What are the best C# IDEs?

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score 52 · Accepted Answer

Visual Studio

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Top Pro

Official IDE developed by Microsoft

If a project type or a platform is available for C#, it's available in Visual Studio. Some IDEs and code editors may cover some project types, but Microsoft always starts with VS. If you work with a cross-platform technology like ASP.NET MVC, it matters less. If you work with Windows-only technologies like UWP or WPF, you have no choice really. See More

Top Con

Slow

Visual Studio is very slow if you don't have a decent system, but even then it can still be slow. Once you get past the first few minutes of slowness, it runs fine, but this should not be acceptable for a professional-grade IDE. This can be caused by a multitude of factors, such as extensions. See More

Lewis Crichton's Experience

It's Visual Studio, what else do I have to say about it? It's the best IDE for any .NET language. With a variety of extensions, it can easily be adapted to do any task that your developer life desires. See More

Specs

Auto Complete:yes

Multi Language Support:yes

Bracket Matching:yes

Integrated Debugger:yes

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Top Pro

Free Community edition

Community edition is almost Pro edition, with just a few exceptions. Unlike old Express editions, it supports plugins. See More

Top Con

Professional Pricing is a bit steep

The professional edition's pricing is endearing since it costs more than IntelliJ, however, you wouldn't need that if you're not developing for a enterprise. See More

Chris Bordeman's Experience

I don't understand how anyone could possibly not rate VS #1 for C#. It supports every possible kind of C# development, every project type and target. It's Windows only. of course, but on the platform for which it's built, it's clearly the winner. See More

Top Pro

Excellent and broad range of plugins

The plugin development ecosystem is very mature and covers a lot of use cases. For example, it is often easy to find a plugin which allows you to have the keybindings of your preferred editor. See More

Top Pro

Supported by ReSharper and other plugins

Code productivity tools improve code editing experience greatly, provide static code analysis, refactorings, navigation etc. They are considered by many developers as essential. See More

Top Pro

Partial cross-platform support

Visual Studio runs on Windows and macOS, so even if you develop on a Mac you can still develop with Visual Studio. See More

Top Pro

Supports every kind of .NET development, every project type

Top Pro

Product backlog

In agile development teams one really needs features such as product backlogs where you can assign features to team mates and track their progress on them. VS provides a web based interface for you to track your team's complete progress on the project. See More

Top Pro

Cloud storage

Your Visual Studio Online account gives you a place to store your code, backlog, and other project data with no servers to deploy, configure, or manage. See More

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The Best 1 of 8 OptionsWhy?

My Recommendation for Visual Studio

My Recommendation for Visual Studio

Official IDE developed by Microsoft

Slow

Free Community edition

Professional Pricing is a bit steep

Excellent and broad range of plugins

Supported by ReSharper and other plugins

Partial cross-platform support

Supports every kind of .NET development, every project type

Product backlog

Cloud storage

7 Other Options Considered

My Recommendation for Visual Studio Code

My Recommendation for Visual Studio Code

Cross platform

Weak .net project and .net IntelliSense support

Free

Lightweight

My Recommendation for Project Rider

My Recommendation for Project Rider

New C# IDE based on ReSharper and the IntelliJ platform

Not free

Multiple runtime support

Relatively young project

Cross-platform

Superior "quality of life" features

Version control integration

Decompile code for any .net library

Supports all the development lifecycle

My Recommendation for MonoDevelop

My Recommendation for MonoDevelop

Free

My Recommendation for Code::Blocks

My Recommendation for Code::Blocks

Lets you choose the compiler

Free/Libre/Open Source

My Recommendation for Eclipse

My Recommendation for Eclipse

Large selection of plugins

UI can be confusing

Fast compiler

Plugins can be unstable

Highly customizable

Poor language support via plugins

Free and open source

Tends to be slow and lags a lot

Multiple languages - one IDE

Lack of plugins with good user interfaces

Good font rendering

Some old bugs don't get fixed

Good refactoring tools

Newer versions are getting less stable

Great debugger

Gives good perspectives on your project

My Recommendation for browxy

My Recommendation for browxy

No login required to run programs

Add, create and delete your projects

Publish your project to a public URL

The new beta version has a forum to ask for coding help

The new beta version supports more languages

My Recommendation for scriptcs + any text editor

My Recommendation for scriptcs + any text editor

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