While AI coding agents from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google dominate headlines and Cursor hits $1 billion ARR, most development still happens in traditional IDEs. Visual Studio Professional 2026 offers a 64-bit environment supporting . NET, Azure, Xamarin, and **.

NET MAUI** for cross-platform mobile and desktop projects without switching tools. IntelliCode provides AI-powered completion suggestions and refactoring assistance directly in the editor. CodeLens surfaces commit history, test status, and references inline, while Live Share enables real-time collaborative editing and debugging without environment matching.

Native integration with Azure, GitHub, and DevOps workflows plus hot reload for . NET and C++ projects applies changes instantly at runtime. A single-user lifetime license is available for $29.97 (regularly $499.99) through August 30 at 11:59 p.m., redeemable on one device within 30 days of purchase.