Visual Studio a great IDE.
January 20, 2026

Visual Studio a great IDE.

Nicholas Branfield | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Professional

Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Visual Studio

Used extensively from building windows services to web apps and everything in between. The IDE's debugging and testing tools are quite good. IDE is responsive and easy to use and navigate. Lately, most things needed are built into the default IDE, but if not, there is a good extension library too.

Pros

  • Single interface for everything from coding to debugging to testing.
  • Fast debugging.
  • Intellisense is great.

Cons

  • 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.
  • Increased efficiency.
  • Cost reduction vs many individual tools.
  • Code quality improvements due to ease of test and debugging.
It is quite easy to go from installing to coding as the IDE is Intuitive and easy to customize to one's liking. Additionally, all settings are easy to export and import, making it easier to move machines or set up teammates. The learning curve isn't too steep, and at least it is very well documented, so finding answers to questions is quite easy and just a search away.
Much superior integrations, better UI, and overall development experience. Debugging and testing in other tools was a frustrating experience, but proved much more satisfying in Visual Studio.

Do you think Microsoft Visual Studio delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Microsoft Visual Studio's feature set?

Yes

Did Microsoft Visual Studio live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Microsoft Visual Studio go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Microsoft Visual Studio again?

Yes

Visual Studio is well-suited for application development, debugging, and testing, and thus it can be used throughout the development lifecycle. It is very good for .NET development and is less good for other supported languages. Version 2026, in particular, handles both small and large solutions quite well, much better than previous versions, which frequently hung or froze on large solutions.

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