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Microsoft Visual Studio Alternatives for Mac

There are many alternatives to Microsoft Visual Studio for Mac if you are looking for a replacement. The best Mac alternative is Eclipse, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Microsoft Visual Studio and many of them are available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Mac alternatives to Microsoft Visual Studio are MonoDevelop, Apache NetBeans, VSCodium and Qt Creator.

Microsoft Visual Studio alternatives are mainly IDEs but may also be Code Editors or Text Editors. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Microsoft Visual Studio.
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Microsoft Visual Studio iconMicrosoft Visual Studio
  898
  • Free Personal • Proprietary
  • Mac
  • Windows
  • Online
  • .NET Framework

Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It is used to develop computer...

Learn more about Microsoft Visual Studio

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

    ⚫︎ Extensible by Plugins/ExtensionsEclipse can be extended with add-ons, plugins and extensions.
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    eclipse on windows 10
    Eclipse vs Microsoft Visual Studio opinions
    Almost everyone thinks Eclipse is a great alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio.
    maurosoft391

    hard to use and poorly designed

    Negative comment • ago
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    0

    One is for Java and the other is for C#

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    -37

    Eclipse supports multiple languages, looks good too

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    10
  2. MonoDevelop icon

    MonoDevelop

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    • Free • Open Source
    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • .NET Framework
    • Xamarin Studio

    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 Studio to Linux and Mac OS X maintaining a single code base for all platforms.

    ⚫︎ Syntax HighlightingMonoDevelop supports syntax highlighting for various programming and markup languages.
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    Discontinued

    As of October 2021, the GitHub repository README has been updated to say "This project has not been built nor maintained since January 2020 and has been archived".

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    MonoDevelop vs Microsoft Visual Studio opinions
    Most users think MonoDevelop is a great alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio.

    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....

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    6

    It is specifically for C# like Visual Studio is mostly used for

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    6

    Has to be built from source before it'll run on Windows.

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    8
    gnusensei

    MonoDevelop's GUI designer is admirable, I've tried it and impressed immediately with how easy and straightforward it to design a window by drag and drop. Try to compare it with Netbeans', Eclipse's or CodeBlocks' GUI designer you will know what I mean.

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    0

    It provides not only the most similar interface but also the most similar tools

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    -2

    Monodevelop, even though only for .NET languages (as far as i know) is probably the closest to Visual studio I have tried. Also, GTK# is awesome!

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    2

    .NET functionality, good code recommendations

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    0

  4. Development Environment, Tooling Platform and Application Framework.

    ⚫︎ Syntax HighlightingApache NetBeans supports syntax highlighting for various programming and markup languages.
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    Discontinued

    Python plugin for NetBeans (nbPython) has been discontinued since v8.1

    Editor
    Apache NetBeans vs Microsoft Visual Studio opinions
    Most users think Apache NetBeans is a great alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio.
    gnusensei

    Netbeans 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.

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    0
    brandomettout

    Free and Open Source Software. Changing leadership from Oracle to Apache Foundation.

    Positive comment • ago
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    1

    It's for MS-Windows, MacOSX and Linux too! You can make projects independent of the OS.

    Positive comment • ago
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    -1
    bigbear

    NetBeans is an IDE, but it doesn't work for .NET languages so it's hard to call it a viable alternative.

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    5

  5. This 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.

    ⚫︎ No TrackingVSCodium will not track or use your personal data.
    ⚫︎ CustomizableVSCodium is easy to customize with themes or similar features.
    ⚫︎ Privacy focusedVSCodium is considered a privacy friendly alternative.
    ⚫︎ Extensible by Plugins/ExtensionsVSCodium can be extended with add-ons, plugins and extensions.
    ⚫︎ Works OfflineVSCodium can be used without the need to connect to the internet.
    ⚫︎ No registration requiredYou can use most of the features in VSCodium without registration.
    ⚫︎ LightweightVSCodium consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
    ⚫︎ Syntax HighlightingVSCodium supports syntax highlighting for various programming and markup languages.
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    Screenshot
    VSCodium vs Microsoft Visual Studio opinions
    pros, cons and recent comments

    its the same but without the useless features that cause more harm than good

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    2

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

    ⚫︎ Syntax HighlightingQt Creator supports syntax highlighting for various programming and markup languages.
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    Screenshot
    Qt Creator vs Microsoft Visual Studio opinions
    Almost everyone thinks Qt Creator is a great alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio.

    Found everything in Qt Creator for Linux that is in VS for Windows.

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    3

    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.

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    3

    It has A lot of really use full tools and you can install many extensions and even support for other programming languages then python,c++ etc

    Positive comment • ago
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    1
    ichimitch

    Does not support C# as they believe "it is not widely used enough" pfft

    Negative comment • ago
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    -5

    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.

    Positive comment • ago
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    3

  8. IntelliJ IDEA is an integrated development environment (IDE) written in Java for developing computer software. It is developed by JetBrains, and is available as an Apache 2 Licensed community edition, and in a proprietary commercial edition.

    ⚫︎ Dark ModeIntelliJ IDEA supports dark mode for comfortable usage in low light conditions.
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    Syntax highlight, code completion
    IntelliJ IDEA vs Microsoft Visual Studio opinions
    This alternative is disputed. IntelliJ IDEA is still a legitimate alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio, but it might have issues that some users think are important.

    This is only designed for Java not .net.

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    10

  9. Python and Django IDE with refactorings, code completion, on-the-fly code analysis and other features, including version control integration, deployment, integration with issue trackers, and remote debugging.

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    Screenshot
    PyCharm vs Microsoft Visual Studio opinions
    Some users think PyCharm is a great alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio, some don't.
  10. Lazarus icon

    Lazarus

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    • Free • Open Source
    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • OpenSolaris

    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' and supporting many platforms like Windows, OSX, Linux, BSD, Android, iOS and more.

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    Running on Windows
    Lazarus vs Microsoft Visual Studio opinions
    Most users think Lazarus is a great alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio.
    gnusensei

    Lazarus GUI designer is nice and easy to use. Drag and drop works without much hassles about layouting.

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    Open Source done entirely in an independent language very like TurboPascal (Delphi).

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    5

    Because of license agreement, you can create unlimited codes by using Lazarus but VS has limits in license agreement

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    2

    I like Lazarus and Free Pascal

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    1
  11. CLion icon

    CLion

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    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • IntelliJ IDEA

    The intelligent cross-platform C/C++ IDE. CLion is a new IDE that helps you be more productive while developing apps with C and C++ for Windows, Linux and OS X.

    ⚫︎ Syntax HighlightingCLion supports syntax highlighting for various programming and markup languages.
    ⚫︎ CustomizableCLion is easy to customize with themes or similar features.
    ⚫︎ Extensible by Plugins/ExtensionsCLion can be extended with add-ons, plugins and extensions.
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    CLion vs Microsoft Visual Studio opinions
    Most users think CLion is a great alternative to Microsoft Visual Studio.

    For its young age it is well matured and a very powerful IDE with great CMake Support and other goodies like great refactoring tools and a sophisticated code-completion system.

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    1
    Greenskid

    Its cross platform and bring the benefits of the JetBrains IDE platform which is well polished and powerful.

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    1

    Is actually designed for the same use cases as Visual Studio, while improving on VS's code completion, plugin support, and build and deployment features.

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  12. RStudio icon

    RStudio

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    • Free • Open Source
    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Xfce

    RStudio™ is an integrated development environment (IDE) for R. RStudio combines an intuitive user interface with powerful coding tools to help you get the most out of R.

    ⚫︎ Syntax HighlightingRStudio supports syntax highlighting for various programming and markup languages.
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    RStudio on Windows
Showing 10 of 45 alternatives