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Microsoft Visual Studio vs SharePoint Designer [EOL] comparison

Microsoft Visual Studio and SharePoint Designer [EOL] are both solutions in the .NET Development Services category. Additionally, 96% of Microsoft Visual Studio users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 82% of SharePoint Designer [EOL] users who would recommend it.
Microsoft Visual Studio
Read 101 Microsoft Visual Studio reviews
  • 1,384 Views
  • 1,384 Comparison Views
96% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Cognosys Inc Hardened Images, Harman and others in .NET Development Services.

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.NET Development Services
January 2026
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Helped 881,707 peers since 2012

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
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
101
Ranking in other categories
.NET Development Services (1st)
SharePoint Designer [EOL]
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Eitan Gold - PeerSpot reviewer
Eitan Gold
SQA Manager at Elmo Motion Control Ltd.
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 that is very effective. This comprehensive debugger tool does the job efficiently, making our work easier.
Read full review
Vladimir Vasilev - PeerSpot reviewer
Vladimir Vasilev
Digital Lead at Baker Tilly
Helps to centralize and share files and has an easy setup
I'm using the solution for creating different sites in our organization. We also use it for a file repository mainly.  It's provided us with a centralized document database that is available to all collaborators 24/7. There are good features in general. It helps centralize and store files.  It's…
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

"The most valuable features of Microsoft Visual Studio are the availability of many extensions, an interpreter, a code formator, and helpful dark and light modes."
"It is convenient to have all the development tools in one interface."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Visual Studio is the user interface."
"The most valuable feature is the integration with different databases."
"The stability is fine."
"It is also flexible enough to let me use Git as well as its own version control mechanism."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Visual Studio is the good intelligence and UI."
"The scalability of Microsoft Visual Studio is good."
More Microsoft Visual Studio pros
"It’s very convenient for me to update. Last time I used a function called Word. It is a good function, which I can use to coordinate easily."
"It helps centralize and store files."
"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!"
"The most valuable feature is the simplicity, standardization, and ability to create more than one portal."
"The feature I find most valuable, is the workflow of the product."
"The product is very user-friendly."
"SharePoint has very good features for collaboration."
"The initial setup is very straightforward."
More SharePoint Designer [EOL] pros
 

Cons

"Its setup process could be more straightforward."
"You do need to do some training in order to really take advantage of the solution."
"Microsoft Visual Studio could improve by being compatible with more operating systems. However, we understand the solution is proprietary to Microsoft."
"The interface could be more user friendly"
"The stability of Microsoft Visual Studio could improve. There are times it hangs or stops working and I have to restart the program."
"There have been some issues but not very often."
"There could be some features for YAML pipelines in Visual Studio."
"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."
More Microsoft Visual Studio cons
"Further development for SharePoint online would be ideal. However, I'm not sure if it's true that Microsoft will no longer develop SharePoint Designer in the future or not."
"The system can become slow which should be improved."
"SharePoint Designer's integration with Microsoft tools could be improved."
"We'd like it if we got less frequent updates."
"If you compare the workflow with other engines like Olympus and K2, it is very complicated to create a workflow."
"It needs to align with PowerApps and Power Automate."
"If they included some training modules, I would give them a ten, because that would make it even more user-friendly."
"It has a lot of bugs. It's also not very convenient. The UX/UI is not very user-friendly and not designed to be similar to other applications from Microsoft."
More SharePoint Designer [EOL] cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We purchased an expensive enterprise version of Microsoft Visual Studio."
"We use the free version, and you don't need a license."
"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."
"The price of Microsoft Visual Studio is reasonable but could be better."
"The price of Microsoft Visual Studio could be lowered. For a single developer, it is approximately $1,000."
"The development license for Microsoft Visual Studio is free. I don't know if there's a licensing cost to it."
"Visual Studio Team System is expensive, but it is worth the money."
"The cost of using Microsoft Visual Studio monthly is approximately $300."
More Microsoft Visual Studio pricing and cost advice
"Priced per user per month with different plans to choose from."
"The tool's pricing is cheap."
"There is no licensing cost for Designer—it's free."
"SharePoint Online has a subscription-based model for payments and the price is based on user usage."
"Most of the time, our customer's license from Microsoft includes the cost of SharePoint. However, if you have to buy it then SharePoint is quite expensive."
"We are using an enterprise SharePoint Designer license."
"The cost of the solution is based on multiple factors such as the number of users, and any customization that may be required."
"It is a free solution that does not require a license."
More SharePoint Designer [EOL] pricing and cost advice
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Marketing Services Firm
19%
Performing Arts
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Marketing Services Firm
20%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Performing Arts
9%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business36
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise50
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Visual Studio?
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Microsoft Visual Studio is that the pricing is free, which is perfect.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Microsoft Visual Studio?
I think Microsoft Visual Studio is a very good tool and I do not have many improvements to suggest. The only thing I can think of is that I quite regularly get notifications that interrupt my workf...
See all answers
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Visual Studio?
My main use case for Microsoft Visual Studio is writing code, specifically infrastructure as code to build resources in cloud platforms such as AWS EC2 instances, Google IAM resources, and networks...
See all answers
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ASP.NET vs SharePoint Designer [EOL] Logo
ASP.NET vs SharePoint Designer [EOL]
Compared 39% of the time
More SharePoint Designer [EOL] Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Visual Studio
January 2026
Microsoft Visual Studio reportDownload Microsoft Visual Studio product report
Buyer's Guide
SharePoint Designer [EOL]
January 2026
SharePoint Designer [EOL] reportDownload SharePoint Designer [EOL] 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
.NET Development Services
January 2026
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