Full-featured IDE
Visual Studio is Microsoft's heavyweight IDE for .NET, C++ and enterprise development.
Code editing. Redefined.
Microsoft's own lightweight, free, cross-platform editor most developers use in place of full Visual Studio for everyday coding.
AI-first code editor
An AI-first IDE fork of VS Code for developers wanting deep AI pair-programming beyond Visual Studio's IntelliCode.
The Cross-Platform .NET IDE
A cross-platform .NET IDE with AI assistance that's the strongest direct rival to Visual Studio for C#/.NET developers.
The next-generation IDE by JetBrains
JetBrains' lightweight next-gen editor/IDE hybrid offering smart assistance as a leaner alternative to full Visual Studio.
The fast, collaborative code editor
A blazing-fast native editor with built-in AI and collaboration for developers who find Visual Studio too heavy.
Agentic AI coding editor
An agentic AI IDE that appeals to developers wanting autonomous coding help beyond Visual Studio's built-in tooling.
The IDE of choice for open source developers
The strongest free, non-AI, full-featured IDE alternative, especially popular for Java development.