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For past express editions, I've been able to find a "compare editions" page that shows what features are available in express, professional, ultimate, etc. Something like this.

However, every comparison table I've seen so far omits the express editions. Surely Microsoft must have a list of things you get by upgrading to Visual Studio Professional from an Express Edition--after all, it's a free product, and they would like you to upgrade to a paid product! So, where have they hidden this feature comparison table, or "reasons to upgrade to Professional" list?

Josh
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3 Answers3

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As far as I know there is no single table with a summary.

It depends on which version of express your talking about. Express is split up into a lot of different SKUs based on the type of product you're building; Web, Phone etc. Which is probably why there isn't an entry on this table for Express. 2013 was a point release to 2012 and there is a comparison of Express Web 2012 to Pro on MSDN.

The biggest single difference is that you cannot run plugins in Express. This means no Resharper, Test Driven .NET etc. This also applies to some plugins that you might consider to be written my Microsoft because they were not part of the official Microsoft release, for example plugins written my various other groups. This is a long-standing gripe for users of Express and looks like it is still the case for 2013, How to install Nunit plugin in Visual Studio 2013 Express?.

Community
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Ade Miller
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  • That is helpful! Interesting that on the MSDN page you linked to with the Express Web 2012 to Pro comparison, the "no plugins" restriction on express is not mentioned...? – Josh Apr 21 '14 at 15:17
  • This is still the case for 2013 Express :( http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20907842/how-to-install-nunit-plugin-in-visual-studio-2013-express – Ade Miller Apr 21 '14 at 15:23
  • OneCode Team on blogs.msdn.com posted an entry in November 2014 supporting Ade Miller's answer: [Differences between Visual Studio Community Edition and Express Editions](http://blogs.msdn.com/b/onecode/archive/2014/11/12/differences-between-visual-studio-community-edition-and-express-editions.aspx). It mentions the plugin restriction, and also notes that Express is split into different versions based on project type, e.g., the Web edition only allows you to work on web projects. VS Community and Professional editions are the same software with the same capabilities, but different licenses. – Josh Feb 25 '15 at 19:28
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I was very surprised when I downloaded Visual Studio 2013 Express Edition for web development on my new Windows 8.1 machine, and it was starkly different from what I believe is the identical product that I have been using for a while on a Windows 7 machine.

For example, when creating a very small demo app using Web API (from the asp.net website), the "New ASP.Net Project" wizard did not offer Web API. And the new project did not include the App_Start folder, which would include code for things like routing.

I tried to use NuGet to add the essential features, but no luck. That tutorial only took a few minutes on Windows 7, but was a miserable failure and an hour I will never get back on Windows 8. I don't really understand Microsoft's strategy here.

DOK
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From what I observed Visual Studio Express 2013 doesn't come with a 64-bit compiler.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC>vcvarsall.bat x64
The specified configuration type is missing.  The tools for the
configuration might not be installed.

And since the Win 8 SDK doesn't provide compilers anymore either, it appears like you must pay for Visual Studio 2013 Pro or you won't be compiling 64-bit binaries.

"The Windows SDK no longer ships with a complete command-line build environment" https://dev.windows.com/en-us/downloads/windows-8-sdk

Leif Gruenwoldt
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