Visual Studio Code: A Guide to Microsoft’s Free Code Editor

Key takeaway

• Visual Studio Code is a flexible, cross‑platform editor that adapts to your workflow and supports diverse coding projects.

• Visual Studio Code is free and connects to over 80,000 extensions in the Extension Marketplace, supporting languages, frameworks, and specialized workflows [1].

• Visual Studio Code is good for beginners, and you can tailor the interface, add extensions, and adjust settings to shape the editor around your project, workflow, and preferred coding environment.

The open-source code editor runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux and adapts to a wide range of development needs. Explore working with Visual Studio Code, including some of the code editor’s key features and how to begin using the tool for your project. Afterward, consider enrolling in the Microsoft Full-Stack Developer Professional Certificate. Within nine months, you can learn how to apply object-oriented programming (OOP) principles to design modular, scalable solutions in C#, demonstrated through real-world coding projects.

What is Visual Studio Code?

Visual Studio Code is a code editor you can use to organize, manage, and write code. You can integrate other apps to add functionality, and it offers a wide range of customization built in. As the app is written in open-source code, you can really customize the program in any way you can imagine to fit your needs. 

Is VS Code an IDE? Visual Studio vs. Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code is a lightweight code editor that runs on Windows, macOS, or Linux desktops. It's an integrated development environment (IDE) with comprehensive features for writing, compiling, testing, and debugging code. Visual Studio Code is faster but offers fewer features than the Visual Studio IDE.

If you don’t need the whole IDE, Visual Studio Code allows you to access a simpler set of powerful and customizable tools to get the tools you need faster. It also offers flexibility because you can integrate the third-party features you need. On the other hand, Visual Studio IDE enables you to access a comprehensive suite of features without any integrations.

Read more: Linux vs. Windows: What’s the Difference?

Is Visual Studio Code free?

Yes, Visual Studio Code is a free code editor offered by Microsoft. Visual Studio Code offers many features and is a standalone code editor. Visual Studio Code makes it easier to write code with tools like the IntelliSense code completion tool, which can help you learn more about your code and provide suggestions about how to finish the code you’ve typed. 

What can you do with VS Code? 

You can generate, fix, or refactor code, copy and paste, navigate through your code, and find code references with highlighted text. You can also customize Visual Studio Code in several ways to make the program work better or more intuitively for your project.

Learn more about some of the key features of Visual Studio Code:

• Free and written in open-source code: Visual Studio Code might be a more attractive choice because it is free to use. In contrast, Visual Studio (the IDE) is a paid subscription, ranging from $45 a month per user for a basic professional plan to $499.92 per user for a full-scale annual enterprise subscription [2].

• Extensions and plugins: You can add features to Visual Studio Code using extensions and plugins. You can add AI functionality with GitHub Copilot, which helps you access an AI-powered chatbot that can become an expert on your code and project. You can choose from over 80,000 extensions through Extension Marketplace, including MongoDB, Stripe, Python, Jupyter, C/C++, and GitLens [1].

• Customizable user interface: With built-in customization tools, you can change the look and layout of the user interface. You can also use Settings Sync to sync your settings across all instances of your code base, so your whole team is working with the same process. You can also set customized profiles to switch quickly back and forth between customized interfaces.

• Integrated terminal: Visual Studio Code includes an integrated terminal that allows you to conveniently access the command line without leaving your code editor. Terminal shells allow you to access programs like Git Bash or pwsh.

• Debugging tools: Visual Studio Code has built-in debugging features so you can run and debug your code within the editor and see your work in real time without switching to a different window or program. You can also find integrations to add other debugging tools to Visual Studio Code.

• Supported programming languages: Visual Studio Code offers out-of-the-box support for some popular programming languages like cascading style sheets (CSS), hypertext markup language (HTML), and JavaScript, but using language extensions, you can find support for nearly any programming language. Visual Studio Marketplace offers extensions for hundreds of languages, including Python, C, C++, C#, Go, Dart, and Ruby. 

Is Visual Studio Code good for beginners?

Yes, Visual Studio Code can work well for beginners. It builds on an editor used by millions of developers for over a decade, offering intelligent completions, AI‑powered inline suggestions, and a polished editing experience. Beginners can also delegate tasks to agents that plan work, make code changes, run commands, and iterate, all inside one editor, making it possible for you to code anywhere and learn as you go. 

Who uses Visual Studio Code?

Visual Studio Code is a tool that many professionals developing software, websites, applications, and other coding projects can use to work with and write code efficiently. If you want to explore a career where you can use Visual Studio Code, your options include roles like web developer, software engineer, data scientist, or software architect. 

Web developers

Median total salary in the US (Glassdoor): $101,000 [3]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2024 to 2034): 7 percent [4]

As a web developer, you work to design, build, and maintain websites. You may develop websites for one company or help multiple clients create and maintain their digital assets. In this role, you may work with other professionals like designers and graphic artists to provide design assets. In contrast, you provide programming, or you may be directly involved in creating mock-ups, prototypes, and assets such as images. 

Software engineers

Median total salary in the US (Glassdoor): $150,000 [5]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2024 to 2034): 15 percent [6]

As a software engineer, you design, develop, test, and maintain software. You may work on more complex software than professionals working as software developers, such as operating systems or software systems that control a network. In this role, you will collaborate with other professionals and offer strategic recommendations on software upgrades. 

Data scientists

Median total salary in the US (Glassdoor): $156,000 [7]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2024 to 2034): 34 percent [8]

As a data scientist, you help companies and organizations understand their data and identify actionable insights. In this role, you’ll determine what data you need to understand your project, then collect, process, store, and analyze the data. You create visualizations to communicate your findings to leadership or clients and make recommendations based on your analysis.

Software architect

Median total salary in the US (Glassdoor): $230,000 [9]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2024 to 2034): 15 percent [6]

As a software architect, you work to develop software from a position of leadership, leading technical teams, making strategic choices for the project's direction, and working directly with the client and other stakeholders to determine the software requirements and project constraints like budget and timeline. Then you’ll work closely with your team to design, write, and test code, leading in delegating tasks and holding your team to quality standards. 

*All salary information represents the median total pay from Glassdoor as of June 2026. These figures include base salary and additional pay, which may represent profit-sharing, commissions, bonuses, or other compensation.

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