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SharePoint Designer [EOL] vs Zend Studio comparison

Microsoft and Zend are both solutions in the .NET Development Services category. Additionally, 82% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Zend users who would recommend it.
Zend Studio
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100% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary
We performed a comparison between SharePoint Designer [EOL] and Zend Studio based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Harman, Cognosys Inc Hardened Images and others in .NET Development Services.

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.NET Development Services
February 2026
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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

SharePoint Designer [EOL]
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zend Studio
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
.NET Development Services (6th)
 

Featured Reviews

Vladimir Vasilev - PeerSpot reviewer
Vladimir Vasilev
Digital Lead at Baker Tilly
Helps to centralize and share files and has an easy setup
I'm using the solution for creating different sites in our organization. We also use it for a file repository mainly.  It's provided us with a centralized document database that is available to all collaborators 24/7. There are good features in general. It helps centralize and store files.  It's…
Read full review
marketacumen - PeerSpot reviewer
marketacumen
President at Market Acumen, Inc.
It has higher quality code, faster debugging, and higher quality projects
* Stability is sometimes lacking in updates. * Search/replace across multiple files is not ideal. * The debugger often has problems determining where to map files to local projects, as well as setting breakpoints, which often are ignored depending on your configuration. * The product requires a subscription to Zend Server Developer, which used to be free and now has an annual fee, but it is still worth the money.
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

"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."
"Designer is easy to manage."
"If you're working in a communication channel team, SharePoint Designer is a great solution because it helps to have some customized solutions in terms of communication and to create web experiences for external teams."
"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!"
"The basic functionality the solution makes it easy to share documents or information with the team."
"I would rate the solution's stability a nine out of ten."
"Other valuable features are the ability able to update the master file, and creating the workflow."
"The workflow is the solution's most valuable feature."
More SharePoint Designer [EOL] pros
"It has the ability to jump to any file in your project with a few keystrokes, as well as the ability to command-click on any token in your code and have it jump to the token's definition."
"It has higher quality code, faster debugging, and higher quality projects."
 

Cons

"The downside is the different versions of SharePoint which means we need to have different designers as not all versions are compatible."
"The interface of SharePoint Designer could be improved, such as in SAP."
"If you compare the workflow with other engines like Olympus and K2, it is very complicated to create a workflow."
"SharePoint Designer doesn't support the features that are available in the latest version of SharePoint Online."
"Adding guest users is a bit difficult on SharePoint."
"The pricing is a little bit high and can be reduced."
"Designer is easy to manage."
"The pain point of SharePoint Designer is sometimes it gives you issues that can be resolved mostly by clearing the cache, but Microsoft should still work on it and make the product more stable. Another issue related to SharePoint Designer is that with the newer SharePoint versions, Microsoft hasn't released a newer version of SharePoint Designer. Instead, Microsoft is recommending that you use the same old SharePoint Designer 2013. If Microsoft updates SharePoint Designer, the product will be more beneficial."
More SharePoint Designer [EOL] cons
"The debugger often has problems determining where to map files to local projects."
"Most recent set of patches (2018) on Mac OS X caused the app to crash when you would cut more than 10 lines of code. Apparently, this was due to a bug in Eclipse, but regardless, it took several months for Zend to post a patch."
"Stability is sometimes lacking in updates."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The entire package is expensive. There is no extra cost in addition to the standard license."
"There is no licensing cost for Designer—it's free."
"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."
"Priced per user per month with different plans to choose from."
"The cost of the solution is based on multiple factors such as the number of users, and any customization that may be required."
"We are using an enterprise SharePoint Designer license."
"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."
More SharePoint Designer [EOL] pricing and cost advice
"The product requires a subscription to Zend Server Developer, which used to be free and now has an annual fee, but it is still worth the money."
"Licensing is reasonable for this type of tool. Although, you can cobble together a solution which is zero cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Marketing Services Firm
20%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Performing Arts
9%
Computer Software Company
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise21
No data available
 

Comparisons

Microsoft Visual Studio vs SharePoint Designer [EOL] Logo
Microsoft Visual Studio vs SharePoint Designer [EOL]
Compared 62% of the time
ASP.NET vs SharePoint Designer [EOL] Logo
ASP.NET vs SharePoint Designer [EOL]
Compared 38% of the time
More SharePoint Designer [EOL] Competitors
No data available
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
SharePoint Designer [EOL]
February 2026
SharePoint Designer [EOL] reportDownload SharePoint Designer [EOL] product report
Buyer's Guide
.NET Development Services
February 2026
Zend Studio reportDownload Zend Studio product report
 

Overview

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
Zend Studio – the PHP IDE for smarter development. It codes faster with up to 3X performance improvements in indexing, validation, searching of PHP code. It has superior PHP 7.1 support, PHP 7.1 express migration assistant, and seamless integration with Zend Server 9. It provides robust debugging capabilities with Xdebug, Zend Debugger, and Z-Ray integration. Zend Studio has an extensive plugin capabilities provided by the large Eclipse eco-system and supports for best-in-class dev tools including Docker and Git Flow Intelligent code editor. Deploy PHP applications on any server including cloud support for Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure and support for HiDPi displays - scale graphics (ala 4K resolution).
Zend
 

Sample Customers

Pyrotek Inc., ICA, Deliver Australia, Secretary of Economy of Mexico, Aegon, ABB Switzerland, Ascent Yarns Private Limited, Bakewell Biscuits Pvt Ltd, Hitachi Consulting
CDS Global, EnglishCentral, BNP Paribas, Carlo Gavazzi, Sunstate Equipment, Novadex GmbH, CONFTEC, Marilan, Mediaspike, Cisco WebEx, Corvette America, Value Drug Mart Associates Ltd., Allied Beverage Group
Buyer's Guide
.NET Development Services
February 2026
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