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Syncfusion Essential Studio vs. Microsoft Visual Studio

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Syncfusion Essential Studio

    Score7.3 out of 10
    N/ASince 2002, Essential Studio® has supported the development of software applications across industries and economic sectors, in both public and private enterprises.

    $0

    with the Syncfusion Essential Studio Community License. It includes free access to all 1,600+ controls and is available to companies and individuals with less than $1 million USD in annual gross revenue and 5 or fewer developers.

    Visual Studio

    Score8.8 out of 10
    N/AVisual Studio (now in the 2022 edition) is a 64-bit IDE that makes it easier to work with bigger projects and complex workloads, boasting a fluid and responsive experience for users. The IDE features IntelliCode, its automatic code completion tools that understand code context and that can complete up to a whole line at once to drive accurate and confident coding.

    $45

    per month

    Pricing
    Syncfusion Essential StudioVisual Studio
    Editions & Modules
    1. Syncfusion Essential Studio Community License
    $0
    *The Syncfusion Essential Studio Community License includes free access to all 1,600+ controls and is available to companies and individuals with less than $1 million USD in annual gross revenue, 5 or fewer developers, and 10 or fewer total employees. Note: An entity or organization may not have ever received more than $3,000,000 USD in capital from an outside source, such as private equity or venture capital, in order to be eligible for the Community License.
    2. Essential Studio UI Edition
    Custom Quote
    per year Packages to suit teams of all sizes
    3. Essential Studio Document SDK
    Custom Quote
    per year Packages to suit teams of all sizes
    5. Essential Studio Standalone Document SDKs
    Custom Quote
    per year PDF Viewer SDK; DOCX Editor SDK; Spreadsheet Editor SDK
    4. Essential Studio Standalone UI SDKs
    Custom Quote
    per year Grid SDK*; Chart SDK*; Schedular SDK; Gantt SDK; Rich Text Editor SDK; Diagram SDK; File Manager SDK*
    Professional
    $45.00
    per month
    Enterprise
    $250.00
    per month
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Syncfusion Essential StudioVisual Studio
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details*Grid SDK, Chart SDK, and File Manager SDK are also included as part of the Essential Studio UI Edition. **The Syncfusion Essential Studio Community License includes free access to all 1,600+ controls and is available to companies and individuals with less than $1 million USD in annual gross revenue, 5 or fewer developers, and 10 or fewer total employees. Note: An entity or organization may not have ever received more than $3,000,000 USD in capital from an outside source, such as private equity or venture capital, in order to be eligible for the Community License.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Syncfusion Essential StudioVisual Studio
    Considered Both Products
    Syncfusion
    Chose Syncfusion Essential Studio
    The products mentioned are not really in the same category as Syncfusion. As far similar type of products are concerned, we haven't used others. We have evaluated for sometime but did not use. The main reason was the support service.
    Incentivized
    Chose Syncfusion Essential Studio
    Similar functionalities
    Incentivized
    Chose Syncfusion Essential Studio
    Radzen seemed like a quality product but we needed more control over the interface than they could allow. I don't recall the details about Telerik and Kendo. I think Telerik also rated high but was more expensive?
    Incentivized
    Chose Syncfusion Essential Studio
    Devexpress was late in developing Blazor controls so we refocused on Syncfusion. As I mentioned, Syncfusion has much better financial support for small businesses.
    Incentivized
    Chose Syncfusion Essential Studio
    Firstly, there is a free version for small businesses and it allows you to jump start without risk. I found one of the other products a bit short in the number of out-of-the-box supported events handlers for each control and, although you can manually add them, I feel more …
    Incentivized
    Chose Syncfusion Essential Studio
    Telerik is similar in content and functionality. I used it for 1 yr and switched to Syncfusion based on price. I have never considered going back to Telerik
    Incentivized
    Chose Syncfusion Essential Studio
    The free community license is a major element, but it also allowed a fast start with minimal learning curve compared to adopting alternative solutions.
    Incentivized
    Chose Syncfusion Essential Studio
    They are basically on par, but the docs and in general, including support, Telerik is a bit superior. I find it to be better in terms of user-friendliness and also better polished UI wise, I mean, overall they just look better and offer somewhat better themes/skins to all the …
    Incentivized
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    29 Answers
    98%
    Would buy again
    40 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    28 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    40 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    29 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    41 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    25 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    32 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    93%
    Implementation went as expected
    26 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    36 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Syncfusion Essential StudioVisual Studio
    Small Businesses
    Progress Kendo UI
    Score8 out of 10
    IntelliJ IDEA
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Progress Telerik
    Score9.4 out of 10
    PyCharm
    Score9.3 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Progress Telerik
    Score9.4 out of 10
    WebStorm
    Score9.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Syncfusion Essential StudioVisual Studio
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.8
    (31 ratings)
    9.1
    (118 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    8.5
    (5 ratings)
    9.2
    (15 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.3
    (4 ratings)
    8.8
    (15 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    4.9
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sources
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Syncfusion Essential StudioVisual Studio
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Syncfusion
    The datagrid is probably their most popular control I would think. It is so flexible and configurable. Most of mine are plain views in ASP.NET Core, but I have a whole bunch that are dynamically created at runtime in my controller. That is so powerful.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    When working with base C# code for desktop and web projects, then Microsoft Visual Studio is ideal as it provides the libraries and interfaces needed to quickly create, test and deploy solutions. It is when slightly more complex scenarios are required that issues can arise. The built-in integration for things like PowerBI Paginated Reports and dashboards is far from ideal.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Syncfusion
    • Integrates well into Microsoft tech stack. i.e. ASP.NET, Blazor etc. So it acts as a plug-n-play, which is great!
    • Shrinks the development cycle without adding too much of its own ecosystem overhead.
    • Provides different UI skins so the controls don't appear as "stitched".
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • I like how the tabs and panels are organized; everything is gathered together so you can find what you're looking for quickly.
    • If you can't find something, there's a thorough search engine that searches all of Visual Studio's features.
    • The Team Foundation Server feature is fantastic since it allows us to easily deploy and roll back changes on the server.
    Read full review
    Cons
    Syncfusion
    • Sometimes links point to dead addresses in the documentation.
    • Some components have a difficult learning curve but that is usually due to the complexity of the control.
    • Minor version changes introduce breaking changes, for example updating from 20.1.x to 20.2.x gives us licensing errors, which in my opinion is a kind of breaking change as it requires all users to update their licenses.
    • Theming with CSS variables is not possible. Access to Theme Studio code is not possible. So a fully custom solution is needed to make Syncfusion Essential Studio Enterprise Edition components themeable with CSS variables.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Would be great if there was a better way to save and restore open tabs.
    • The built-in test runner can be improved, for example, by adding the ability to save a set of commonly run tests, etc.
    • Better integration for Microsoft SQL server would be great.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Syncfusion
    It takes effort to include a new component library into existing software, especially in our case where we have 5 large applications that are written and maintained by about 100 developers. So changing such a core thing comes with a lot of effort. The other reason we will very likely renew our use of Syncfusion Essential Studio Enterprise Edition is that it works really well and has helped us to speed up the development process.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    VS is the best and is required for building Microsoft applications. The quality and usefulness of the product far out-weight the licensing costs associated with it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Syncfusion
    I would rate Syncfusion® Essential Studio® a 10 out of 10 for overall usability. The components are intuitive to implement, with clear APIs and consistent design patterns across the suite. This makes it easy for developers to get started quickly and reduces the learning curve even when working with new controls.
    In addition, the documentation and sample projects provide practical guidance that helps accelerate development. The built-in customization options also allow us to adapt the components to fit our branding and business requirements without excessive effort. Overall, the usability is one of the key reasons why Syncfusion has become an essential part of our development toolset.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    I love the overall usability of Microsoft Visual Studio. I’ve been using this IDE for more than 20 years, and I’ve seen it evolve by leaps and bounds. Today, with AI and code-suggestion/completion features, developers no longer need to remember countless libraries, methods, or language syntax, or invest a huge amount of programming effort to complete a project. It truly offers everything a developer needs to program, debug, test, and deploy in a single IDE.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Syncfusion
    Although I have decades of software development experience, I had never created a website from scratch before, and my html and css skills are not particularly strong. Between documentation and incredible dedication from the support team they helped me overcome all of my challenges. It's amazing that they typically create sample code for most of the issues that I submitted. On rare occasions where I uncovered a defect they kept me informed as to its status, and typically resolved it in a short-term release, and/or gave me a reasonable workaround. They hopped on zoom calls with me on multiple occasions when necessary.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    There are many resources available supporting Visual Studio IDE. Microsoft whitepapers, forum posts, and online Visual Studio documentation. There are countless demonstration videos available, as well. If users are having issues, they can call Microsoft Support, but depending on the company's agreement with Microsoft, the number of included support calls will vary from organization to organization. I've found that Microsoft support calls can be hit or miss depending on who you get, but they can usually get you with the right support person for your issue.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Syncfusion
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    IT is very complicated to understand all the functions that the environment has if you are not familiar with this type of development environments. It is important to select a good in-person training to achieve to understand all the possibilities and the capacity of the application. In this case, you will be able to develop a lot type of different applications.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Syncfusion
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    If you are not accustomed to develop in this type of development environments it would be complicated to follow all the parts of the course because if the course does not include a great tour with all the concepts to develop you will not have the option to understand all the functions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Syncfusion
    Feedback from the team has been very positive.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Syncfusion
    Firstly, there is a free version for small businesses and it allows you to jump start without risk. I found one of the other products a bit short in the number of out-of-the-box supported events handlers for each control and, although you can manually add them, I feel more comfortable to just have them ready. After using the free version I just felt in love with Syncfusion Essential Studio Enterprise Edition controls and decided to stay with them; they have all I need and more. The usage of Syncfusion Essential Studio Enterprise Edition controls is straightforward and intuitive. Support is world-class even for the free version; you get answers in 24 hours at most. Also, the support team is ready to remotely connect to your project in case it is needed; we have had one situation like this, and the issue was solved.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    I personally feel Visual Studio IDE has [a] better interface and [is more] user friendly than other IDEs. It has better code maintainability and intellisense. Its inbuilt team foundation server help coders to check on their code then and go. Better nugget package management, quality testing and gives features to extract TRX file as result of testing which includes all the summary of each test case.
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Syncfusion
    • First of all, I think the best positive impact is the reduce of time development. I do not know exactly how much time, but certainly, using the framework we save a lot of effort and time.
    • About negative impact, sometimes using the controls of the framewrok have a signifcant impact in the execution time and page load.
    • And of course, the use of Syncfusion Essential Studio Enterprise Edition has a significant impact of the learning of javascript and JQUERY.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Using the integration between Visual Studio and our source control service, the cost of re-work and losing code is drastically reduced.
    • Paid versions of Visual Studio enable developers to be so much more productive than hacked-together open source solutions that it's hard to imagine developing in Windows without it.
    • When combined with support subscriptions and the vast array of free online help options available, Visual Studio saves our developers time by keeping them coding and testing, not wasting their time trying to guess their way out of problems or spend endless hours online hoping to find answers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Syncfusion Essential Studio Screenshots

    Screenshot of An overview of Syncfusion® Essential Studio®, which is a software package that includes more than 1,600 components and frameworks for WinForms, WPF, ASP.NET (Web Forms, MVC, Core), UWP, WinUI, Flutter, Blazor, JavaScript, Angular, Vue, and React.Screenshot of The DataGrid control, which is a grid component that helps display and manipulate large amounts of data in a tabular format. Its feature set includes functionalities like data binding, sorting, grouping, editing, filtering, swiping, dragging, resizing, loading more items, pull-to-refresh, and exporting to Excel and PDF file formats.Screenshot of The PDF Viewer, which is .NET PDF class library developed with 100% managed C# code that can be used to create, read, and write PDFs.