It's up to the client or the software we are using. I use VB .NET or C# sometimes.
Handles tasks well, helps simplify tasks, and can scale
Pros and Cons
- "It's pretty prevalent."
- "You can get two tables, child and parents tables, and you can handle tasks such as invoicing, receipts, et cetera; I like to have the results on hand fast, it's making my life easy, and many firms can use it."
- "We'd like the solution to be more secure."
- "We'd like the solution to be more secure."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
You can get two tables, child and parents tables, and you can handle tasks such as invoicing, receipts, et cetera. I like to have the results on hand fast. It's making my life easy.
Many firms can use it. It's pretty prevalent.
I like the copy-paste all capabilities.
The stability is okay.
You can expand usage if you would like to.
What needs improvement?
I had to use VB .NET in place of using C# immediately with the child and parent table.
Generally, the solution works well and I haven't really had issues with it.
We'd like the solution to be more secure.
The installation can take a long time.
We'd like the solution to be more stable.
Technical support does not respond quickly.
The ability to scale can be difficult.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for 15 years.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is mostly stable. It's rate it six or seven out of ten. It could be better.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution can scale, however, it's not straightforward. Sometimes it's very confusing in terms of what you need to do to make it happen.
We have three users on the solution right now.
We do plan to increase usage in the future.
How are customer service and support?
We are in Lebanon and we had to wait for Microsoft to reply to us. We used it two years ago, however, and they were responding fairly well.
They could be faster.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I started with VB Access and Visual FoxPro.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is pretty hard to set up.
It took too long to install it. We also needed the new hard discs. It's very big. It's not a light application. It's about 25GBs.
The deployment took about two hours.
What about the implementation team?
We handled the installation ourselves without ht need of integrators or consultants.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I can't speak to the exact cost of the solution. It's not an aspect that I deal with.
What other advice do I have?
I'd recommend the solution to others.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Soft Engineer at SECP
A solution that is easy to access all the basic templates for development but may be cost prohibitive for smaller organizations
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of Microsoft Visual Studio is how easy it is to access all the basic templates for development. There are so many features you get with Visual Studio that it's really helpful for the deployment, the development, and the intelligence behind it."
- "The most valuable feature of Microsoft Visual Studio is how easy it is to access all the basic templates for development."
- "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."
- "For small to medium-sized organizations, the licensing for Visual Studio may be too expensive."
What is our primary use case?
We use Microsoft Visual Studio for development.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of Microsoft Visual Studio is how easy it is to access all the basic templates for development. There are so many features you get with Visual Studio that it's really helpful for the deployment, the development, and the intelligence behind it.
What needs improvement?
The product and its features have come a long way over the years. There are so many features available that you can't use them all. 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. It would be better if Microsoft Visual Studio familiarized me with all the updates and new feature sets. Help tips would be really helpful.
I would like to see a design preview feature. In the 2013 version and partially in the 2015 version, there was a design screen within Visual Studio. Now, you can't really see the design elements during development without deploying the whole design template. The design preview would be beneficial in future updates.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. It has not crashed.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Visual Studio is scalable enough for us. Teams work on it and can collaborate on their work. The number of users depends on the strength of the team and the requirements of the project.
How are customer service and support?
The support for Microsoft Visual Studio is good. All the templates for different types of development like Windows, APIs, and Angular development are all supported.
Other than the Microsoft line-up, you can work on the open source languages as well. They support open source languages like Angular and Node.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously we worked with different IDEs. We use Visual Studio in parallel with VS Code in parallel with Atom. We also work with Eclipse.
I prefer Visual Studio because I am also working with Microsoft Teams.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Visual Studio is straightforward for anyone familiar with the solution. Newer users will experience a learning curve, but it is not because of the GUI, the user experience is good.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We have an enterprise-level license. The cost is expensive for small to medium-sized organizations.
What other advice do I have?
Microsoft Visual Studio is an excellent IDE, but the features are more of VS Code. For small to medium-sized organizations, the licensing for Visual Studio may be too expensive. It is really suited for companies that work on the cloud, or have large teams working on Microsoft Stack. Many open-source tools provide similar feature sets.
On the other hand, you will find Visual Studio more user-friendly than open source. It has a better GUI and is more plug-and-drop compared to other IDEs.
It is also a personal preference. If you are comfortable with command terms, then Visual Studio provides that. If you require a TFS repository, you do need Visual Studio as an IDE, as they are really tightly coupled and easy to do all your CI/CD. Lastly, if you use a version control other than TFS, then you may prefer a different IDE, like VS Code or an open-source IDE.
The main factor is going to come down to cost.
I would rate Microsoft Visual Studio an eight out of ten overall.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Microsoft Visual Studio
March 2026
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Visual Studio. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
885,264 professionals have used our research since 2012.
CEO at Konus
Useful, easy to set up, and quick to deploy, but its user interface needs improvement
Pros and Cons
- "What I like the most about Microsoft Visual Studio is that it's useful. It's also a very stable solution, and is scalable as well. It's quick to set up as it only took me a few seconds to do it."
- "What I like the most about Microsoft Visual Studio is that it's useful, it's also a very stable solution and is scalable as well, and it's quick to set up as it only took me a few seconds to do it."
- "What I don't like about Microsoft Visual Studio is its user interface. It could be better. WebStorm is a better solution for me as it has a good user interface and is more user-friendly, though my friends like Microsoft Visual Studio. I worked with WebStorm for the web layer, and for the server layer, I worked with IBM Eclipse which is my favorite software. I also dealt with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS through Angular."
- "What I don't like about Microsoft Visual Studio is its user interface. It could be better."
What is our primary use case?
I use Microsoft Visual Studio to develop software.
What is most valuable?
What I like the most about Microsoft Visual Studio is that it's useful. It's also a very stable solution, and is scalable as well. It's quick to set up as it only took me a few seconds to do it.
What needs improvement?
What I don't like about Microsoft Visual Studio is its user interface. It could be better. WebStorm is a better solution for me as it has a good user interface and is more user-friendly, though my friends like Microsoft Visual Studio. I worked with WebStorm for the web layer, and for the server layer, I worked with IBM Eclipse which is my favorite software. I also dealt with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS through Angular.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Microsoft Visual Studio for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Visual Studio is a very stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Visual Studio is a scalable solution.
How are customer service and support?
We use the internet, for example, YouTube sites to solve issues about Microsoft Visual Studio. We don't contact their support team.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup for Microsoft Visual Studio wasn't complex. It was very easy. The process was easy to understand. It only took me five seconds to deploy Microsoft Visual Studio.
What about the implementation team?
I implemented Microsoft Visual Studio myself. You can do it in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft Visual Studio is free. It's freeware, so you don't have to pay for its license.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I evaluated WebStorm, IBM Eclipse, and Angular.
What other advice do I have?
In my company, three users work with Microsoft Visual Studio.
I would recommend WebStorm to others, rather than Microsoft Visual Studio.
My rating for Microsoft Visual Studio is six out of ten, though my friends would probably rate the solution a ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Enterprise Architect - Integrations at BCA
Comprehensive and has features that work for different plans; powerful and efficient
Pros and Cons
- "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."
- "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 UI could be better, and development could be easier on Microsoft Visual Studio if there were more features like drag and drop and more frameworks, etc."
- "The UI could be better, and development could be easier on Microsoft Visual Studio if there were more features like drag and drop and more frameworks, etc."
What is our primary use case?
We use Microsoft Visual Studio for various builds such as building our .NET applications, and in some cases, we use it for design, and for building specifications.
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
There's always room for improvement in any product, and in Microsoft Visual Studio, it can be spread into other areas of development and design. It's pretty much Microsoft-oriented at the moment. It can be spread into other open source or open source-based developments. That's why I gave it a rating of eight. There's always room for improvement, for example, the UI could be better, and development could be easier on Microsoft Visual Studio if there were more features like drag and drop and more frameworks, etc.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using Microsoft Visual Studio for the past three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Visual Studio is a stable tool. It has improved in terms of stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In terms of scalability, I don't know if scalability applies to Microsoft Visual Studio, to be honest.
How are customer service and support?
We never required technical support from Microsoft Visual Studio because it's a straightforward tool. Online help is great, for example, the community support and forums are all good and widely used.
How was the initial setup?
Microsoft Visual Studio has improved a lot over the years, and setting it up is quite straightforward now.
How fast the tool is deployed depends on project to project, but usually deployment is quite efficient and fast. We usually take on average fifteen days to build a feature and deploy it in DevOps.
What about the implementation team?
We both have an in-house team and partners that take care of the implementation of Microsoft Visual Studio.
What was our ROI?
I've seen ROI from Microsoft Visual Studio.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The development license for Microsoft Visual Studio is free. I don't know if there's a licensing cost to it.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Eclipse and also used other tools, but Microsoft Visual Studio is good.
What other advice do I have?
My company has been using Microsoft Visual Studio for development purposes, particularly Microsoft Visual Studio for .NET development.
I would highly recommend Microsoft Visual Studio to others looking into implementing it. I would also advise that it has some learning curve to use, in particular, people need the technical skill to use the tool properly.
My rating for Microsoft Visual Studio is eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Consultant at ATOS
Easy setup with good interface and lots of languages
Pros and Cons
- "The product integrates well with Azure Cloud, and it supports a ton of languages."
- "The product integrates well with Azure Cloud, and it supports a ton of languages."
- "It has a ton of options and that sometimes can become very, very overwhelming for a new person, a new developer."
- "A ton of time is just spent trying to keep ourselves up with the frequent releases that Microsoft rolls out."
What is most valuable?
The product integrates well with Azure Cloud, and it supports a ton of languages.
It also has a very good interface for Git source code management. Then there are a couple of add-ins or plug-ins that are out there in the marketplace that sometimes come in handy. From a developer standpoint, it does a very good job when it comes to debugging. It's a great development tool.
The initial setup was pretty straightforward.
The solution has good technical support.
What needs improvement?
It has a ton of options and that sometimes can become very, very overwhelming for a new person, a new developer. If something can be done around simplifying the product, for example, if there's a way, to just have enough options that are relevant for me, that could probably help.
The upgrade system is a bit complex. If they're upgrading something, then they should not force us to go to the next version. Maybe they should probably just release a fix or something that, and once we implement that fix, it gives us at least a choice that you're good for some time even if you don't want to upgrade.
A ton of time is just spent trying to keep ourselves up with the frequent releases that Microsoft rolls out. That is something that takes away from our productive time that we could have invested that time to enhance your application, and could have worked on additional features or functionalities, however, you end up spending that time just to upgrade your current solution to the next version that they roll out.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for three years, however, my team members have been using it for ten to 12 years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In terms of the stability, the frequent upgrades that they roll out and then they force us to upgrade the solution, upgrade the tool itself, those sometimes can be a nuisance.
Most of the time, I see my team members end up spending a lot of time just upgrading the application to the next .NET framework. Or sometimes even the Microsoft Visual Studio version that gets rolled out and then you just have to do that upgrade. Therefore, the frequent upgrades that happen just don't support the older ones, they just take it off support, which causes a lot of nuisance.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The project that I'm part of is a huge team for sure. We are a team of a couple hundred.
How are customer service and support?
There have been instances in the past where we have reached out to Microsoft.
Support-wise, they're doing a fair job. I don't mind that. Whenever we reach out, we do get help.
How was the initial setup?
It was a pretty easy setup. For us, basically, it comes with some preconfigured settings. The license that we have is a project from our customer. It is fairly straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
We had a third party help us with the initial setup. We did not do it completely by ourselves.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'm not someone who concerns myself with the cost. That said, my understanding is the license cost is a lot. Before customers roll out a license for any developer, they make sure that it is relevant and it's required for the job.
What other advice do I have?
We use the enterprise edition of the product. We're using the latest version.
We're end-users of Visual Studio. We're also using Microsoft Teams as well.
We have a couple of applications running on-prem. The roadmap is to move as much as possible onto Azure.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
BI Development & Validation Manager at JT International SA
Stable solution that facilitates different software development processes
Pros and Cons
- "This solution can integrate with almost any functionality offered by Microsoft."
- "This solution can integrate with almost any functionality offered by Microsoft."
- "The pricing for licenses could be reduced to make this solution more competitive."
- "The pricing for licenses could be reduced to make this solution more competitive."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution to support a number of different web development processes across different tools and languages.
What is most valuable?
This solution can integrate with almost any functionality offered by Microsoft.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using this solution for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing for licenses could be reduced to make this solution more competitive.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Sr. Consultant (Enterprise Architect) at Devoteam
Great support, easy to use, and simple to set up
Pros and Cons
- "It's a very easy-to-use product."
- "It's been a legacy application, it's been working for years and it is already integrated with the cloud, and it's used to provide the support to develop on multiple platforms, whether it is computer devices, web, cloud, or even mobile applications with the same IDE, which is the Visual Studio itself."
- "It would be great if they added some extra support for other languages that are available in the market and prepared it for the, let's say, crypto developers as we are going in the age of cryptocurrency."
- "It would be great if they added some extra support for other languages that are available in the market and prepared it for the, let's say, crypto developers as we are going in the age of cryptocurrency."
What is our primary use case?
It's mainly used for development. Therefore, it's mainly for either developers or IT development companies where they produce products and then sell them.
It's great for when you want to do development, such as on an enterprise-size project that requires a lot of teams also to be working on that project and that It's also good for helping with the workflow of the development in general.
How has it helped my organization?
It's mainly for the organizations that are working on development. First of all, of course, it helps the organization due to the ease of use. It's been a legacy application. It's been working for years and it is already integrated with the cloud.
It's used to provide the support to develop on multiple platforms, whether it is computer devices, web, cloud, or even mobile applications with the same IDE, which is the Visual Studio itself.
What is most valuable?
It's a very easy-to-use product.
The support is great. The community and the documentation support for it are great. Whatever you are missing, you are going to find it at Microsoft help.
It's easy to set up.
The stability is good.
You can scale it well.
What needs improvement?
It would be great if they added some extra support for other languages that are available in the market and prepared it for the, let's say, crypto developers as we are going in the age of cryptocurrency.
If it was more friendly for the simple or starter developer, it would be great. It's friendly anyway, however, it would be better if there was a way to enhance it in a much more usable way as a user-experience type for the new customers or newbies who want to enter the technology.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Microsoft Visual Studio since the early versions of VB6, which is like in 2006 or 2005.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is great. There aren't bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product, since it supports DevOps and is connected to the cloud, is scalable. It can take on many users. It's a per-user installation. It's not a server application. It's a computer-based application.
There is a new version of it. I didn't try it yet, however, it is fully over the cloud where the development happens on the cloud in Azure. Since I didn't try it, I can't comment on that.
How are customer service and support?
The support is great and so is the supporting documentation. You can easily find answers to your questions. We've very satisfied with that.
Usually, whenever I faced an issue in the past, it would take one to two working days maximum to get assistance. If it was on Azure and you've had a problem on Azure with the server, then it's going to take as much as one day, as it's going to be distributed to the team that is responsible for the region that you are opening the ticket from.
How was the initial setup?
The product is so easy to set up. The only thing you do usually with Microsoft Visual Studio is to go to the internet and download the installer for it. Then it will download the required files and everything from the internet for you, and you go through the installation like any normal program.
The length of time it takes to deploy depends on the features. Visual Studio comes with so many features. It depends on if you are going to choose only Windows development or Windows and mobile development and so on. However, it really depends on the features that you are going to require.
It also depends on the internet speed, as each feature requires extra downloads from the internet.
What about the implementation team?
Usually, I deploy it for my team. I started a company also that provides services for IT companies. What we do is, if they want a development environment and they don't have anyone, then we install it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing is per user.
There is also the Community Edition which users can access as a start for a small application. It's for open-source applications. That's where they build out the support for the open-source community.
There are also Professional or Enterprise options. Which would be the best option depends on the capacity and the requirements of the company that is going to use it. The licensing is affordable for companies, not for individuals. It's not for personal usage.
What other advice do I have?
We provide Microsoft products to customers.
We are using the 2019 version. I know that they have been planning or they already did create a new version of it, however, the last one was 2019.
I would rate the solution at a nine ot of ten. There is always room for improvement, however, we've been quite happy with it so far.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Technical Lead at Cellulant Kenya
Can be used to develop applications but needs improvement in integrations
Pros and Cons
- "We use the solution to develop applications."
- "Microsoft Visual Studio needs to improve integration."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution to develop applications.
What needs improvement?
Microsoft Visual Studio needs to improve integration.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the product for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate Microsoft Visual Studio's stability a nine out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
The tool's deployment is straightforward. It takes less than an hour to complete.
What about the implementation team?
I can install the solution by myself.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft Visual Studio is a free product.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft Visual Studio a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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