Comparison

Visual Studio vs Visual Studio Code

No clear leader: Visual Studio Code (61.4) and Visual Studio (58.0) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

Visual Studio full profile →Visual Studio Code full profile →

Machine formatsJSON Markdown GraphQLor send Accept: application/json

Visual Studio58

Visual Studio Code61

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	Visual Studio	Visual Studio Code
Vioscale score	58 / 100medium · 54%	61 / 100medium · 67%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	commercial	commercial
Price levelpricing.price_level	mid	free
Transparentpricing.transparent	✓	✓
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	2	7
Security
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	-	✓
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	-	7.4
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	-	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=%40theia%2Fvscode-builtin-javascript&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0
Reliability
Status pagereliability.status_page	✓	✓
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	-	1
Github starsadoption.github_stars	-	189,621
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	-	100
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	-	6
Historyrelease.history	-	20 items
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	-	MIT
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	-	TypeScript
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	-	Available worldwide

Score

Vioscale score

Visual Studio58 / 100medium · 54%

Visual Studio Code61 / 100medium · 67%

Pricing

Free tier

Visual Studio✓

Visual Studio Code✓

Model

Visual Studiocommercial

Visual Studio Codecommercial

Price level

Visual Studiomid

Visual Studio Codefree

Transparent

Visual Studio✓

Visual Studio Code✓

Integrations

Count

Visual Studio2

Visual Studio Code7

Security

Disclosure policy

Visual Studio–

Visual Studio Code✓

Scorecard

Visual Studio–

Visual Studio Code7.4

Vulnerabilities

Visual Studio–

Visual Studio CodeCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=%40theia%2Fvscode-builtin-javascript&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Reliability

Status page

Visual Studio✓

Visual Studio Code✓

Adoption

Dependent repos

Visual Studio–

Visual Studio Code1

Github stars

Visual Studio–

Visual Studio Code189,621

Activity

Commits last 30d

Visual Studio–

Visual Studio Code100

Release

Cadence days

Visual Studio–

Visual Studio Code6

History

Visual Studio–

Visual Studio Code20 items

License

Spdx

Visual Studio–

Visual Studio CodeMIT

Language

Primary

Visual Studio–

Visual Studio CodeTypeScript

Market

Availability

Visual Studio–

Visual Studio CodeAvailable worldwide

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for ides & code editors. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capability comparison for IDEs & Code Editors
Capability	Visual Studio	Visual Studio Code
Core
Type	Full IDE	Full IDE
Language scope	Polyglot	Polyglot
Deployment
Deployment	Desktop	Both
Platform support
OS support	Windows, macOS, Linux	Windows, macOS, Linux
Base platform	Original	Original
Extensibility
Extensibility	Extension marketplace	Extension marketplace
DX
LSP / DAP support	-	✓
Remote / dev-containers	-	✓
Integrated debugger / profiler	✓	✓
Code intelligence depth	IDE-grade	IDE-grade
Built-in git integration	✓	✓
AI
Built-in AI	Native	Native
Licensing
Openness	-	Open-core
Pricing
Pricing model	-	Free

Core

Type

Visual StudioFull IDE

Visual Studio CodeFull IDE

Language scope

Visual StudioPolyglot

Visual Studio CodePolyglot

Deployment

Visual StudioDesktop

Visual Studio CodeBoth

Platform support

OS support

Visual StudioWindows, macOS, Linux

Visual Studio CodeWindows, macOS, Linux

Base platform

Visual StudioOriginal

Visual Studio CodeOriginal

Extensibility

Visual StudioExtension marketplace

Visual Studio CodeExtension marketplace

LSP / DAP support

Visual Studio-

Visual Studio Code✓

Remote / dev-containers

Visual Studio-

Visual Studio Code✓

Integrated debugger / profiler

Visual Studio✓

Visual Studio Code✓

Code intelligence depth

Visual StudioIDE-grade

Visual Studio CodeIDE-grade

Built-in git integration

Visual Studio✓

Visual Studio Code✓

Built-in AI

Visual StudioNative

Visual Studio CodeNative

Licensing

Openness

Visual Studio-

Visual Studio CodeOpen-core

Pricing

Pricing model

Visual Studio-

Visual Studio CodeFree

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Visual Studio

Comprehensive integrated development environment for .NET and C++ development with AI-powered assistance, integrated debugging, testing, and CI/CD integration. Available as Visual Studio IDE for Windows and macOS, plus Visual Studio Code for cross-platform web development.

Independently observed

Visual Studio Code

A multi-platform code editor combining traditional editing, debugging, and terminal capabilities with built-in AI agents that research, modify code, run commands, and iterate toward task completion.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Visual Studio

from $45/moHybridFree tier

Free Community edition; subscriptions from $45/user/mo to $499.92/user/mo

CommunityFree
- Full IDE capabilities for .NET and C++ development
Professional standard$99.99/user/mo (paid annually), renews at $66.59/user/mo
- Visual Studio Professional
- Azure DevOps (Basic plan)
- $50 Azure credit per month
- Basic dev/test software
- Training and support
Enterprise standard$499.92/user/mo (paid annually), renews at $214.09/user/mo
- Visual Studio Enterprise
- Azure DevOps (Basic + Test plan)
- $150 Azure credit per month
- Premium dev/test software
- Extended training and support
- +1 more
Professional monthly$45/user/mo
- Visual Studio Professional
- Azure DevOps (Basic plan)
Enterprise monthly$250/user/mo
- Visual Studio Enterprise
- Azure DevOps (Basic + Test plan)

as of 2026-08-03verify ↗

Visual Studio Code

FreeFree tier

Free

as of 2026-08-14verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	Visual Studio	Visual Studio Code
WebPlatforms	✗	✓
macOSPlatforms	✓	✓
WindowsPlatforms	✓	✓
LinuxPlatforms	✓	✓
CLIPlatforms	✗	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✗	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	✓	✓

Platforms

Web

Visual Studio✗

Visual Studio Code✓

macOS

Visual Studio✓

Visual Studio Code✓

Windows

Visual Studio✓

Visual Studio Code✓

Linux

Visual Studio✓

Visual Studio Code✓

CLI

Visual Studio✗

Visual Studio Code✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

Visual Studio✗

Visual Studio Code✓

Self-hosted

Visual Studio✓

Visual Studio Code✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

In common (1)

GitHub

Visual Studio

2 total - 1 not shared

Azure

Independently observed

Visual Studio Code

7 total - 6 not shared

GitHub Actions
GitHub Copilot
Azure Pipelines
GitLab CI
Azure DevOps
MCP servers

Independently observed

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.