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

4,993 Views
4,993 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]

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

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

Buyer's Guide

.NET Development Services

October 2026

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Helped 920,769 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

Uchechi-Sylvanus

Head Of IT at Cedric Masters Ltd

Long-term use has streamlined automation and cloud deployment for organizational workflows

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 things that could be done. I am satisfied with what is currently available. I am using the community version of Microsoft Visual Studio, so I would not be in the right position to tell whether it is very expensive. However, I feel the pricing can be lower for small to medium enterprises to afford it. Many smaller organizations still leverage the community version. The cost can be made more affordable for these businesses.

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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.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution includes a debug function that I can breakpoint to easily detect what is wrong with my applications."

"We like Visual Studio because you can choose the different types of languages, like JavaScript, and I think it's better than the other solutions I used."

"Microsoft Visual Studio is a very robust application where I can debug quickly and resolve issues efficiently with specific solutions designed for strong debugging."

"My advice for anybody who is considering using Visual Studio is that it is a complete package that contains everything you need for .NET code development."

"The versatility and platform coverage of Microsoft Visual Studio make it a standard and stable product across Linux, Windows, and Mac, providing countless features, being lightweight, and offering extensive extensions coverage as a one-stop shop no matter the platform or language I use."

"It is a stable solution."

"We have no issues with scaling."

"It supports different types of software development for websites, web apps, mobile apps, computer programs, or any other web services."

More Microsoft Visual Studio pros

"The most valuable part of the solution is its ability to allow for a high degree of customization."

"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."

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

"SharePoint Designer has made information available centrally 24/7."

"SharePoint is not only a document management system, but it also handles content management systems, workflow automation, process automation, and more."

"Retrieving documents and uploading them is easy."

"We appreciate the fact that this solution can provide us with an on-premises version, as due to our geographical location, we are not able to use cloud-based tools."

"As an enterprise, I'd say it is completely worth the money."

More SharePoint Designer [EOL] pros

Cons

"In the next version I would like to see a better development tool."

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

"Refactoring in Microsoft Visual Studio could be further optimized."

"They could add new modules to the platform for enhanced functioning."

"I would like to see more on-premise tips and tools along with development time so that I don't need to go to a third-party site."

"Microsoft Visual Studio needs to improve integration."

"The support from Microsoft is not the best, but it is above average."

"I would rate Microsoft Visual Studio a seven out of ten. I rate it a seven because you can't use it on all platforms."

More Microsoft Visual Studio cons

"The scalability is a little bit complex. We do have a lot of issues with scalability."

"The pain point of SharePoint Designer is sometimes it gives you issues that can be resolved mostly by clearing the cache, but Microsoft should still work on it and make the product more stable. Another issue related to SharePoint Designer is that with the newer SharePoint versions, Microsoft hasn't released a newer version of SharePoint Designer. Instead, Microsoft is recommending that you use the same old SharePoint Designer 2013. If Microsoft updates SharePoint Designer, the product will be more beneficial."

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

"SharePoint Designer could improve most in analytics and reporting."

"SharePoint Designer could be improved by being more user-friendly. I think that they have a new release, but the focus is on Power Automate, not Designer. Designer's interface is somewhat classical, but it should be more user-friendly."

"Microsoft could include more applications in this. And if more applications are included, then it can be scalable that way."

"Unfortunately Microsoft announced a few years ago that the last update for SharePoint Designer was released on August 2, 2016 and that Microsoft Flow will be the workflow designer and engine going forward."

"We would like to see an improvement in the stability and overall consistency of performance in this solution."

More SharePoint Designer [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"The license is taken care of by my company and the price could be less expensive."

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

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

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

"Our purchasing department pays a fair price for it."

"We have an enterprise-level license. The cost is expensive for small to medium-sized organizations."

More Microsoft Visual Studio pricing and cost advice

"Priced per user per month with different plans to choose from."

"I've never paid for SharePoint Designer. What I paid for, is the SharePoint license, the cava, and then the client accesses the line fee."

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

"The entire package is expensive. There is no extra cost in addition to the standard license."

"The tool's pricing is cheap."

"The price is reasonable."

"The cost of the license is based on the size of the user base."

"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."

More SharePoint Designer [EOL] pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

21%

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

18%

Construction Company

14%

Outsourcing Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

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...

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What needs improvement with Microsoft Visual Studio?

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 22% of the time

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Compared 22% of the time

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Compared 12% of the time

More SharePoint Designer [EOL] Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Visual Studio

October 2026

Download Microsoft Visual Studio product report

Buyer's Guide

SharePoint Designer [EOL]

October 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

October 2026

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