Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Microsoft Visual Studio VS Pulsar Editor

Compare Microsoft Visual Studio VS Pulsar Editor and see what are their differences

Microsoft Visual Studio logo Microsoft Visual Studio

Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft.

Pulsar Editor logo Pulsar Editor

A Community-led Hyper-Hackable Text Editor, built on Electron. and based on everything we love about our favorite editors.
  • Microsoft Visual Studio Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-18
  • Pulsar Editor Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-05

Microsoft Visual Studio features and specs

  • Comprehensive Development Environment
    Microsoft Visual Studio offers a robust and comprehensive integrated development environment (IDE) that supports multiple programming languages, including C#, VB.NET, F#, C++, and Python. This makes it versatile for a wide variety of development needs.
  • Rich Feature Set
    The platform provides an extensive set of built-in tools and features, such as code analysis, debugging, and version control. These tools improve productivity and help maintain code quality.
  • IntelliSense
    Visual Studio’s IntelliSense offers powerful code completion, highlighting, and suggestion features that enhance the coding experience and reduce the likelihood of errors.
  • Integration with Azure and Other Microsoft Services
    The IDE integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Azure and other Microsoft services, making it easier to develop, deploy, and manage applications in the cloud.
  • Large Community and Support
    As a popular IDE, Visual Studio has a large user base and an active community. This results in a wealth of resources, including tutorials, forums, and extensions.
  • Customizability
    Visual Studio allows extensive customization through extensions and plugins, enabling developers to tailor the IDE to meet their specific needs.

Possible disadvantages of Microsoft Visual Studio

  • Resource Intensive
    Visual Studio is known to be resource-heavy, requiring significant system memory and processing power. This can slow down development, especially on less powerful machines.
  • Complexity
    The abundance of features and tools in Visual Studio can make it overwhelming for beginners or those new to the IDE. Navigating through its numerous menus and options can be challenging initially.
  • Cost
    While Visual Studio Express is free, many advanced features and professional tools are only available in the paid versions (Professional and Enterprise). This can be a drawback for individual developers and small businesses with restricted budgets.
  • Frequent Updates
    Although frequent updates can bring new features and improvements, they can also introduce bugs and require ongoing time investment to manage transitions and adapt to changes.
  • Windows-Centric
    While Visual Studio now supports macOS, it is traditionally Windows-centric and may not provide the same level of performance or features on other operating systems compared to its Windows counterpart.
  • Learning Curve
    Due to its extensive feature set and capabilities, there is a steep learning curve associated with Visual Studio. It may take considerable time for new users to become proficient.

Pulsar Editor features and specs

  • Open Source
    Pulsar Editor is open source, allowing developers to contribute, modify, and customize the editor according to their needs.
  • Extensible
    The editor supports a wide range of plugins and packages, enabling users to extend its functionality to suit various development workflows.
  • Cross-Platform
    Pulsar Editor runs on major operating systems like Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing a consistent experience across different platforms.
  • Community Support
    Pulsar Editor has a growing community that can help with troubleshooting, plugins, and development advice.
  • Familiar Interface
    It offers an interface that is intuitive for users familiar with Atom, making it easy to transition for existing Atom users.

Possible disadvantages of Pulsar Editor

  • Performance Issues
    As an Atom fork, it may still inherit potential performance issues, particularly when handling very large files or projects.
  • Limited Ecosystem
    Compared to more established editors like VS Code, the ecosystem for extensions and plugins might be smaller.
  • Early Development
    Being a relatively new project, it may have fewer features and a less mature development environment.
  • Fewer Integrations
    May offer fewer integrations with third-party tools and services compared to more widely used editors.
  • Resource Heavy
    It may consume more system resources than some lightweight editors, which can be a concern for users with limited resources.

Analysis of Microsoft Visual Studio

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Microsoft Visual Studio is considered a highly capable and feature-rich IDE, suitable for both beginners and experienced developers.

Why this product is good

  • Microsoft Visual Studio is widely regarded as a powerful and versatile integrated development environment (IDE). It supports a broad range of programming languages including C++, C#, Python, and more, making it a popular choice for developers working on diverse projects. With features like IntelliSense, integrated debugging, and version control, it enhances productivity and simplifies complex workflows. Its extensibility through extensions and plugins further customizes the development experience to suit individual needs.

Recommended for

  • Professional developers seeking a comprehensive IDE for large-scale projects.
  • Beginner programmers looking for an intuitive and supportive environment to learn coding.
  • Teams that require robust collaboration and version control tools integrated into their development workflow.
  • Developers working with Microsoft technologies, such as .NET, or those integrating with Azure services.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Microsoft Visual Studio and Pulsar Editor)
IDE
96 96%
4% 4
Text Editors
95 95%
5% 5
Software Development
91 91%
9% 9
Developer Tools
95 95%
5% 5

User comments

Share your experience with using Microsoft Visual Studio and Pulsar Editor. 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 Microsoft Visual Studio and Pulsar Editor

Microsoft Visual Studio Reviews

9 Of The Best Android Studio Alternatives To Try Out
Microsoft Visual Studio (Download Here) is an Android studio alternative developed by Microsoft. You can build computer programs, websites, web services, and web applications and use platforms like windows forms, windows stores, Microsoft Silverlight, and Windows API.
What's The Best C++ IDE? Our Top C++ IDEs & Editors In 2024
As you'd expect, this IDE supports a vast array of C++ standards, libraries, and frameworks, catering to legacy applications and modern, cutting-edge projects. So whether you're building a simple console application or a high-performance game using Unreal Engine, Visual Studio is up to the job.
Source: hackr.io
Android Studio Alternative
Visual Studio is the best alternative for android studio. It is an IDE platform developed by Microsoft. It is used to build computer programs, website, web apps, mobile apps and web services. It uses various Microsoft software development platforms such as windows forms, windows API, windows store, windows presentation foundation and microsoft silverlight. Visual studio has...
Source: www.educba.com
Top 10 Visual Studio Alternatives
Visual studio has been in the game for 20 years or more. The first version of the visual studio was established in 1997. However, since the establishment years of the Visual Studio, there have been many changes. Microsoft visual studio is an integrated development environment that Microsoft programs.
Best Eclipse Alternatives to Use
Visual Studio is the most used IDE for .Net developers. It is an IDE that can be used to create almost all types of applications. It is used by many developers across the world to create many types of applications, both desktop and web-based.
Source: eclipsewin.com

Pulsar Editor Reviews

We have no reviews of Pulsar Editor yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Pulsar Editor should be more popular than Microsoft Visual Studio. It has been mentiond 10 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.

Microsoft Visual Studio mentions (1)

  • Why don't schools teach the modern c++?
    While the editor seems to old fashioned there isn't anything particularly wrong in using it for learning. Alternatively you can propose to your teacher about https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/express/ . IMO editor is not a big factor when we are talking about high school learning. Source: about 4 years ago

Pulsar Editor mentions (10)

  • I still like Sublime Text in 2025
    Nobody mentionned Pulsar (https://pulsar-edit.dev/) which is the community maintained Atom since its sunsetting (Dec 2022). Atom was created by Nathan Sobo, who is now working on Zed (https://zed.dev/). - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • Zed on Linux Is Here
    The Atom editor is being maintained as a fork: Pulsar https://pulsar-edit.dev Zed is co-founded by one (or more?) original developer of Atom. So, it's a successor in a sense that it is a new project by the same author. Atom was developed at GitHub, and GitHub Inc remains the owner of the original Atom project. From their perspective the successor of Atom is VSCode - developed by their parent company, - despite the... - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Show HN: Open-source alternatives to tools You pay for
    You may be thinking of Pulsar ()? - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Help: Atom Alternatives/Copy-Pasting Scripts
    Pulsar has a TTS package, for those who were very comfortable in Atom. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Libre-friendly IDEs?
    In addition to the already mentioned Emacs, I would check Pulsar, the Atom successor. Source: about 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Microsoft Visual Studio and Pulsar Editor, you can also consider the following products

Xcode - Xcode is Apple’s powerful integrated development environment for creating great apps for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Xcode 4 includes the Xcode IDE, instruments, iOS Simulator, and the latest Mac OS X and iOS SDKs.

VS Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

IntelliJ IDEA - Capable and Ergonomic IDE for JVM

VSCodium - Binary releases of Visual Sudio Code without Microsoft branding, telemetry and licensing

Zed - Zed is a high-performance, multiplayer code editor from the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter.

Android Studio - Android development environment based on IntelliJ IDEA