👉 Visual Studio 2019 Community (Requires free Dev Essentials account) Final Verdict Visual Studio Community 2019 is not dead. It is "mature." For the solo dev, the small startup, or the student with a four-year-old laptop, it is the best free IDE ever released. It doesn't need to be the newest—it just needs to compile your code fast and stay out of your way.

Why Visual Studio Community 2019 is Still a Powerhouse for Developers in 2024 (and Beyond)

remains a formidable, free, and fully-featured IDE for students, open-source contributors, and small development teams. While the new kid on the block (VS 2022) offers 64-bit perks, VS 2019 still holds a sweet spot for stability, legacy support, and lower resource overhead.

Let’s break down why you should still download VS Community 2019 today. Let’s start with the obvious: It is completely free for individual developers, open-source projects, academic research, and small professional teams of up to 5 users . That’s right. A team of five can build commercial desktop apps, mobile apps (Xamarin), or web APIs without paying a dime for licensing.