VS Code Review 2026

What is VS Code?

Visual Studio Code is Microsoft's free code editor for Windows, macOS and Linux, and it is the editor many Indian startups, agencies and students already use every day. This review covers what the editor does well, where it falls short, how the built-in Copilot chat works, and our list of the best vs code extensions for web development, each checked against its Visual Studio Marketplace listing in October 2026.

The short answer for buyers: you pay nothing for the editor itself. Money only enters the picture if you want more AI usage than GitHub's free Copilot tier, or a paid add-on such as GitLens Pro.

What Visual Studio Code is used for

Think of it as a text editor that grows into an IDE as you add extensions. Out of the box you get syntax highlighting, IntelliSense code completion, Git integration, an integrated terminal and a debugger. Front-end and Node.js developers use it straight away. Python, Go, Java, C# and data science work need a language extension from the Marketplace, which takes a minute to install.

Microsoft moved to weekly stable releases in March 2026, starting with version 1.111. Version 1.142, released on 14 October 2026, added Canvases (a preview space where you and an agent work on the same artifact), a redesigned model picker and admin policies for agent sandboxing.

People who live in one language all day, such as Java backend teams, may still prefer a full IDE, which we cover below.

Key features in practice

• Integrated terminal: PowerShell, bash or zsh opens inside the window, so npm scripts and Git commands run without switching apps.
• Debugger: Node.js, JavaScript and TypeScript debugging is built in. For a custom entry point, arguments or environment variables you create a debugger launch.json file in the project's .vscode folder.
• Settings Sync: sign in with a Microsoft or GitHub account and your settings, shortcuts, snippets, extensions, profiles and MCP server configs follow you to another machine.
• Live Share: Microsoft's free Live Share extension (about 24.3 million installs when we checked on 17 October 2026) lets a colleague join your session and work on the same code in real time.
• Remote development: separate extensions open code over SSH, inside containers or in WSL, while the interface stays on your laptop.

Best VS Code extensions for web development

There are thousands of extensions, and installing too many slows startup. These are the ones with real adoption and a clear job. Install counts are approximate, taken from each Marketplace page on 17 October 2026.

A sensible starter pack for a React or Next.js project is the Prettier extension, ESLint, Tailwind CSS IntelliSense and Error Lens. Add Live Server only if you build plain HTML pages, since frameworks like Vite and Next.js ship their own dev servers. REST Client is handy because the request files live in Git next to your code, which a separate API app cannot offer.

One tip: set Prettier as the default formatter and turn on format on save in workspace settings, then commit the .vscode folder. Everyone on the team gets the same formatting without a meeting about tabs.

Is VS Code Copilot Chat free?

Yes, within limits. The chat panel is part of the editor now, and in June 2025 Microsoft open-sourced the Copilot Chat extension under the MIT licence, though the Copilot backend services and models remain closed. Hover over the Copilot icon in the status bar, choose to use AI features and sign in with GitHub. An account without a paid plan is enrolled in Copilot Free.

According to GitHub's plans page, Copilot Free gives 2,000 code completions and 50 chat requests a month, with agent mode included. Copilot Pro costs $10 a month with unlimited completions and 1,500 AI credits, and Pro+ is $39 a month. If you would rather use your own model, the FAQ says chat works with a bring-your-own-key model without signing in, but inline suggestions need Copilot. To switch AI off completely, set chat.disableAIFeatures to true.

VS Code Remote SSH setup and Dev Containers

Remote development is one of the main reasons teams standardise on this editor. For a cloud VM or a college lab server, the steps are short:

• Check that ssh user@hostname works from your normal terminal, ideally with key-based login.
• Install the Remote - SSH extension (or the Remote Development pack, which bundles SSH, Dev Containers and WSL).
• Run Remote-SSH: Connect to Host... from the Command Palette and enter the same user@hostname.
• Pick the remote platform if asked, wait for the server component to install, then open a folder.

Supported hosts include x86_64 Debian 8+, Ubuntu 16.04+ and RHEL/CentOS 7+, 64-bit Ubuntu 18.04+ on ARM, Windows 10 or Server 2016/2019 with OpenSSH Server, and macOS 10.14+. Alpine and other non-glibc systems are not supported over SSH. Microsoft recommends at least 1 GB of RAM on the remote, with 2 GB and two cores preferred.

Dev Containers go a step further. A .devcontainer/devcontainer.json file describes the image, ports, extensions and post-create commands, and the editor rebuilds that environment for anyone who opens the repo. You need Docker locally or on a remote host.

Python and Jupyter notebook support

To run Python, install Python 3 and Microsoft's Python extension. Open the Command Palette, run Python: Select Interpreter, open a .py file and press the Run Python File button at the top right. Shift+Enter sends selected lines to the terminal.

If you see an "interpreter not found" error, the usual fix is to run Select Interpreter again and point it at your venv, or create one with Python: Create Environment. On Windows, also confirm Python is on your PATH and reopen the editor. For notebooks, add the Jupyter extension, open or create an .ipynb file and pick a kernel from the top right.

Pricing, licence and commercial use

The editor is free, and Microsoft's FAQ says it is free for private or commercial use. There is no INR or USD price because there is nothing to buy. The detail most people miss is the licence split. The source code in the microsoft/vscode GitHub repo is MIT licensed, while the build you download from code.visualstudio.com ships under Microsoft's product licence, which adds telemetry and Microsoft branding. That licence lets you use any number of copies to build and test your apps, but you cannot share, publish, rent or lease the editor, or offer it to others as a hosted service.

Costs come from extras. GitHub Copilot paid plans start at $10 a month, GitLens Pro is a separate subscription, and some Marketplace extensions have their own paid tiers. Each extension carries its own licence, so check it before a company-wide rollout.

Privacy and telemetry

Microsoft's build sends usage and crash data by default. Is it safe to disable? Yes. Set telemetry.telemetryLevel to off in Settings; this also stops crash reports after a restart. To stop A/B experiments, set workbench.enableExperiments to false. Extensions may collect their own data and are not covered by this switch. When AI features are disabled or you are not signed in, the FAQ says nothing is sent to the Copilot backend. Teams that want no Microsoft telemetry at all can use VSCodium, a community build of the same source.

VS Code vs IntelliJ IDEA (and PyCharm)

Since version 2025.3, IntelliJ IDEA is a single product: core Java and Kotlin features are free, and advanced tooling needs an Ultimate subscription after a 30-day trial. PyCharm follows the same model, with free core features and a paid Pro tier.

Our view: a Spring Boot or large Django codebase gets more from JetBrains refactoring and inspections. A full-stack JavaScript developer, or anyone switching languages through the week, is better served by VS Code with a few extensions.

Lightweight VS Code alternatives

• VSCodium: the same open-source code, MIT-licensed binaries, telemetry disabled.
• Zed: a fast native editor for macOS, Windows and Linux. The Personal plan is $0 with your own API keys, and Pro is $10 a month with $5 of hosted AI tokens.
• Cursor: built on a fork of VS Code with agent features added. It has a free tier, then Plus at $8 a month and Premium at $30 a month. Your extensions and shortcuts mostly carry over.

Cursor is the pick for heavier AI agent work rather than a smaller footprint. For a smaller footprint, Zed is the more direct alternative.

Limitations

• Extension sprawl slows startup and can cause conflicts between formatters.
• Large monorepos can push memory use well past what the minimum specs suggest.
• There is no paid support line for the editor; help comes from docs and GitHub issues.
• Weekly releases occasionally change settings or menus you relied on.
• Remote and container features need extra setup that beginners may find confusing.

How to get started on Windows

Download the User setup from code.visualstudio.com. It needs no admin rights and installs under your user profile, which also makes updates smoother. Choose System setup only if every user on a shared machine needs the editor. The installer adds the code command to PATH, so after restarting your terminal you can type code . in any folder to open it.

Supported systems are 64-bit Windows client versions still supported by Microsoft, macOS versions that receive Apple security updates, and Linux distributions such as Ubuntu 20.04+ and Fedora 36+ with glibc 2.28 or later. The download is under 200 MB.

Is it good for beginners? Yes. Start with an empty folder, install only the language extension you need plus Prettier, and learn the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P). Add Copilot Free once you understand the code you are writing, not before.