Development Tools · head to head
Git vs Visual Studio
G
Git
Development Tools
A free and open source distributed version control system
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Visual Studio
Development Tools
IDE for .NET and C++ development on Windows
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Git licensed under GNU GPL version 2.0 as stated on git-scm.com/about; as open source software it has no paid tier or vendor price to compare; Visual Studio community edition is free only for individual developers, classroom use, academic research and open-source contribution, not general commercial use
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Git and Visual Studio actually diverge.
| Attribute | Git | Visual Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | open-source | freemium |
| Category | Unknown | Development Tools |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web), user rating (Not yet rated).
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Git
- Licensed under GNU GPL version 2.0 as stated on git-scm.com/about; as open source software it has no paid tier or vendor price to compare
- Git is a command line tool by design; graphical workflows and hosted collaboration depend entirely on third party GUIs and hosting services layered on top, per git-scm.com/about
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
Git
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the Git review.
Visual Studio
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the Visual Studio review.
Which should you pick?
Questions people ask
- Is Git or Visual Studio better?
- Neither clearly leads. Git starts at Free and Visual Studio at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Git or Visual Studio?
- Git starts at Free and Visual Studio at Free.
- Does Git or Visual Studio run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Git for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
Related pages
More on Visual Studio
Other head to heads
- Git vs Visual Studio Code
- Git vs ESLint
- Git vs pnpm
- Git vs Turborepo
- Git vs Yarn
- Git vs Ansible
- Git vs Prettier
- Git vs Vite
- Git vs Webpack
- Git vs Argo CD
- Git vs Azure DevOps
- Git vs Bitbucket
- Git vs Buildkite
- Git vs Claude Code
- Git vs Cody
- Git vs Deno
- Git vs Fig
- Git vs GitHub Copilot
- Visual Studio vs Visual Studio Code
- Visual Studio vs ESLint
- Visual Studio vs pnpm
- Visual Studio vs Turborepo
- Visual Studio vs Yarn
- Visual Studio vs Ansible
- Visual Studio vs Prettier
- Visual Studio vs Vite
- Visual Studio vs Webpack
- Visual Studio vs Argo CD
- Visual Studio vs Azure DevOps
- Visual Studio vs Bitbucket
- Visual Studio vs Buildkite
- Visual Studio vs Claude Code
- Visual Studio vs Cody
- Visual Studio vs Deno
- Visual Studio vs Fig
- Visual Studio vs GitHub Copilot