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Microsoft Visual Studio vs SharePoint Designer comparison

Microsoft Visual Studio and SharePoint Designer are both solutions in the .NET Development Services category. Microsoft Visual Studio is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.6, while SharePoint Designer is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.7. Microsoft Visual Studio holds a 14.8% mindshare in NDS, compared to SharePoint Designer’s 8.6% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Microsoft Visual Studio users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 82% of SharePoint Designer users who would recommend it.
Microsoft Visual Studio
Read 90 Microsoft Visual Studio reviews
  • 641 Views
  • 156 Comparison Views
95% willing to recommend
SharePoint Designer
Read 49 SharePoint Designer reviews
  • 477 Views
  • 120 Comparison Views
82% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary
We performed a comparison between Microsoft Visual Studio and SharePoint Designer based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two .NET Development Services solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

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To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Visual Studio vs. SharePoint Designer Report (Updated: June 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Visual Studio vs. SharePoint Designer
June 2025
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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Visual Studio
Ranking in .NET Development Services
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SharePoint Designer
Ranking in .NET Development Services
2nd
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the .NET Development Services category, the mindshare of Microsoft Visual Studio is 14.8%, down from 23.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SharePoint Designer is 8.6%, down from 19.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
.NET Development Services
 

Featured Reviews

Eitan Gold - PeerSpot reviewer
Test code efficiency improves with integrated debugger and automation
The test explorer is really important for us as it aids in testing, along with the regular debugger. Even though I forgot the term for it at the moment, there is an overall debugger tool within the IDE ( /categories/ide ) that is very effective. This comprehensive debugger tool does the job efficiently, making our work easier.
Read full review
Raphael Haroun Ikyagh - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers ability to directly share documents and highly stable
It's been stable for me. I haven't encountered any issues with the sites I've developed locally within the organization as long as the license remains valid. It's very stable. I haven't had any issues with outages or needing to republish content. It's always accessible to authorized users, so it's stable. The stability is almost a ten out of ten for me.
Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"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."
"My company works with outsourced programmers. The solution helps us to test, integrate and foresee the code quality. We can trace the development stages."
"It's pretty prevalent."
"I like it that I don't need any special software to run this program."
"We use the solution to develop applications."
"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."
"The product integrates well with Azure Cloud, and it supports a ton of languages."
"The stability is fine."
More Microsoft Visual Studio pros
"It helps centralize and store files."
"The solution tightly integrates with all other collaboration tools."
"The most valuable feature is the capability to directly access the SharePoint data structure."
"SharePoint has very good features for collaboration."
"The solution is scalable."
"The basic functionality the solution makes it easy to share documents or information with the team."
"The most valuable feature is the development."
"If you're working in a communication channel team, SharePoint Designer is a great solution because it helps to have some customized solutions in terms of communication and to create web experiences for external teams."
More SharePoint Designer pros
 

Cons

"Despite its advantages, challenges in diverse cloud environments may prompt the uninstallation of the application or entire development environment for resolution."
"Its setup process could be more straightforward."
"Microsoft Visual Studio can improve memory management, and packaging and reporting components."
"It would be better if it didn't get stuck. Sometimes when we are writing code, we open too many tabs and modules, and it gets stuck."
"Technical support needs to be improved. Right now, it's not great."
"I would like the solution to have a designing default in addition to the current coding default."
"Long installation or upgrade times are sometimes a problem."
"I'd like the product to become more secure. You could potentially, for example, download an extension that contains malware."
More Microsoft Visual Studio cons
"The solution requires more web-based publishing. It would benefit from adding in more collaboration features as well."
"The web services aspect of the solution is very weak."
"This solution could definitely be made easier to use."
"If you compare the workflow with other engines like Olympus and K2, it is very complicated to create a workflow."
"SharePoint Designer needs filter options for lists and libraries."
"Exporting the whole SharePoint website is an issue."
"I would like to see SharePoint improve the integration with different systems. I also would like to see more customization."
"In the solution, if you have a case of accidental deletion, there's no restoration, which should have been there."
More SharePoint Designer cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I'm using the platform's open-source version."
"The cost of using Microsoft Visual Studio monthly is approximately $300."
"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."
"I use the open-source version of Microsoft Visual Studio."
"The price of Microsoft Visual Studio is approximately $400 annually."
"Microsoft Visual Studio is a free product."
"Its price could be better."
"You may have to purchase more hardware utilities like processors or RAM."
More Microsoft Visual Studio pricing and cost advice
"SharePoint Designer is a free product. It's SharePoint that needs a license, not SharePoint Designer."
"The cost of the solution is based on multiple factors such as the number of users, and any customization that may be required."
"The tool is free of cost."
"SharePoint Designer's pricing is okay."
"The tool's pricing is cheap."
"The price is reasonable."
"This solution is free of charge."
"The pricing is fair."
More SharePoint Designer pricing and cost advice
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Performing Arts
9%
Government
13%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Visual Studio?
We can use different .NET features.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Visual Studio?
The pricing for Microsoft Visual Studio is favorable. While many open-source solutions are available, none offer the robustness of Visual Studio, which includes a Marketplace for creating different...
See all answers
What needs improvement with Microsoft Visual Studio?
The patching aspect can continue to be improved. Although Visual Studio has very expressive refactor solutions and efficient, reliable patching for code, there is always room for enhancement in the...
See all answers
What do you like most about SharePoint Designer?
It saved me big time once! My car got broken into and they took my laptop with all my files. But I didn't have to worry because everything was backed up on SharePoint. It was a lifesaver!
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SharePoint Designer?
I've leased Microsoft SharePoint Designer for the enterprise, not System Center. It's for private work, web development specifically.
See all answers
What needs improvement with SharePoint Designer?
For me, it's flexible enough for most things. But maybe they could improve the user interface to make it easier for everyone to navigate and use. That would be a big plus.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

No data available
No data available
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Visual Studio
June 2025
Microsoft Visual Studio reportDownload Microsoft Visual Studio product report
Buyer's Guide
SharePoint Designer
June 2025
SharePoint Designer reportDownload SharePoint Designer product report
 

Also Known As

MS Visual Studio
No data available
 

Overview

Visual Studio.NET is the umbrella that represents the key pieces of the .NET platform delivered from Microsoft, including the .NET Framework, the recently announced .NET Core, and a shared common layer of packages, compilers and runtime. Read this .NET blog post about the evolution of the platform and the different pieces that make .NET 2015.
Microsoft
SharePoint Designer is the tool of choice for the rapid development of SharePoint applications. Using SharePoint Designer, advanced users and developers alike can rapidly create SharePoint solutions in response to business needs. Advanced users can compose no-code solutions that encompass a variety of common scenarios, from collaborative sites and web publishing to Line-Of-Business data integration, business intelligence solutions, and human workflows, leveraging the building blocks available in SharePoint in an easy to use environment.
Microsoft
 

Sample Customers

Knab, Hamburg Port Authority, Kecioren Municipality, National Instruments, Hamburg Port Authority, Government of Odisha, Kongsberg Maritime AS
Pyrotek Inc., ICA, Deliver Australia, Secretary of Economy of Mexico, Aegon, ABB Switzerland, Ascent Yarns Private Limited, Bakewell Biscuits Pvt Ltd, Hitachi Consulting
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Visual Studio vs. SharePoint Designer
June 2025
Free Report: Microsoft Visual Studio vs. SharePoint Designer
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Visual Studio vs. SharePoint Designer and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
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We monitor all .NET Development Services reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.