement?
Visual Studio could be improved with the ability to personalize the interface and development style and to edit extension requirements.
For how long have I used the solution?
What other advice do I have?
Visual Studio is a very good, very convenient, very powerful development solution. I would rate it as nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has 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."
- "Technical support needs to be improved. Right now, it's not great."
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.
Managing Partner at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
An easy-to-install solution with documentation but improvement is needed in integration
Pros and Cons
- "You can use the solution to do coding and drag and drop. It is easy to install with web documentation."
- "Microsoft Visual Studio needs to improve integration."
What is most valuable?
You can use the solution to do coding and drag and drop. It is easy to install with web documentation.
What needs improvement?
Microsoft Visual Studio needs to improve integration.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the product for 15 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 solution is scalable.
How was the initial setup?
The tool's deployment is straightforward. Deployment takes between ten minutes to one day. One resource is enough to handle the deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft Visual Studio is not expensive. Its licensing costs are expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the product a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Managing Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
All recent versions have live code, which allows multiple people to code on the same platform
Pros and Cons
- "Microsoft Visual Studio is an easy-to-use solution."
- "The solution’s technical support could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We use Microsoft Visual Studio for general development, web development, and IT development.
What is most valuable?
Microsoft Visual Studio is an easy-to-use solution. All recent versions of Microsoft Visual Studio have live code, which allows multiple people to code on the same thing. The other valuable features of Microsoft Visual Studio are the integrations and extensions.
What needs improvement?
The solution’s technical support could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Visual Studio for more than ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate Microsoft Visual Studio ten out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Over 1,000 users are using the solution in our organization.
I rate Microsoft Visual Studio a nine out of ten for scalability.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support is average. In some cases, I find it very good, and in other cases not so good.
How was the initial setup?
The solution's initial setup takes a while but is quite straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We purchased an expensive enterprise version of Microsoft Visual Studio.
What other advice do I have?
Microsoft Visual Studio helps streamline team collaboration. I would recommend Microsoft Visual Studio to other users.
Overall, I 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.
Manager - IT at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees
User-friendly solution with good scalability
Pros and Cons
- "It is a stable solution."
- "Its setup process could be more straightforward."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution to write and develop program language and websites.
What is most valuable?
The solution is user-friendly.
What needs improvement?
The solution's setup process could be more straightforward.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for ten years. At present, I use its latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the solution's stability above ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have around 500 solution users in our organization. I rate its scalability above ten.
How was the initial setup?
The solution's initial setup process is complex. It takes a day to complete.
What about the implementation team?
We took help from a consultant to implement the solution.
What was our ROI?
The solution is worth the investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We pay for the solution's license. It could be cheaper.
What other advice do I have?
The solution has good stability and performance. I recommend it to others and rate it a six out of ten. I advise others to understand the process before implementing it.
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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