Microsoft Visual Studio vs SharePoint Designer [EOL] comparison

Why PeerSpot?

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 103 Microsoft Visual Studio reviews

4,244 Views
4,244 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

SharePoint Designer [EOL]

Read 49 SharePoint Designer [EOL] reviews

82% willing to recommend

Microsoft Visual Studio

SharePoint Designer [EOL]

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, Harman, Zend and others in .NET Development Services.

To learn more, read our detailed .NET Development Services Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

.NET Development Services

September 2026

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Helped 913,806 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

103

Ranking in other categories

.NET Development Services (1st)

SharePoint Designer [EOL]

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

PrasannaRao

Senior Manager, Application Development at PSKW, LLC

Code reviews have become clearer and debugging now improves multi-language API development

I appreciate the debugging capability of Microsoft Visual Studio the most. The tracing of the debugging is what I value. I can use any editor to write the code, but Microsoft Visual Studio has strong capability. Microsoft Visual Studio has good integration with the plugins I want to use, the different types of plugins available for different languages and even JSON. Microsoft Visual Studio has improved significantly. Before, people used to use Notepad and other basic editors. Using the studio gave them the capability to properly debug and find issues. Additionally, it provides good code organization and indentation, as well as color coding for comments. It is very useful, as it gives function descriptions and class descriptions. It is very easy for someone who is not writing the code to understand it when they look at it, as it is very descriptive with proper commenting. I cannot give exact statistics on time saved, but I can provide statistics on quality improvement. The coding standard has been enforced. It has tremendously improved with Microsoft Visual Studio. I would say anywhere between 20 to 50% improvement, depending on which team we are discussing.

Read full review

Raphael Haroun Ikyagh

Network Administrator at Letshego

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

"The stability is fine."

"The installation of the solution is easy."

"There really is not any other IDE you would want to use rather than Microsoft Visual Studio."

"The most valuable aspect of this solution is the integrated development environment, and it also offers a very good integration with Microsoft Cloud."

"The most valuable features of Microsoft Visual Studio are the database connections."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Visual Studio is the good intelligence and UI."

"Microsoft Visual Studio has positively impacted my organization because with Live Share, we were able to collaborate on code projects."

"Offers an excellent platform to develop Desktop, Web, and Mobile Applications."

More Microsoft Visual Studio pros

"SharePoint has very good features for collaboration."

"The most valuable feature is the development."

"In summary, this product allows our developers to do what they want to do."

"The initial setup is not too complex."

"The new version doesn't have the option to view data, but it has other, better features though."

"The most valuable features of SharePoint Designer are integration and collaboration capabilities, such as allowing more than one person to edit a file."

"It helps centralize and store files."

"The most valuable feature is the capability to directly access the SharePoint data structure."

More SharePoint Designer [EOL] pros

Cons

"The solution’s technical support could be improved."

"When Microsoft shifted their service to regions like China and India, the support team there was not professional and lacked adequate knowledge."

"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."

"It would be better if Microsoft Visual Studio didn't get stuck. Sometimes when we are writing code, we open too many tabs and modules, and it gets stuck."

"You need a lot of RAM to run the applications with Visual Studio and Unity."

"Long installation or upgrade times are sometimes a problem."

"It would be nice if Visual Studio's extensions and updates could self-correct, if they are not working or disabled, and also inform the user."

"The solution could be improved by including an axle intelligence for tech suggestions and suggesting the dependencies between API."

More Microsoft Visual Studio cons

"Overall, it's not the best solution in terms of stability."

"The solution does not need any additional features."

"The search function should improve in the solution."

"SharePoint is too complex to install and maintain."

"The record management and digital signature sides need improvement because we still need to rely on other third-party tools."

"The search capabilities need to be improved."

"SharePoint Designer doesn't support the features that are available in the latest version of SharePoint Online."

"SharePoint does not have enough resources to cover the security part."

More SharePoint Designer [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We purchased an expensive enterprise version of Microsoft Visual Studio."

"I'm using the platform's open-source version."

"The cost of using Microsoft Visual Studio monthly is approximately $300."

"While the enterprise version can be relatively expensive due to its comprehensive features, I find the license I currently possess to be reasonable, considering it includes the full suite without additional activations or charges."

"The cost of using Microsoft Visual Studio is approximately $1,700 per user."

"I am using the free version of Microsoft Visual Studio."

"The price of Microsoft Visual Studio is approximately $400 annually."

"I am working with the open-source community version, which is free."

More Microsoft Visual Studio pricing and cost advice

"We are using an enterprise SharePoint Designer license."

"This solution is free of charge."

"SharePoint Designer is less expensive than other solutions we have used. We purchased Office 365 which SharePoint comes with the package."

"It is a free solution that does not require a license."

"The cost of the solution is based on multiple factors such as the number of users, and any customization that may be required."

"SharePoint Designer is a free product. It's SharePoint that needs a license, not SharePoint Designer."

"The price is reasonable."

"SharePoint Online has a subscription-based model for payments and the price is based on user usage."

More SharePoint Designer [EOL] pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

24%

Construction Company

Marketing Services Firm

Financial Services Firm

19%

Construction Company

15%

Outsourcing Company

13%

Marketing Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	36
Midsize Enterprise	20
Large Enterprise	53

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	21

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Visual Studio?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that since we install it directly from downloads, the cost is minimal. If we have a Microsoft Visual Studio enterprise license, I'm not sure...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Visual Studio?

Microsoft Visual Studio has done enough from my perspective. I am not a core developer, so I just use the basic tools that I need for basic things. A core developer would easily see additional thin...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Visual Studio?

I use Microsoft Visual Studio to automate some processes within the establishment.

See all answers

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Compared 24% of the time

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Compared 24% of the time

More SharePoint Designer [EOL] Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Visual Studio

September 2026

Download Microsoft Visual Studio product report

Buyer's Guide

SharePoint Designer [EOL]

August 2026

Download SharePoint Designer [EOL] product report

Also Known As

MS Visual Studio

No data available

Overview

Microsoft Visual Studio is a comprehensive platform for coding and app development, integrating tools for multiple languages like .NET, C#, Python, and JavaScript. Known for its debugging, IntelliSense, and Azure/Git integration, it enhances both cloud and local project workflows.

Developers turn to Microsoft Visual Studio for its diverse capabilities in building web, mobile, and cloud solutions. Its robust tools offer rich debugging and code navigation, supported by a user-friendly interface and seamless Azure/Git connectivity. Despite a powerful feature set, users suggest areas for performance, usability, and third-party integration improvements. The platform is designed to support both large-scale and small team development through Live Share and a flexible plugin ecosystem.

What are the key features of Microsoft Visual Studio?

Debugger: Offers powerful error resolution tools for efficient coding.
IntelliSense: Provides smart autocomplete to enhance coding speed and accuracy.
Code Navigation: Facilitates easy exploration of large codebases.
Multi-language Support: Accommodates .NET, C#, Python, JavaScript, and more.
Azure/Git Integration: Simplifies cloud deployment and version control.
Live Share: Enables real-time collaboration among developers.

What benefits should users consider in Microsoft Visual Studio?

Versatility: Supports a wide range of project types and languages.
Performance: Designed for efficient operation in development tasks.
Collaboration: Live Share facilitates teamwork and project management.
Deployment: Offers streamlined processes for both cloud and local apps.
Development Efficiency: Tools improve coding, testing, and prototyping speeds.

Microsoft Visual Studio is widely implemented in industries needing diverse app development such as finance, healthcare, and technology. With tools that suit both cloud services and on-premises applications, it caters to web, mobile, and integrated service demands, enabling cohesive development and operations strategies.

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

September 2026

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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.