Alternatives to Microsoft Visual Studio for all platforms with any license

  • Visual Studio Code

    Code combines the streamlined UI of a modern editor with rich code assistance and navigation, and an integrated debugging experience – without the need for a full IDE.

    • Visual Studio Code is a text editor based on electron.js just like Atom. Guest • Jul 2018 • 21 agrees and 6 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • VSC is a text editor and not a solid IDE Guest • Mar 2019 • 6 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • It's maybe not as capable as the real VS. But it's still a great environment and with a couple of extensions it can do a lot of things VS can. Ola • May 2019 Disagree   Agree
    • Visual Studio is an IDE. VS Code is a text editor. A text editor is a component of an IDE, not a full-blown replacement Guest • May 2019 Disagree   Agree
    • Visual studio is a full IDE. Visual studio code is a text editor program. Guest • May 2019 Disagree   Agree
    • Visual Studio is a massive work horse. VS code is simpler, lighter and more nimble with major focus on editing your code. It's plugin system allows you to add just the right enough horsepower to get the job done without overkill. Guest • Sep 2018 • 3 agrees and 3 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Still powerful tool with so much smaller size. Guest • Apr 2017 • 7 agrees and 7 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Visual studio code is a text editor Guest • Mar 2017 • 11 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Chrome OS Electron / Atom Shell

    Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Lightweight Built-in Terminal Syntax Highlighting ... Autocompletion Customizable GIT support Intellisense Code completion IDE Support for Javascript Multiple cursors Night mode/Dark Theme Bugs C# Scripting Code formatting Code navigation Color coding of code Electron based Embedded debugger Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Git integration MarkDown support Mercurial support Minimap PHP IDE Run Android Apps on Desktop Support for NodeJS Version and Source control Add a feature

    Visual Studio Code icon

  • Eclipse

    Eclipse is an extensible development platform with runtimes and application frameworks for building, deploying and managing software across the entire software...

    • Eclipse supports multiple languages, looks good too Guest • Dec 2018 • 3 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • One is for Java and the other is for C# Guest • Jul 2016 • 2 agrees and 14 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux

    Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Refactoring Autocompletion Collaborative Workspaces ... IDE Java IDE Rich Client Platform SCM Integration Support for Themes Add a feature

    Eclipse icon

  • Atom

    A hackable text editor for the 21st Century. At GitHub, we're building the text editor we've always wanted. A tool you can customize to do anything, but also...

    • Atom is a text editor. Albeit an extensible one it is not primarily an IDE like Visual Studio and would need a lot of tweaking to even get close. Guest • May 2018 • 13 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Atom is a text editor, and lacks nearly all of the features required to be considered an IDE. While there are extensions available to make Atom behave similar to an IDE, they are unable to come close to replicating the features needed for effective development. Comparing Visual Studio to Atom is like comparing a motorcycle to a tricycle with a motor taped to one of the wheels. Guest • Feb 2018 • 19 agrees and 3 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Not enough debug and run options; just a text editor Guest • 13 days ago Disagree   Agree
    • Atom has not got any solid debugging features (and packages) out of the box or at all. For example, it is not possible to debug ASP .NET MVC applications (IIS) without heavy digging and writing own package to do this. Atom.io is not an IDE. Features of atom-ide-* packages are too poor in comparison with Visual Studio. Unable to build C# projects makes Atom absolutely inappropriate for tasks Visual Studio (well, too slow, but) does. Guest • Nov 2017 • 17 agrees and 3 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Atom is a text editor. VS is an IDE Guest • Apr 2019 Disagree   Agree
    • it's good because it has good design and it's powerful Guest • Jan 2019 • 0 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • VS is a specialized, full-scale IDE. Atom is (as defined) a "hackable text editor". Now, how similar are these?? Guest • Aug 2018 • 2 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Free of charge. Support for numerous languages. Tons of packages for adding features like running scripts. AdrianSoMC • Sep 2017 • 2 agrees and 4 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD Electron / Atom Shell

    Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Customizable Support for Themes Package Control ... Community based GIT support Teletype Autocompletion Clean design Code completion Collaborative writing Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Folder Hierarchy Fuzzy Finder GitHub integration Gitlab integration Hackable IDE Interior Design Live collaboration Minimap Modular System Multiple languages Multiple cursors Distraction-free UI Package Manager Plugin API Plugin manager Real time collaboration Separated workspaces Support for NodeJS Syntax Highlighting Tabbed interface Unit Testing Add a feature

    Atom icon

  • NetBeans

    A free, open-source Integrated Development Environment for software developers. You get all the tools you need to create professional desktop, enterprise, web, and...

    • NetBeans is an IDE, but it doesn't work for .NET languages so it's hard to call it a viable alternative. bigbear • Jan 2019 • 1 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Free and Open Source Software. Changing leadership from Oracle to Apache Foundation. brandomettout • Jun 2017 • 2 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • It's for MS-Windows, MacOSX and Linux too! You can make projects independent of the OS. Guest • Feb 2017 • 1 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD

    Java IDE Built-in Terminal Code completion IDE ... Automatic Indentation Compiled Language Embedded debugger Support for FTP GIT support IDE Ide integration PHP IDE Source code history Support for SVN Syntax Highlighting Page refresh Add a feature

    NetBeans icon

  • MonoDevelop

    MonoDevelop enables developers to write desktop and web applications on Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. It also makes it easy to port .NET applications created with Visual...

    • I've used MonoDevelop extensively for C# work in Linux. It can work with Visual Studio projects, and much of the shortcut key mappings match Visual Studio. Support for WinForms is available, but there is no viable GUI layout tool/functionality available. A pity that there's no XAML/WPF support under Linux.... Guest • Oct 2017 • 3 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • It is specifically for C# like Visual Studio is mostly used for Guest • Nov 2016 • 8 agrees and 4 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Xamarin Studio

    Code completion Intellisense Nuget Syntax Highlighting ... Visual Programming Add a feature

    MonoDevelop icon

  • IntelliJ IDEA

    IntelliJ IDEA is a free / commercial Java IDE by JetBrains. Its design is centered on programmer productivity. A number of its features are intended to accelerate...

    • This is only designed for Java not .net. Guest • Jan 2018 • 4 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Freemium $ $ $ Open Source Mac Windows Linux

    Code completion Java IDE Auto Correction Built-in Terminal ... IDE Night mode/Dark Theme Static analysis Version and Source control WYSIWYG Support Add a feature

    IntelliJ IDEA icon

  • Qt Creator

    Qt Creator is a cross-platform C++, JavaScript and QML integrated development environment which is part of the SDK for the Qt...

    • Does not support C# as they believe "it is not widely used enough" pfft ichimitch • Mar 2019 Disagree   Agree
    • Found everything in Qt Creator for Linux that is in VS for Windows. Guest • Jan 2017 • 1 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • At first, intelligent search ib QtCreator is much better than the Microsoft's IntelliSens. Hot keys combinations are more simple and more intuitive. It looks for me more simple and intuitively clear at all. Guest • Dec 2016 • 3 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • For C++ development, QT Creator is a lot less bloated. It is fast and has all the necessary features. There is just too much unnecessary crap in VisualStudio making it slow as hell when running on a slightly older machine and also takes up gigs of disk space. Guest • Jun 2016 • 4 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Commercial $ $ $ Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD

    Autocompletion Code formatting IDE QT Based ... Refactoring Syntax Highlighting Add a feature

    Qt Creator icon

  • Android Studio

    Android Studio is a new Android development environment based on IntelliJ IDEA. Similar to Eclipse with the ADT Plugin, Android Studio provides integrated Android...

    • This is Best app for android developing Guest • May 2018 Disagree   Agree
    • Android Studio is a Java IDE specifically designed for making android apps while Visual Studio is a full .NET IDE with many platforms available. Guest • Feb 2018 • 0 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Android Studio can only edit/create applcations for Android which is an Mobile Operating System developed by Google but you cannot edit VB.net or C# on Android Studio like you can on Visual Studio. SecurityChecker • Jun 2017 • 2 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Android studio only edits programs for Android (Java language), while Visual studio has a lot of language support built-in Guest • Sep 2016 • 12 agrees and 6 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • For specific Android deployment, the native IDE is the best. Guest • Jul 2017 • 1 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Chrome OS

    Code completion IDE Integrated Android Emulator Java IDE ... Visual Programming Xterm emulation Add a feature

    Android Studio icon

  • SharpDevelop

    #develop (short for SharpDevelop) is a free IDE for C#, VB.NET and Boo projects on Microsoft's .NET platform. It is open-source, and you can download both sourcecode...

    • Only to a certain extent. Lacking many features and is no longer updated. Guest • Nov 2018 • 1 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • It's small, lightweight, specialized on .NET development (but C++ is available too), supports designing both WinForms and WPF and has NuGet support. Perfect IDE for lightweight C# developing (if you don't need to handle a team of 10000 employees working on 5 big projects) lordunknown • Sep 2017 • 3 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • It's very similar to it and size is very low! { Visual Studio - up to 3 GB / sharp Develop - Only Up to 15 MB in size } Guest • Oct 2016 • 4 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • free and lightweight for commercial use Guest • Aug 2017 Disagree   Agree
    • N0 messy azure , no complex licensing Guest • Aug 2017 Disagree   Agree
    • Very similar IDE for C# and VB.NET. Guest • Feb 2017 Disagree   Agree

    Free Open Source Windows .NET Framework

    C# Scripting GUI Designer Nuget Add a feature

    SharpDevelop icon

  • Komodo Edit

    Komodo Edit is a fast, smart, free and open-source code editor. Switching your trusty code editor is hard, but give Komodo Edit (or its big brother...

    Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux

    No features added Add a feature

    Komodo Edit icon

  • Lazarus

    Lazarus is a cross-platform IDE for the Free Pascal compiler. It tries to offer a Delphi-like programming experience through its own 'Lazarus Component Library'...

    • Open Source done entirely in an independent language very like TurboPascal (Delphi). Guest • Nov 2016 • 1 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD OpenSolaris

    Compiles to native assembly code IDE Object-oriented Language Add a feature

    Lazarus icon

Platforms

Desktop

Mobile

Tablet

Show 20 less popular platforms

License

Microsoft Visual Studio Comments

Comment by evan
about Microsoft Visual Studio · Jun 2011 · Helpful Not helpful 3 Helpful Report as spam

I wish it didn't install so much extra unnecessary crap. This app definitely suffers from a serious bloat issue. Other than that, it's great to work with.

reply

Comment by Guest
about Microsoft Visual Studio · May 2017 · 1 Helpful Report as spam

Supports wide range of languages. Useful extra extensions. Fast build times. Nice debugging options (JIT, Editable on run, etc.). Much customizable options

reply

Comment by melnikov_sergey
about Microsoft Visual Studio · Feb 2019 · Helpful Not helpful Report as spam

Working horse. It just do what it supposed to do.

reply

Comment by Horizon
about Microsoft Visual Studio · Oct 2018 · Helpful Not helpful Report as spam

It's a seriously bloated program which will hopefully one day be superseded by Visual Studio Code. However, Visual Studio is still perhaps the best IDE.

Another big benefit is any developer who develops with C# is guaranteed to be using VS. This makes it much easier for teams to collaborate

reply

5/10

Comment by RemovedUser
about Microsoft Visual Studio and GNU Compiler Collection · Jan 2014 · Helpful Not helpful Report as spam

Maybe a powerful IDE, but it's too bloated without an option to opt out of the bloat, and obviously it doesn't support GCC and thus you're stuck with MSVC, which means C89 and only a small subset of the features of C++11.

reply

Comment by icarus1633
about Microsoft Visual Studio · Jun 2011 · Helpful Not helpful Report as spam

It keeps bugging you just like the paid version, read my comment on MSvs and you'll know what i'm talking about.

reply

Comment by icarus1633
about Microsoft Visual Studio · Jun 2011 · Helpful Not helpful Report as spam

It is a good one, but still has microsoft damned policies, you pay for it but it has not php mysql support, so you have to pay for a third party extension. it has a buddy debugger that really bugs you, yeah thats right, even when you uninstall it it still keeps bugging you. I don't know what it wants from your life but there it is until you change your windows, thats what i ended up with it, i search too many blogs and forums but there was no solutions to solve my buggy thingy.

reply