Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

VS Code VS Visual Studio Community

Compare VS Code VS Visual Studio Community and see what are their differences

VS Code logo VS Code

Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

Visual Studio Community logo Visual Studio Community

Try our free, fully-featured, and extensible IDE for creating modern developer apps for Windows, Android, & iOS. Download Community for free today!
  • VS Code Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-10-09
  • Visual Studio Community Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-24

VS Code features and specs

  • Cross-platform
    VS Code works on Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing a consistent development experience across different operating systems.
  • Extensibility
    A vast library of extensions allows users to add functionalities like debuggers, linters, and themes, making it highly customizable.
  • Integrated Git
    Built-in Git integration makes it easy to manage version control tasks directly within the editor.
  • Performance
    Lightweight compared to full-fledged IDEs, ensuring good performance even on systems with limited resources.
  • IntelliSense
    Advanced code completion and refactoring tools help improve coding efficiency and reduce errors.
  • Community Support
    A strong and active community provides extensive support, tutorials, and third-party extensions.
  • Debugging
    Robust debugging tools for various languages and frameworks are available out of the box.
  • Free and Open-Source
    VS Code is completely free to use and open-source, which is beneficial for both individual developers and organizations.

Possible disadvantages of VS Code

  • Limited IDE Features
    While extensible, it may lack some advanced features found in dedicated IDEs out of the box.
  • Extension Management
    Managing and configuring a large number of extensions can become cumbersome and sometimes lead to performance issues.
  • Learning Curve
    Although user-friendly, it has a steeper learning curve for beginners due to its numerous features and customization options.
  • Memory Usage
    Despite being lightweight, it can consume a significant amount of memory when multiple extensions are installed.
  • Update Frequency
    Frequent updates may sometimes introduce bugs or require users to adapt to new changes quickly.
  • Internet Dependency
    Some features and extensions may require an internet connection to function optimally.
  • Telemetry
    By default, VS Code collects usage data, which might be a concern for users sensitive about data privacy. However, this can be disabled.

Visual Studio Community features and specs

  • Free Access
    Visual Studio Community is available for free for students, open-source contributors, and small teams, making it accessible to a large group of users without financial burden.
  • Rich Feature Set
    It offers a comprehensive suite of development tools for various programming languages and technologies, which includes code editing, debugging, and testing tools.
  • Extensive Language Support
    Supports a wide range of programming languages such as C#, VB.NET, F#, C++, Python, JavaScript, and more, providing versatility for different projects.
  • Integrated GitHub Support
    Seamlessly integrates with GitHub, which facilitates version control and code collaboration directly from the IDE.
  • Strong Community Support
    Being part of the larger Visual Studio ecosystem, it benefits from a vast community of developers who provide support, resources, and extensions.

Possible disadvantages of Visual Studio Community

  • Limited to Smaller Teams
    The free version is restricted for use by small teams and non-enterprise organizations, which can limit usage for larger enterprises.
  • Performance Overhead
    Visual Studio Community can be resource-heavy, requiring substantial system resources, which might affect performance on less capable machines.
  • Complex Interface
    The interface can be overwhelming for new users due to its complexity and myriad of features, potentially leading to a steep learning curve.
  • Lacks Some Advanced Features
    While it offers many features, it lacks some of the more advanced capabilities and tools available in the enterprise versions of Visual Studio.
  • Limited Technical Support
    Users of the Community edition have limited access to official technical support compared to the paid versions, which could be a drawback for resolving critical issues.

VS Code videos

My New Favorite Text Editor - Visual Studio Code

More videos:

  • Review - 7 reasons why I switched to Visual Studio Code from Sublime Text

Visual Studio Community videos

Introducing Visual Studio Community 2015

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to VS Code and Visual Studio Community)
Text Editors
96 96%
4% 4
IDE
97 97%
3% 3
Developer Tools
98 98%
2% 2
Open Source
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using VS Code and Visual Studio Community. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare VS Code and Visual Studio Community

VS Code Reviews

  1. dksinden
    · Working at SpeechKit ·

Boost Your Productivity with These Top Text Editors and IDEs
Visual Studio Code, commonly known as VS Code, is a powerful and extensible code editor developed by Microsoft. With its rich ecosystem of extensions and features like IntelliSense, debugging, and Git integration, VS Code enhances your coding productivity.
Source: convesio.com
13 Best Text Editors to Speed up Your Workflow
Finally, the Visual Studio Code website has numerous tabs for you to learn about the software. The documentation page walks you through steps like the setup and working with different languages. You’re also able to check out some tips and tricks and learn all of the Visual Studio Code keyboard shortcuts. Along with a blog, updates page, extensions library and API...
Source: kinsta.com
Jupyter Notebook & 10 Alternatives: Data Notebook Review [2023]
Previously, VS Code was more suited to developers or engineers due to its lack of data analysis capabilities, but since 2020, the VS Code team has collaborated with the Jupyter team to create an integrated notebook within VS Code. The end result is a fantastic IDE workbook for data analysis.
Source: lakefs.io
The Best IDEs for Java Development: A Comparative Analysis
Overview: Although not a traditional IDE, VS Code has gained popularity as a lightweight code editor.
Source: dev.to
20 Best Diff Tools to Compare File Contents on Linux
Visual studio code is a code editor made by Microsoft. It supports several development operations like debugging, task running, and version control. It works on Linux, macOS and Windows operating systems.
Source: linuxopsys.com

Visual Studio Community Reviews

We have no reviews of Visual Studio Community yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, VS Code should be more popular than Visual Studio Community. It has been mentiond 1137 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

VS Code mentions (1137)

  • 🚀 Your First Setup Win: Python and VS Code on Mac (Beginner Friendly)
    I visited code.visualstudio.com and clicked the big, inviting "Download for Mac" button. After downloading, I opened the .zip file, dragged the VS Code app into my Applications folder, and launched it. - Source: dev.to / 2 days ago
  • Vibe coding a GO CLI to extract data from articles
    For this challenge we will use Visual Studio Code and Anthropic Claude (Claude 3.7 Sonnet). Also, Go lang must be installed. I am running Fedora Linux. - Source: dev.to / 4 days ago
  • How to Run and Debug Tests in VS Code (With Keploy Integration)
    VS Code installed on your machine (available from here). - Source: dev.to / 22 days ago
  • Get Started with DeepSeek API for FREE: Guide with Multiple Tools!🔥
    Get your hands on VS Code by downloading it from the official website - your new coding command center. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Introduction to Creating Web and Console Applications with C#
    Visual Studio Code (VS Code) - Download and install it from https://code.visualstudio.com/. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
View more

Visual Studio Community mentions (146)

  • An Animated Introduction to Programming in C++ [Full Course]
    There are practice problems in each section so that you can practice while learning from the content. These are in the 'Hands-On Practice' section in each section. Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) are tools that allow you to write your own programs. There are some great, free C++ IDEs out there like Visual Studio, Xcode, and CLion. The simplest way to get started is to use a web-based IDE. Replit works... - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Getting Started with .NET and Docker Tutorial
    You also need Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition which you can get from visualstudio.microsoft.com. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Visual Studio vs. Visual Studio Code: An In-depth Comparison
    Visual Studio has multiple versions and are priced differently based on your development needs. Visual Studio Community Edition is the free version recommended by Microsoft for individual needs. Other versions with more advanced features are paid for through subscriptions. These versions include Visual Studio Professional and Enterprise Edition. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • A list of SaaS, PaaS and IaaS offerings that have free tiers of interest to devops and infradev
    Visual Studio Community — Fully-featured IDE with thousands of extensions, cross-platform app development (Microsoft extensions available for download for iOS and Android), desktop, web and cloud development, multi-language support (C#, C++, JavaScript, Python, PHP and more). - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Writing and Running Swift Code without Xcode on Mac and Windows
    First, you'll need Visual Studio Community (at the time of writing this blogpost, Visual Studio 2022 is the most recent version). Get it via winget install --id=Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.Community -e , or directly via Visual Studio Community if you don't have winget installed. Winget (winget) is a package manager for Windows like chocolatey and scoop. They have been compared numerous times. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing VS Code and Visual Studio Community, you can also consider the following products

Sublime Text - Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, html and prose - any kind of text file. You'll love the slick user interface and extraordinary features. Fully customizable with macros, and syntax highlighting for most major languages.

vscode.dev - Now when you go to https://vscode.dev, you'll be presented with a lightweight version of VS Code running fully in the browser.

Vim - Highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing

Ionide - Visual Studio Code & Atom plugins for F# development

Notepad++ - A free source code editor which supports several programming languages running under the MS Windows environment.

StackBlitz - Online VS Code Editor for Angular and React