Microsoft Visual Studio vs SharePoint Designer [EOL] comparison

Microsoft Visual Studio and SharePoint Designer [EOL] are both solutions in the .NET Development Services category. Additionally, 95% of Microsoft Visual Studio users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 82% of SharePoint Designer [EOL] users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Visual Studio

Read 92 Microsoft Visual Studio reviews

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780 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

SharePoint Designer [EOL]

Read 49 SharePoint Designer [EOL] reviews

82% willing to recommend

Microsoft Visual Studio

SharePoint Designer [EOL]

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft Visual Studio and SharePoint Designer [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, FourJs, Zend and others in .NET Development Services.

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.NET Development Services

August 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Visual Studio

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

.NET Development Services (1st)

SharePoint Designer [EOL]

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

Eitan Gold

SQA Manager at Elmo Motion Control Ltd.

Test code efficiency improves with integrated debugger and automation

The test explorer is really important for us as it aids in testing, along with the regular debugger. Even though I forgot the term for it at the moment, there is an overall debugger tool within the IDE that is very effective. This comprehensive debugger tool does the job efficiently, making our work easier.

Read full review

Raphael Haroun Ikyagh

Network Administrator at Letshego

Offers ability to directly share documents and highly stable

It's been stable for me. I haven't encountered any issues with the sites I've developed locally within the organization as long as the license remains valid. It's very stable. I haven't had any issues with outages or needing to republish content. It's always accessible to authorized users, so it's stable. The stability is almost a ten out of ten for me.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"We use TFS for our scrums, which links our tasks to actual code changes."

"It is also flexible enough to let me use Git as well as its own version control mechanism."

"I like the product's connection with Azure analytics services and the ability to build the model on the cloud."

"It is pretty simple to set up."

"Microsoft Visual Studio is stable and the performance was good. However, if you do not have decent hardware you will not have the same experience."

"Windows Presentation Foundation or WPF is valuable. It's a tool to give clients a user interface for Windows applications. The summary for mobile applications is also very useful."

"The solution is stable, and it has no issues."

"Notably, the Enterprise version facilitates seamless integration with Microsoft products, leveraging the ease of connectivity within the Microsoft ecosystem."

More Microsoft Visual Studio pros

"It’s very convenient for me to update. Last time I used a function called Word. It is a good function, which I can use to coordinate easily."

"SharePoint Designer is easy to deploy and it is one of the most valuable features. The whole process took a couple of days and it is easy to work on."

"The most valuable feature is the capability to directly access the SharePoint data structure."

"The initial setup is straightforward."

"The most valuable aspects of the solution are the user-friendly interface and easy workflow."

"The drag and drop feature is the most useful feature when using this solution."

"The feature I find most valuable, is the workflow of the product."

"The new version doesn't have the option to view data, but it has other, better features though."

More SharePoint Designer [EOL] pros

Cons

"IntelliSense could be better."

"What I don't like about Microsoft Visual Studio is its user interface. It could be better. WebStorm is a better solution for me as it has a good user interface and is more user-friendly, though my friends like Microsoft Visual Studio. I worked with WebStorm for the web layer, and for the server layer, I worked with IBM Eclipse which is my favorite software. I also dealt with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS through Angular."

"It would be better if it didn't get stuck. Sometimes when we are writing code, we open too many tabs and modules, and it gets stuck."

"I would like to have more integration with other platforms and technologies."

"You do need to do some training in order to really take advantage of the solution."

"The pricing for licenses could be reduced to make this solution more competitive."

"The UI could be better, and development could be easier on Microsoft Visual Studio if there were more features like drag and drop and more frameworks, etc."

"I would like the solution to have a designing default in addition to the current coding default."

More Microsoft Visual Studio cons

"SharePoint Designer is not releasing a new version. Version 2013 was the latest version. Now in 2019, we are still using the biggest version. It doesn't work properly anymore. Sometimes we experience issues, but there is no new version."

"The new SharePoint Designer is very limited."

"SharePoint is too complex to install and maintain."

"SharePoint Designer could improve most in analytics and reporting."

"I have heard of clients that have complained about the stability once a certain amount of data, over 200 gigs has been reached as well as the stability of SQL Databases."

"SharePoint Designer could improve by making the searching feature better. It is not accurate in some cases, and there are some descriptions that are not clear."

"The solution is not very flexible when trying to access the solution via a personal PC."

"The interface of SharePoint Designer could be improved, such as in SAP."

More SharePoint Designer [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We purchased an expensive enterprise version of Microsoft Visual Studio."

"The cost of using Microsoft Visual Studio monthly is approximately $300."

"The cost of using Microsoft Visual Studio is approximately $1,700 per user."

"We use the free version, and you don't need a license."

"Its price could be better."

"Microsoft Visual Studio is not expensive. Its licensing costs are expensive."

"I am working with the open-source community version, which is free."

"Microsoft Visual Studio is free. It's freeware, so you don't have to pay for its license."

More Microsoft Visual Studio pricing and cost advice

"SharePoint Designer is a free product. It's SharePoint that needs a license, not SharePoint Designer."

"I've never paid for SharePoint Designer. What I paid for, is the SharePoint license, the cava, and then the client accesses the line fee."

"There is no licensing cost for Designer—it's free."

"This solution is free of charge."

"The cost of the license is based on the size of the user base."

"It is a free solution that does not require a license."

"SharePoint Designer is less expensive than other solutions we have used. We purchased Office 365 which SharePoint comes with the package."

"The tool is free of cost."

More SharePoint Designer [EOL] pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Performing Arts

15%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

16%

Performing Arts

Healthcare Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	33
Midsize Enterprise	17
Large Enterprise	43

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	21

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Visual Studio?

We can use different .NET features.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Visual Studio?

The pricing for Microsoft Visual Studio is favorable. While many open-source solutions are available, none offer the robustness of Visual Studio, which includes a Marketplace for creating different...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Visual Studio?

Based on my experience and my colleagues' feedback, I believe a potential area of improvement for Microsoft Visual Studio could be incorporating more AI, as it makes things easier for us, and havin...

See all answers

What do you like most about SharePoint Designer?

It saved me big time once! My car got broken into and they took my laptop with all my files. But I didn't have to worry because everything was backed up on SharePoint. It was a lifesaver!

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SharePoint Designer?

I've leased Microsoft SharePoint Designer for the enterprise, not System Center. It's for private work, web development specifically.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SharePoint Designer?

For me, it's flexible enough for most things. But maybe they could improve the user interface to make it easier for everyone to navigate and use. That would be a big plus.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Visual Studio

August 2025

Download Microsoft Visual Studio product report

Buyer's Guide

SharePoint Designer [EOL]

August 2025

Download SharePoint Designer [EOL] product report

Also Known As

MS Visual Studio

No data available

Overview

Visual Studio.NET is the umbrella that represents the key pieces of the .NET platform delivered from Microsoft, including the .NET Framework, the recently announced .NET Core, and a shared common layer of packages, compilers and runtime. Read this .NET blog post about the evolution of the platform and the different pieces that make .NET 2015.

Microsoft

SharePoint Designer is the tool of choice for the rapid development of SharePoint applications. Using SharePoint Designer, advanced users and developers alike can rapidly create SharePoint solutions in response to business needs. Advanced users can compose no-code solutions that encompass a variety of common scenarios, from collaborative sites and web publishing to Line-Of-Business data integration, business intelligence solutions, and human workflows, leveraging the building blocks available in SharePoint in an easy to use environment.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Knab, Hamburg Port Authority, Kecioren Municipality, National Instruments, Hamburg Port Authority, Government of Odisha, Kongsberg Maritime AS

Pyrotek Inc., ICA, Deliver Australia, Secretary of Economy of Mexico, Aegon, ABB Switzerland, Ascent Yarns Private Limited, Bakewell Biscuits Pvt Ltd, Hitachi Consulting

Buyer's Guide

.NET Development Services

August 2025

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