Microsoft Visual Studio AlternativesOnly Free apps categorised as IDEs
The best free IDE alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio is Visual Studio Code. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Microsoft Visual Studio and loads of them are free IDEs so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free IDE alternatives to Microsoft Visual Studio are Eclipse, VSCodium, Apache NetBeans and Code::Blocks.
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Microsoft Visual Studio alternatives are mainly IDEs but may also be Code Editors or Text Editors. Filter by these or use the filter bar below if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Microsoft Visual Studio.- IDE
- Free Personal • Proprietary
1292 likes212 Visual Studio Code alternativesVisual Studio Code is a free and extensible code editor for building web, desktop, and mobile applications, using any programming language and framework.
License model
- Free • Proprietary
Application types
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Chrome OS
Visual Studio Code VS Microsoft Visual Studio
Is Visual Studio Code a good alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio?
1138 likes162 Eclipse alternativesEclipse is an extensible development platform with runtimes and application frameworks for building, deploying and managing software across the entire software lifecycle. Many people know Eclipse as a Java IDE, but it is much more than that- Eclipse actually consists of over 60...
Top Eclipse Features
Eclipse VS Microsoft Visual Studio
Is Eclipse a good alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio?Comments about Eclipse as an Alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio
maurosoft391hard to use and poorly designed
2Eclipse supports multiple languages, looks good too
8One is for Java and the other is for C#
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323 likes201 VSCodium alternativesThis repository contains a build file to generate FLOSS release binaries of Microsoft's Visual Studio Code - Open Source ("Code - OSS") project, the open source core of the proprietary Visual Studio Code.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Flathub
- Electron
VSCodium VS Microsoft Visual Studio
Is VSCodium a good alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio?Comments about VSCodium as an Alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio
its the same but without the useless features that cause more harm than good
3
737 likes109 Apache NetBeans alternativesA free, open-source Integrated Development Environment for software developers. You get all the tools you need to create professional desktop, enterprise, web, and mobile applications with the Java language, C/C++, and even dynamic languages such as PHP, JavaScript, Groovy, and...
Top Apache NetBeans Features
Apache NetBeans VS Microsoft Visual Studio
Is Apache NetBeans a good alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio?Comments about Apache NetBeans as an Alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio
Kristopher KalishNetBeans is an IDE, but it doesn't work for .NET languages so it's hard to call it a viable alternative.
4brandomettoutFree and Open Source Software. Changing leadership from Oracle to Apache Foundation.
1gnusenseiNetbeans includes built-in GUI designer with drag and drop ability to create desktop applications and they can run on Windows as well as GNU/Linux and macOS.
0
252 likes61 Code::Blocks alternativesCode::Blocks is a free C++ IDE built to meet the most demanding needs of its users. It is designed to be very extensible and fully configurable.
Code::Blocks Features
Code::Blocks VS Microsoft Visual Studio
Is Code::Blocks a good alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio?Comments about Code::Blocks as an Alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio
maurosoft391windows forms are missing and it's poorly designed
0Code::Blocks has 0.1% of the functionality of VS. It looks ugly as well.
0gnusenseiFaster, smaller, and able to make graphical desktop applications by adding GUI designer plugin wxSmith for C++ language and wxWidgets framework. Also, CodeBlocks is cross platform.
0
126 likes29 Lazarus alternativesLazarus 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' and supporting many platforms like Windows, OSX, Linux, BSD, Android, iOS and more.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
- OpenSolaris
Lazarus Features
Lazarus VS Microsoft Visual Studio
Is Lazarus a good alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio?Comments about Lazarus as an Alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio
gnusenseiLazarus GUI designer is nice and easy to use. Drag and drop works without much hassles about layouting.
1Because of license agreement, you can create unlimited codes by using Lazarus but VS has limits in license agreement
3Open Source done entirely in an independent language very like TurboPascal (Delphi).
5
282 likes74 PyCharm alternativesCross-platform IDE for Python and Django with refactoring capabilities, code completion, VCS integration, deployment, issue tracking, remote debugging, and Community Edition, though lacking database support and web technologies.
PyCharm VS Microsoft Visual Studio
Is PyCharm a good alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio?Comments about PyCharm as an Alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio
It supports proper Python.
0
Comments about Visual Studio Code as an Alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio
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.
Visual Studio Code is a text editor based on electron.js just like Atom.
Visual studio Code is not a IDE (Integrated Development Environment), it's a text and code editor. So it's more an alternative to Sublime text or Atom.