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Microsoft Visual Studio Code

Score9.3 out of 10

1,070 Reviews and Ratings

What is Microsoft Visual Studio Code?

Microsoft offers Visual Studio Code, an open source text editor that supports code editing, debugging, IntelliSense syntax highlighting, and other features.

Read more details.

Categories & Use Cases

Who Buys & Uses Microsoft Visual Studio Code

Microsoft Visual Studio Code Reviews

What users are saying about Microsoft Visual Studio Code.
View all Microsoft Visual Studio Code reviews

Pros

  • Extensive ecosystem of extensions and plugins for adaptability
  • Advanced AI and code completion capabilities (e.g., Copilot)
  • Seamless integration with version control systems, especially Git

Cons

  • Performance slowdowns with extensive customizations or large files
  • Startup delays and slow global search operations
  • User interface could be more beginner-friendly

A modern robust and extendible IDE

Incentivized
Verified User
Employee in Research & Development (51-200 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Microsoft Visual Studio Code to develop all the applications used in my organization.
We develop backend and frontend applications and we've chosen Microsoft Visual Studio Code as the to-go IDE for all the applications.
The simple interface and the extensions allow us to approach any kind of development, from the simplest one-page apps to the most complex corporate CRMs and ERPs.

Pros

  • Simple
  • Fast
  • Extendible
  • Customizable
  • Versatile

Cons

  • Lacks support for some languages

Return on Investment

  • Fast development reduces development times

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Sublime Text and Atom

Other Software Used

DBeaver, Microsoft Edge

The defacto IDE standard

Incentivized
Josh Armitage
Modern Engineering Practice Lead in Professional Services at Cognizant (10,001+ employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Microsoft Visual Studio Code is our predominant IDE (integrated development environment) that we use both internally and with clients.

We use it to develop applications and platforms with clients across all verticals.

It being free to use, and with an open source core, means we can easily bring it with us to clients without having to engage in procurement and licensing.

Additionally our engineers are provided internally with GitHub Copilot, and it is often available on clients, integrating directly into our IDE.

Pros

  • Large ecosystem of extensions, you can nearly always find an extension for the project you're working on
  • First party integration for language servers allows for rapid feedback during development
  • First class support for dev containers allows us to reduce setup related issues during development

Cons

  • GitHub Copilot integration lags behind what is available in Cursor and equivalents
  • Support for certain languages lags behind more specialised IDEs, e.g. java with IntelliJ
  • Better support for debugging slow extensions

Return on Investment

  • It provides a cost free IDE option that allows for more rapid onboarding with clients
  • It's native integration with GitHub copilot, and other LLM-centric extensions has enabled us to rapidly prototype new ideas
  • It provides a standard basis for work that allows us to collaborate better as a team, and continuously improve

Usability

Alternatives Considered

IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm and Zed

Other Software Used

Notion, Microsoft 365, GitHub, GitHub Copilot, GitLab

Quick and easy almost IDE

Incentivized
Bruce CarterView profile
Senior Systems Engineer in Information Technology at University of Notre Dame (5001-10,000 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I mostly use Microsoft Visual Studio Code in development projects that are less appropriate for development in Xcode due to the amount of overhead in getting Xcode projects set up properly. Microsoft Visual Studio Code works very well for our shell and Python scripting tasks related to our Jamf Pro instance. It is just easier to get a project put together with Microsoft Visual Studio Code for these small, low overhead items.

Pros

  • Quick editing of low overhead projects
  • Minimal configuration and setup
  • Following along with online programming courses using Microsoft Visual Studio Code
  • Cross platform (not just macOS/iOS) development
  • Expandable with plugins
  • General AI integration

Cons

  • Better documentation integration
  • Odd crashes sometimes
  • Interface can be a little dense sometimes
  • Build train support (automation)

Return on Investment

  • It's one more development environment to learn - Negative
  • It facilitates using Windows programmer resources on macOS projects - Positive
  • It is fairly quick to learn, less time spent in training and skill development - Positive
  • Integration with Copilot promotes "vibe coding" - Both Positive and Negative

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Xcode and Anaconda

Other Software Used

Ellucian Banner, Atlassian Confluence, Google Authenticator, Okta, 1Password, Adobe Acrobat, CoPilot, Google Chrome, Google Drive, Grammarly

Easy to use versatile and great community.

Incentivized
Juan Camilo
Data Analyst in Information Technology at Oliver Gal (51-200 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We mainly use it as a tool to write code in different languages such as Python, C++, c++ and HTML/CSS. One of the main problems it assesses is the integration of not only version control with git, but also the number of add-ons that help us work really efficiently and collaborate easily.

Pros

  • Version control simple integration (git).
  • Open source add on.
  • Debugging tools.
  • Personalization of coding styles.

Cons

  • Friendlier interface for beginners.
  • Additional hotkeys.
  • Easier way to identify different development environments.

Return on Investment

  • Version control that enables collaboration.
  • Prevention of bugs in production environments.
  • Free to use for the most part.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Spyder, Atom, Terminal and Jupyter Notebook

Other Software Used

Atom, Jupyter Notebook, Terminal

Microsoft Visual Studio Code a powerful tool for coders

Incentivized
Md Tanjil Islam BappiView profile
Infrastructure Engineer in Information Technology at OSB Group PLC (1001-5000 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I've developed a Powershell script in Microsoft Visual Studio Code to automate my daily tasks. The integration with Microsoft Co-Pilot has been very useful for writing and troubleshooting these scripts. Mainly, I use this script to automate VMware tasks, such as generating remote connections and performing routine operations.
Additionally, it provides an option to manage version control via GitHub account integration.

Pros

  • Specially troubleshooting of the code
  • Version control
  • Terminal output

Cons

  • Sometimes it isn't easy to find suitable addons
  • Sandbox mode can add extra value
  • Initial configuration can be tricky

Return on Investment

  • It is entirely free but beneficial for coders.
  • Using Microsoft Visual Studio Code, I've created several PowerShell scripts that save hundreds of minutes per month
  • The usual workload has been reduced, and an improved work-life balance has been achieved.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Power Automate

Other Software Used

Notion, DeepSeek, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure