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Databases · head to head

Immuta vs Visual Studio

Immuta logo

Immuta

Databases

Attribute-based access control and masking applied inside Snowflake, Databricks and BigQuery

From
On request
Free plan
No
Visit ImmutaFull 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; Immuta prices on request.
  • 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 Immuta and Visual Studio actually diverge.

Attributes where Immuta and Visual Studio differ
AttributeImmutaVisual Studio
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelQuoteFreemium
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb
CategoryDatabasesDeveloper Tools

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 Immuta

  • Attribute-based policy
  • Native enforcement
  • Dynamic masking
  • Row-level filtering
  • Purpose-based access
  • Sensitive data tagging
  • Audit logging
  • Multi-platform

Only in Visual Studio

Nothing recorded that Immuta does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

Immuta

  • A bank whose Snowflake estate has grown to tens of thousands of roles that no one can review before an auditnot Visual Studio
  • A healthcare analytics team that must let researchers query patient data with identifiers masked unless a specific purpose is recordednot Visual Studio
  • A multinational applying different residency and access rules per jurisdiction to the same tables without duplicating datasetsnot Visual Studio
  • An organisation running both Snowflake and Databricks that wants one policy set rather than two divergent implementationsnot Visual Studio

Visual Studio

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

Where each one falls short

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

Immuta

  • Contracts commonly start around one hundred to two hundred thousand US dollars a year for mid-market deployments and exceed five hundred thousand at enterprise scale, which excludes most data teams without a regulatory mandate
  • Policy is only as good as the data classification underneath it, so an organisation with poorly tagged columns will spend months on classification before Immuta enforces anything useful
  • Native enforcement means capability varies by platform, and a feature available on Snowflake may be absent or behave differently on BigQuery, which undermines the promise of one policy set everywhere
  • Adding an access governance layer creates a new dependency in the path to data: a misconfigured policy silently returns fewer rows rather than erroring, and analysts can act on incomplete results without noticing
  • It governs cloud data platforms, so personal data in operational databases, files and SaaS applications sits outside its scope and needs separate controls, meaning Immuta is rarely the whole answer

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

Immuta

On request
  • Immuta PlatformOn request
    • Attribute-based policy authoring
    • Native enforcement in supported data platforms
    • Dynamic masking and row-level security

Visual Studio

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Visual Studio review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Immuta if

  • You need attribute-based policy.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want native enforcement.
Immuta review

Choose Visual Studio if

  • You want to start without paying.
Visual Studio review

Questions people ask

Is Immuta or Visual Studio better?
Neither clearly leads. Immuta starts at On request and Visual Studio at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Immuta or Visual Studio?
Visual Studio has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Immuta and Free for Visual Studio.
Does Immuta or Visual Studio run on more platforms?
Immuta runs on Web, API. 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. Immuta starts at On request.
What is Immuta best used for?
Immuta is most often used for a bank whose snowflake estate has grown to tens of thousands of roles that no one can review before an audit, a healthcare analytics team that must let researchers query patient data with identifiers masked unless a specific purpose is recorded, a multinational applying different residency and access rules per jurisdiction to the same tables without duplicating datasets, an organisation running both snowflake and databricks that wants one policy set rather than two divergent implementations. Of those, a bank whose snowflake estate has grown to tens of thousands of roles that no one can review before an audit and a healthcare analytics team that must let researchers query patient data with identifiers masked unless a specific purpose is recorded are not what Visual Studio is typically brought in for.
What can Immuta do that Visual Studio cannot?
Immuta covers Attribute-based policy, Native enforcement, Dynamic masking, Row-level filtering.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Immuta: Does Immuta sit in the query path?

No. It compiles policies into the data platform's own native controls, so queries run at normal speed through your existing tools.

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
Immuta: What does it cost?

Not published. Market data suggests roughly 100,000 to 200,000 US dollars a year for mid-market deployments and considerably more at enterprise scale.

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
Immuta: Is Immuta still independent?

Yes. It remains independently owned, unlike several competitors in data access governance that have been acquired.

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
Immuta: Does it work across more than one warehouse?

Yes, one policy set can target Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery and Starburst, though enforcement capability varies by platform.

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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