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Business Intelligence · head to head

Amazon QuickSight vs Visual Studio

Amazon QuickSight logo

Amazon QuickSight

Business Intelligence

Scalable, serverless BI by AWS

From
$3/month
Free plan
No
Visit Amazon QuickSightFull review
Visual Studio logo

Visual Studio

Developer Tools

IDE for .NET and C++ development on Windows

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit Visual StudioFull review

The short version

  • Visual Studio is free; Amazon QuickSight starts at $3/mo.
  • Where Amazon QuickSight falls short: reader and Reader Pro roles charged separately at $3 and $20/month.
  • Where Visual Studio falls short: A standalone perpetually licensed Visual Studio Professional 2022 costs $499 as a one-time purchase, separate from the subscription tiers.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Amazon QuickSight and Visual Studio actually diverge.

Attributes where Amazon QuickSight and Visual Studio differ
AttributeAmazon QuickSightVisual Studio
Starting price$3/monthFree
Pricing modelPer-userFreemium
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsAWSWeb
CategoryBusiness IntelligenceDeveloper Tools

Not yet recorded: founded for Visual Studio.

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Amazon QuickSight

  • SPICE In-memory Engine
  • ML Insights
  • Natural Language Queries
  • Embedded Analytics
  • Pay-per-session
  • Redshift
  • S3
  • Athena

Only in Visual Studio

Nothing recorded that Amazon QuickSight does not also cover.

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Amazon QuickSight

  • Business intelligencenot Visual Studio
  • Dashboard creationnot Visual Studio
  • Data visualizationnot Visual Studio

Visual Studio

  • Managing complex, large-scale projects across multiple platformsnot Amazon QuickSight
  • Commercial development in small businessesnot Amazon QuickSight
  • DevOps and automated deployment workflowsnot Amazon QuickSight
  • Windows/SQL Server developer and tester rolesnot Amazon QuickSight
  • Short-term or month-to-month IDE access needsnot Amazon QuickSight

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Amazon QuickSight

  • Reader and Reader Pro roles charged separately at $3 and $20/month
  • Author and Author Pro roles charged at $24 and $40/month
  • $250/month infrastructure fee required if Pro users or Q&A enabled
  • SPICE storage charged at $0.38/GB monthly (10 GB included)
  • Pixel-perfect reports start at $500/month for 500 monthly units
  • Alerts charged at $0.05-$0.50 per 1,000 metrics evaluated

Visual Studio

  • Community edition is free only for individual developers, classroom use, academic research and open-source contribution, not general commercial use
  • Monthly subscriptions are $45 per user per month for Professional and $250 per user per month for Enterprise, and do not include perpetual use rights the way annual Standard subscriptions do
  • A standalone perpetually licensed Visual Studio Professional 2022 costs $499 as a one-time purchase, separate from the subscription tiers

Pricing, plan by plan

Amazon QuickSight

$3/month
  • Reader$3/mo
    • Dashboard viewing only
  • Reader Pro$20/mo
    • Enhanced reader capabilities
  • Author$24/mo
    • Dashboard creation and editing
  • Author Pro$40/mo
    • Advanced authoring features

Visual Studio

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Visual Studio review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Amazon QuickSight if

  • You need spice in-memory engine.
  • You work on AWS.
  • You also want ml insights.
Amazon QuickSight review

Choose Visual Studio if

  • You want to start without paying.
Visual Studio review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon QuickSight or Visual Studio better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon QuickSight starts at $3/month and Visual Studio at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon QuickSight or Visual Studio?
Visual Studio has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $3/month for Amazon QuickSight and Free for Visual Studio.
Does Amazon QuickSight or Visual Studio run on more platforms?
Amazon QuickSight runs on AWS. Visual Studio runs on Web.
Can I use Visual Studio for free?
Yes. Visual Studio has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Amazon QuickSight starts at $3/month.
What is Amazon QuickSight best used for?
Amazon QuickSight is most often used for business intelligence, dashboard creation, data visualization. Of those, business intelligence and dashboard creation are not what Visual Studio is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon QuickSight do that Visual Studio cannot?
Amazon QuickSight covers SPICE In-memory Engine, ML Insights, Natural Language Queries, Embedded Analytics.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Amazon QuickSight: What does Amazon QuickSight cost per user?

QuickSight pricing varies by user role. Readers start at $3/month, Reader Pro at $20/month, Authors at $24/month, and Author Pro at $40/month. All prices are per user per month.

Source
Visual Studio: What are the pricing differences between subscription types?

Standard subscriptions include access to more benefits, such as Azure dev/test pricing, monthly Azure individual credit, software and download access, services, training, and support. Monthly subscriptions offer flexibility but fewer benefits.

Source
Amazon QuickSight: Does QuickSight charge an infrastructure fee?

Yes, QuickSight charges an infrastructure fee of $250/month per account if the account has at least one Pro user, has Q&A enabled via topics, or has dashboard Q&A enabled.

Source
Visual Studio: Are discounts available for startups?

There aren't any discounts available to start-ups, however an unlimited number of users within an organization can use Visual Studio Community for specific scenarios like open source work.

Source
Amazon QuickSight: What are QuickSight's session capacity pricing options?

Session capacity pricing starts at $250/month for 500 sessions. Annual plans range from $20,000/year for 50,000 sessions to $258,000/year for 1,600,000 sessions, with volume discounts reducing unit costs from $0.50 to $0.16 per additional session.

Source
Visual Studio: Who can use Visual Studio Community for free?

In non-enterprise organizations, up to five users can use it. Enterprise organizations (greater than 250 PCs or greater than $1M annual revenue) cannot use it beyond academic/open-source scenarios.

Source
Amazon QuickSight: How much does additional SPICE storage cost?

Additional SPICE storage beyond the included 10 GB costs $0.38 per GB per month. Authors receive 10 GB included, but Readers do not.

Source
Visual Studio: What's the renewal pricing structure?

Enterprise standard renews at $214.09/month (after initial $499.92); Professional at $66.59/month (after $99.99).

Source
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