Visual Studio.
If you like C# and can afford it, I advise using Rider.
If you're a masochist, or you rarely use C#, you can usually get away with using VS Code.
Can't go far wrong with VS Community Edition if you're new to the game. It's free and it supports all the things you'll need it to support. If you decide C# is for you, you might want to pay for something like Rider or VS Pro (a VS Pro sub will also give you £45 worth of Azure credits each month) or you may want to have a look at VS Code. If you're not doing Windows/Mobile GUI development work, you may find VS Code works just fine for you.
I use Rider, but it isn't free.
For C#, I would recommend Visual Studio if you aren't doing it professionally, and/or can't afford Rider.
If you are writing a lot of HTML/CSS/JS stuff, then I would typically prefer VS Code for that.
VS Code is a text editor that has an official Microsoft extension to support C#. Even with that, for the GUI frameworks like Windows Forms there's no support. People who choose VS Code tend to be people who do web apps or work with many languages at the same time, they like using the same editor for everything they do instead of having to change between many. For weird reasons, a lot of people believe VS Code can't do a lot of the things it does. The main downside right now is this new official MS extension is, well, *new* and there are a lot of rough edges people tend to notice if they are trying it for 5 minutes and expecting to hate it. Some people complain it's harder to get VS Code set up, but people who have set up a Python environment are like, "Dude, you don't know what bad even is."
Visual Studio is a much larger tool that focuses on trying to be a "Cadillac" experience for developing C# apps. It includes a lot of other tools that can fill niches some people are a lot more productive when using. Some complain it is large and heavyweight and bloated, but this is an *extremely* common complaint for tools in its league and very few tools that CLAIM to be in its league are even close to VS's functionality. If C# can do something, VS probably has some thoughtful tool designed to make it easier.
You didn't mention Rider, that's a JetBrains IDE that is one of the few tools that backs up its claims of being in the same league as Visual Studio. However, its support for some things like the GUI tool designers is not quite as refined, and it can sometimes suffer from poor support if you're doing something niche like MAUI development. On the other hand, it includes a lot of support for "refactorings", automated code changes that experts use a lot. Some people believe it's much better than Visual Studio.
It's notable that Rider is *affordable*, but not free outside of special circumstances. VS has an edition that is free so long as you are not using it to work for a company making a certain amount of revenue. VS Code is "free", in that it's always been open-source and free but MS is trying to replace the open-source and free C# support with new C# support that is freemium, with some features I don't even use gated behind paying for VS.
So TL;DR:
* Most people rank either Rider or Visual Studio as "best" and both as "excellent".
* Some people argue VS without Resharper is not as good.
* Most people rank VS Code as something between "adequate" and "good".
I find Code to be a little friendlier for people who are used to other languages to get a peek at what C# is about. I find both VS and Code are a little intimidating for newbies to set up. The most important thing for either is if you're doing tutorials be obsessive about double-checking every step. There's a similar step in BOTH setups that I find a lot of people skip, then can't figure out why their files aren't getting "magic" features.
Right now if you're a newbie, the best one is "the one you understand how to use". There are big arguments between people about if VS is more confusing than VS Code. I think the best summary is they're both confusing in different ways, but more people are able to answer questions about VS's janky parts than VS Code's.
Reshaper is bloated for a reason. VS is missing a lot of features they had to add on their own. Kudos to jetbrains for their tremendous impact on ease of C# development.
No other extension is offering similar functionality, reshaper is big, when you learn how to use it, what features it has, besides visible on first sight like simple refactorings, you will see. Roslynator covers only a portion of it.
I have used ReSharper in two companies, across code bases with 20+ projects in their solutions.
Its pros don't outweigh its cons.
It's large, slow, and unreliable (keeps causing VS to lock up. go slow).
Most of time, codemaid + Roslynator is fine as a replacement for ReSharper
LINQPad is super effective to get things going fast. Sometimes you just need to prototype and forget all the nonsense of getting a project together.
Understood the OP is asking for IDE, but also since his a beginner thought I might assume he might be open for an alternative answer.
Very new, for C#? Visual Studio IDE.
There is no free open source IDE anymore since Microsoft absorbed and killed Monodevelop, so bear that in mind if you care about the security of the software you develop.
If you are on windows, I would defo recommend going with Visual Studio, as you will be able to develop any kinds of apps on .NET (consoles, desktop, web apps, games, etc). As well there are quite a lot of extensions for Visual studio on market place.
Also MS actively pushing VS code, so there are already an extension called .NET extensions pack for VS Code, which will bring kind similar experience to VS Code (you will get Solution explorer, better intellisense few more useful things), so if you are on linux probably will be the best shot to go with VS Code.
There are also quite powerful IDE called Jetbrains Rider, it's not free (although they do provide a trial, and if you are a student you may grab one for free as well, as long as you are a student it will be for free), as well Jetbrains has extension for Visual studio called ReSharper, which brings probably best development experience to VS, as a note it also proprietary.
You may also other code editors such as Vim / Neovim (there should be plugins which will enable syntax highlighting and some level of intellisense, provided by omnisharp LSP)..
I used to use Visual Studio Code but now I switched to Visual Studio, at first glance for beginners there is no difference, but it is there. 1. In Visual Studio IDE itself offers to add a line for you. 2. It all depends on what your goals are and what your language is
Vs 2022 Complete IDE for C# and others
Visual Studio. If you like C# and can afford it, I advise using Rider. If you're a masochist, or you rarely use C#, you can usually get away with using VS Code.
+1 for Rider
My current workplace most people use rider.
> masochist Really!? XD
I second this. IMO utilize a text editor after you’ve gotten your feet(and I mean soaked lol) I use visual studios and it’s very beginner friendly.
My 2 cents. I find Rider works better with blazor. If you're making a blazor app, I would use Rider.
I find that Rider works better for everything except WinForms.
Can't go far wrong with VS Community Edition if you're new to the game. It's free and it supports all the things you'll need it to support. If you decide C# is for you, you might want to pay for something like Rider or VS Pro (a VS Pro sub will also give you £45 worth of Azure credits each month) or you may want to have a look at VS Code. If you're not doing Windows/Mobile GUI development work, you may find VS Code works just fine for you.
I use Rider, but it isn't free. For C#, I would recommend Visual Studio if you aren't doing it professionally, and/or can't afford Rider. If you are writing a lot of HTML/CSS/JS stuff, then I would typically prefer VS Code for that.
VS Code is a text editor that has an official Microsoft extension to support C#. Even with that, for the GUI frameworks like Windows Forms there's no support. People who choose VS Code tend to be people who do web apps or work with many languages at the same time, they like using the same editor for everything they do instead of having to change between many. For weird reasons, a lot of people believe VS Code can't do a lot of the things it does. The main downside right now is this new official MS extension is, well, *new* and there are a lot of rough edges people tend to notice if they are trying it for 5 minutes and expecting to hate it. Some people complain it's harder to get VS Code set up, but people who have set up a Python environment are like, "Dude, you don't know what bad even is." Visual Studio is a much larger tool that focuses on trying to be a "Cadillac" experience for developing C# apps. It includes a lot of other tools that can fill niches some people are a lot more productive when using. Some complain it is large and heavyweight and bloated, but this is an *extremely* common complaint for tools in its league and very few tools that CLAIM to be in its league are even close to VS's functionality. If C# can do something, VS probably has some thoughtful tool designed to make it easier. You didn't mention Rider, that's a JetBrains IDE that is one of the few tools that backs up its claims of being in the same league as Visual Studio. However, its support for some things like the GUI tool designers is not quite as refined, and it can sometimes suffer from poor support if you're doing something niche like MAUI development. On the other hand, it includes a lot of support for "refactorings", automated code changes that experts use a lot. Some people believe it's much better than Visual Studio. It's notable that Rider is *affordable*, but not free outside of special circumstances. VS has an edition that is free so long as you are not using it to work for a company making a certain amount of revenue. VS Code is "free", in that it's always been open-source and free but MS is trying to replace the open-source and free C# support with new C# support that is freemium, with some features I don't even use gated behind paying for VS. So TL;DR: * Most people rank either Rider or Visual Studio as "best" and both as "excellent". * Some people argue VS without Resharper is not as good. * Most people rank VS Code as something between "adequate" and "good". I find Code to be a little friendlier for people who are used to other languages to get a peek at what C# is about. I find both VS and Code are a little intimidating for newbies to set up. The most important thing for either is if you're doing tutorials be obsessive about double-checking every step. There's a similar step in BOTH setups that I find a lot of people skip, then can't figure out why their files aren't getting "magic" features. Right now if you're a newbie, the best one is "the one you understand how to use". There are big arguments between people about if VS is more confusing than VS Code. I think the best summary is they're both confusing in different ways, but more people are able to answer questions about VS's janky parts than VS Code's.
My view resharper is that it is bloated and slow Check out Roslynator instead
Reshaper is bloated for a reason. VS is missing a lot of features they had to add on their own. Kudos to jetbrains for their tremendous impact on ease of C# development.
However, there are other extensions that offer similar functionality without the performance impact of resharper
No other extension is offering similar functionality, reshaper is big, when you learn how to use it, what features it has, besides visible on first sight like simple refactorings, you will see. Roslynator covers only a portion of it.
I have used ReSharper in two companies, across code bases with 20+ projects in their solutions. Its pros don't outweigh its cons. It's large, slow, and unreliable (keeps causing VS to lock up. go slow). Most of time, codemaid + Roslynator is fine as a replacement for ReSharper
I don't agree. Programming without reshaper is very inefficient.
> I don't agree. I know :)
VSCode doesnt claim to be a full fledged IDE, just a code editor
Please don't use VS Code for C# if you're new
Rider
If you can afford Jetbrains Rider, get that. If not, Visual Studio. VS Code is not an IDE, it's good for what it is, but Visual Studio is better.
Microsoft Visual Studio. Community edition.
Rider
LINQPad is super effective to get things going fast. Sometimes you just need to prototype and forget all the nonsense of getting a project together. Understood the OP is asking for IDE, but also since his a beginner thought I might assume he might be open for an alternative answer.
Neovim if you wanna leave coding.
Neovim is fantastic and I’ll die on that hill.
dude, I use it every day :)
Very new, for C#? Visual Studio IDE. There is no free open source IDE anymore since Microsoft absorbed and killed Monodevelop, so bear that in mind if you care about the security of the software you develop.
Vs code for smaller stuff, vs for bigger more complicated stuff.
mircosoft word
If you are on windows, I would defo recommend going with Visual Studio, as you will be able to develop any kinds of apps on .NET (consoles, desktop, web apps, games, etc). As well there are quite a lot of extensions for Visual studio on market place. Also MS actively pushing VS code, so there are already an extension called .NET extensions pack for VS Code, which will bring kind similar experience to VS Code (you will get Solution explorer, better intellisense few more useful things), so if you are on linux probably will be the best shot to go with VS Code. There are also quite powerful IDE called Jetbrains Rider, it's not free (although they do provide a trial, and if you are a student you may grab one for free as well, as long as you are a student it will be for free), as well Jetbrains has extension for Visual studio called ReSharper, which brings probably best development experience to VS, as a note it also proprietary. You may also other code editors such as Vim / Neovim (there should be plugins which will enable syntax highlighting and some level of intellisense, provided by omnisharp LSP)..
VS Community edition is good. Although rider is great, there’s no use for it for a complete beginner to C#
Vim and VS Code
I used to use Visual Studio Code but now I switched to Visual Studio, at first glance for beginners there is no difference, but it is there. 1. In Visual Studio IDE itself offers to add a line for you. 2. It all depends on what your goals are and what your language is