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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, 95% 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 92 Microsoft Visual Studio reviews
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  • 823 Comparison Views
95% 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.

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.NET Development Services
September 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
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
92
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
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
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

"What we like about Microsoft Visual Studio is that it's a comprehensive tool. It has features that work for different plans and it has a wide variety of use cases. It's also a powerful tool and it's quite efficient."
"The initial setup was very easy."
"I was testing how to publish in a cloud using Azure and it was very easy."
"It is a straightforward solution to set up."
"It is definitely sophisticated and provides many out-of-the-box features. Going community has boosted all that."
"The most valuable features are the extensions."
"The most valuable feature is the integration with different databases."
"Visual Studio's best feature is debugging, which isn't available with any other Microsoft development tool."
More Microsoft Visual Studio pros
"I find the document management and search of SharePoint the most valuable features."
"The feature I find most valuable, is the workflow of the product."
"The product is very user-friendly."
"The technical support from Microsoft is very good."
"The most valuable aspects of the solution are the user-friendly interface and easy workflow."
"I would rate the solution's stability a nine out of ten."
"The new version doesn't have the option to view data, but it has other, better features though."
"One of the most valuable features is that it's free. If you have SharePoint and you want to do some branding, then the only tool available is SharePoint Designer. Microsoft gives the portal, the content management system, and, on top of that, it gives you Designer. So we don't have a choice, but Designer is good."
More SharePoint Designer [EOL] pros
 

Cons

"Microsoft Visual Studio can improve memory management, and packaging and reporting components."
"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."
"Sometimes, the deprecation of packages can be a challenge."
"Microsoft Visual Studio could improve by being compatible with more operating systems. However, we understand the solution is proprietary to Microsoft."
"The solution must provide user-friendly features."
"There is room for improvement in the price of the solution overall."
"I would not recommend it for complex tasks."
"The reporting services are quite limited in terms of features and need to be improved."
More Microsoft Visual Studio cons
"I want the tool to be more approachable to people. I would like to see AI integration with the tool's future versions."
"SharePoint Designer could improve most in analytics and reporting."
"The system can become slow which should be improved."
"SharePoint is too complex to install and maintain."
"SharePoint Online should continue to integrate with other solutions."
"Adding guest users is a bit difficult on SharePoint."
"The search capabilities need to be improved."
"SharePoint Designer needs filter options for lists and libraries."
More SharePoint Designer [EOL] cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Microsoft Visual Studio is approximately $400 annually."
"The solution is expensive."
"I'm using the platform's open-source version."
"Visual Studio Team System is expensive, but it is worth the money."
"We purchased an expensive enterprise version of Microsoft Visual Studio."
"The cost of using Microsoft Visual Studio is approximately $1,700 per user."
"I use Microsoft Visual Studio's free version."
"I am working with the open-source community version, which is free."
More Microsoft Visual Studio pricing and cost advice
"It is a free solution that does not require a license."
"This solution is free of charge."
"SharePoint Designer's pricing is okay."
"The tool is free of cost."
"The cost of the solution is based on multiple factors such as the number of users, and any customization that may be required."
"The pricing is fair."
"There is no licensing cost for Designer—it's free."
"SharePoint Designer is a free product. It's SharePoint that needs a license, not SharePoint Designer."
More SharePoint Designer [EOL] pricing and cost advice
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Performing Arts
15%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business33
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise43
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise21
 

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?
Based on my experience and my colleagues' feedback, I believe a potential area of improvement for Microsoft Visual Studio could be incorporating more AI, as it makes things easier for us, and havin...
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
September 2025
Microsoft Visual Studio reportDownload Microsoft Visual Studio product report
Buyer's Guide
SharePoint Designer [EOL]
September 2025
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
September 2025
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