| Product | Visual Studio | Visual Studio Code |
|---|---|---|
| Website | Visit Visual Studio | Visit Visual Studio Code |
| Description | Visual Studio is a powerful and popular Integrated Development Environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It enables developers to create applications for Windows, web mobile devices and cloud services. The software provides a comprehensive set of tools for building high-quality applications, including an advanced code editor, debugging and profiling tools, built-in source control support, and more. Visual Studio also makes it easy to develop apps for popular platforms such as Android and iOS. | Visual Studio Code, also commonly referred to as VS Code, is a source-code editor made by Microsoft with the Electron Framework, for Windows, Linux and macOS. Features include support for debugging, syntax highlighting, intelligent code completion, snippets, code refactoring, and embedded Git. |
| Gitnux Rating | Great Product | Not provided |
| Pricing Model | Flat-Rate Pricing | Per Feature |
| Freemium | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing Rates | Free Individual Standard Enterprise | Not provided pricing information for this product |
| Could be better | Detecting Errors User Interface Clearer Features | Plugin Glitches An overwhelming number of Integrations Clearer Features |
| Key Features | Ease of Use File Management Multi-Language Support Patching & Updates Customization | Visual analysis of a large amount of code Collaborative Editing Language Support Ability to extend the platform Cross-Platform Support Security |
| Support | Email/Help Desk FAQs/Forum Knowledge Base Chat | Email/Help Desk FAQs/Forum Knowledge Base |
| Extended Review | Extended Review | Page do not exist |
| Best for | Visual Studio is suitable for small to midsize business | Visual Studio Code is ideal for JavaScript web developers |
Feature Overview: Visual Studio vs. Visual Studio Code
| Feature | Visual Studio | Visual Studio Code |
|---|---|---|
| Debug | YES | YES |
| Collaboration | YES | YES |
| Multi-Language Support | YES | YES |
| Extensibility | YES | YES |
| Cross-Platform Installation | YES | YES |
| Solution Explorer | YES | NO |
Debug
The debugger feature helps in observing the run-time behavior of a program and finds problems. It is a tool that attaches to running app and allows one to examine code. The literal meaning is removing bugs from a code. In Visual Studio Software, Debug feature appears by default in the drop-down menu to the left and indicates a debug configuration. Concerning the Visual Studio Code, the debugger feature helps to accelearate edit, compile and debug loops. This feature can be found in Run and Debug view by selecting the Activity Bar or in the Run menu. The main difference betweeen the two software is that Visual Studio Code debugger can be easily extended to cover many languages, while Visual Studio debugger is most potent with C# and .net.
Collaboration
Both Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code offer collaboration opportunities through the Live Share extension. This tool provides everything necessary for collaborative editing and debugging in real-time. Differing from other tools, Live Share allows one to share the context of the code and get instant bidirectional collaboration. Users can independently investigate an issue without stepping on each other. Moreover, it is practical since each person can open files, edit code, navigate, highlight, or debug.
Multi-Language Support
Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code support a wide variety of languages either built-in or as extensions. A variety of language choices enable a user to become more productive by using the languages user is familiar with. Languages included in Visual Studio are HTML, CSS, JavaScript and JSON, while Visual Studio Code has JavaScript, TypeScript, CSS and HTML in its box. Moreover, different languages in Visual Studio Code offer varieties of support such as – syntax highlighting, bracket matching, smart completions, code navigation, debugging and refactoring.
Extensibility
Extensions in software are add-ons that allow users to customize and enhance their experience by adding new features or integrating existing tools. An extension is available in many levels of complexity; however, its core purpose is to increase user productivity and enable smooth workflow. Concerning Visual Studio, extensibility APIs allow a user to write richer, non-language-based productivity extensions. Furthermore, Visual Studio uses a Remote UI Framework that is out-of-proc and fully asynchronous, relying on a Model-View-ViewModel design pattern, XAML, data binding and commands. Similarly, almost every part of Visual Studio Code can be customized and enhanced through Extension API.
Cross-Platform Installation
Both software run on different platforms. However, while Visual Studio runs on Windows and macOS, Visual Studio Code also runs on Linux. Moreover, it is noted that Visual Studio is slower when it comes to performing across different platforms, unlike Visual Studio Code which is comparatively faster.
Solution Explorer
This feature enables creating and management of solutions and projects and to view and interact with code. It appears as a pane in the upper-right side of Visual Studio or in the menu under View > Solution Explorer. This feature does not apply to Visual Studio Code.
