Differences Between Arduino Compatible IDEs

There are a variety of Arduino Compatible IDEs which are available today, below we break down Visual Micro vs the standard Arduino IDE and PlatformIO.

 

Feature Visual Micro Arduino IDE PlatformIO
Arduino IDE Compatible
Supports Single INO
Supports Multiple INO
Sharing of variables and methods within multiple .ino files
Supports C++ / C

Use Arduino Examples

(without code change)

Use any historic Arduino project from the web

(without code change)
Use same hardware configuration as the Arduino IDE
Use same library configuration as the Arduino IDE
Library Resolution Caching After Code Edits
Cross-compatible code editing with Arduino IDE
Requires additional config outside of normal Arduino usage
Automatic Prototype Generation
(Optional)
Supports Shared Projects
Intellisense Code Suggestions

Provides a Serial/USB debugger

(No code changes, all boards)
Supports Hardware Debug Probes

Supports CI/VC Tools

(TFS, Git, Azure Dev Ops, SVN etc..)

Capture Entire Solution

(Project, Libraries, Board Packages)
On-PC Unit Testing (without code change)
On Chip Unit Testing (with Code Changes)