No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Microsoft Visual Studio vs Zend Studio comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
103
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zend Studio
Ranking in .NET Development Services
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the .NET Development Services category, the mindshare of Microsoft Visual Studio is 17.8%, up from 12.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zend Studio is 8.6%, up from 5.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
.NET Development Services Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Visual Studio17.8%
Zend Studio8.6%
Other73.6%
.NET Development Services
 

Featured Reviews

Uchechi-Sylvanus - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
marketacumen - PeerSpot reviewer
President at Market Acumen, Inc.
It has higher quality code, faster debugging, and higher quality projects
* Stability is sometimes lacking in updates. * Search/replace across multiple files is not ideal. * The debugger often has problems determining where to map files to local projects, as well as setting breakpoints, which often are ignored depending on your configuration. * The product requires a subscription to Zend Server Developer, which used to be free and now has an annual fee, but it is still worth the money.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has perfect integration into Microsoft; it goes straight to Azure, and it is massive."
"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."
"We have no issues with scaling."
"I like the IDE or the integrated development environment. It's the best IDE."
"The most valuable feature is that it is a complete package, with an IDE and everything that you need for software development."
"Microsoft Visual Studio is a very robust application where I can debug quickly and resolve issues efficiently with specific solutions designed for strong debugging."
"Visual Studio's collaborative features with Azure DevOps are valuable to us, as they allow various team members to collaborate on the same project, maintain consistency, and deliver products that fulfill client promises."
"It is also flexible enough to let me use Git as well as its own version control mechanism."
"Generally, it has higher quality code, faster debugging, and higher quality projects."
"It has the ability to jump to any file in your project with a few keystrokes, as well as the ability to command-click on any token in your code and have it jump to the token's definition."
 

Cons

"Technical support needs to be improved. Right now, it's not great."
"The software has become larger than before, requiring a powerful desktop or notebook to run Microsoft Visual Studio."
"The initial setup could be more straightforward."
"When Microsoft shifted their service to regions like China and India, the support team there was not professional and lacked adequate knowledge."
"The stability of Microsoft Visual Studio could improve. There are times it hangs or stops working and I have to restart the program."
"I would like to see support for rapid application development. For example, if I am developing a new project, I am repeating many similar steps again and again and again. But the platform could do this easily, instead of me. It would save me time. This is something I would like to have in Microsoft Visual Studio, to have it take over repetitive tasks from me."
"The GUI of Microsoft Visual Studio could improve."
"A kind of tutorial page should be embedded in the software to enable first-time users learn more without the help of an expert."
"Stability is sometimes lacking in updates."
"The debugger often has problems determining where to map files to local projects."
"Most recent set of patches (2018) on Mac OS X caused the app to crash when you would cut more than 10 lines of code. Apparently, this was due to a bug in Eclipse, but regardless, it took several months for Zend to post a patch."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We purchased an expensive enterprise version of Microsoft Visual Studio."
"Microsoft Visual Studio is free. It's freeware, so you don't have to pay for its license."
"Licensing costs are reasonable."
"Microsoft Visual Studio is a free product."
"Visual Studio Team System is expensive, but it is worth the money."
"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."
"You may have to purchase more hardware utilities like processors or RAM."
"The development license for Microsoft Visual Studio is free. I don't know if there's a licensing cost to it."
"Licensing is reasonable for this type of tool. Although, you can cobble together a solution which is zero cost."
"The product requires a subscription to Zend Server Developer, which used to be free and now has an annual fee, but it is still worth the money."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which .NET Development Services solutions are best for your needs.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
21%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business36
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise53
No data available
 

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...
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...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Visual Studio?
I use Microsoft Visual Studio to automate some processes within the establishment.
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

MS Visual Studio
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Knab, Hamburg Port Authority, Kecioren Municipality, National Instruments, Hamburg Port Authority, Government of Odisha, Kongsberg Maritime AS
CDS Global, EnglishCentral, BNP Paribas, Carlo Gavazzi, Sunstate Equipment, Novadex GmbH, CONFTEC, Marilan, Mediaspike, Cisco WebEx, Corvette America, Value Drug Mart Associates Ltd., Allied Beverage Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Zend, Harman and others in .NET Development Services. Updated: October 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.