Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to VS Code DMs

Direct Messages for Visual Studio Code

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. VS Code DMs launched in 2020; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1
I built a VS Code Theme Creator – easily make VS Code themes in browser▲375
Create VS Code Themes with Theme Studio!
2021 · themes.vscode.one · its alternatives →
2
Visual Studio Live Share▲400
Real-time collaborative development
2018 · visualstudio.microsoft.com · its alternatives →
3
Chat for VSCode▲87
Chat with your Slack and Discord teams from within VS Code
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
4
VS Code Stories▲308
Instagram-style Stories for VS Code
2020 · marketplace.visualstudio.com · its alternatives →
5
Visual Studio Code 1.0▲309
Microsoft's cross-platform text editor for developers
2016 · code.visualstudio.com · its alternatives →
6
vscode.dev▲305
Bringing VS Code to the browser
2021 · vscode.dev · its alternatives →
7
Glitch for VS Code▲129
Collaborate on code & deploy instantly on Glitch from VSCode
2019 · blog.glitch.com · its alternatives →
8
Code Snippets AI▲230
Generate, refactor & debug with GPT-4. All inside VSCode
2023 · its alternatives →
9
Visual Studio Online▲243
Visual studio for web is now open for everyone
2019 · online.visualstudio.com · its alternatives →
10BY
Build your own Vim emulation for VS Code▲88
2020 · johtela.github.io · its alternatives →
11
Rubberduck▲150
ChatGPT for Visual Studio code
2023 · marketplace.visualstudio.com · its alternatives →
12
Voice Assistant for Visual Studio Code▲117
Put code snippets into the code by voice
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
13
CodeGroupie▲135
Find your next coding project
2024 · codegroupie.com · its alternatives →
14
Letting LLMs Run a Debugger▲147
Hey HN, I just built an experimental VSCode extension called LLM Debugger. It’s a proof-of-concept that lets a large language model take charge of debugging. Instead of only looking at the static code, the LLM also gets to see the live runtime state—actual variable values, function calls, branch decisions, and more. The idea is to give it enough context to help diagnose issues faster and even generate synthetic data from running programs. Here’s what it does: * Active Debugging: It integrates with Node.js debug sessions to gather runtime info (like variable states and stack traces). *…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
15
Affirmations for VS Code▲79
Positve affirmations while coding
2020 · github.com · its alternatives →
16
DVC Extension for VS Code▲165
Track machine learning experiments right in your IDE
2023 · marketplace.visualstudio.com · its alternatives →
17
VS Code Theme Studio▲141
Create your own VS Code theme easily, within your browser
2021 · themes.vscode.one · its alternatives →
18
vsChat▲117
Chat with developers around the world using VSCode
2020 · marketplace.visualstudio.com · its alternatives →
19
100 Days of Code VS Code Extension▲105
A VS Code extension to track your 100 Days of Code progress.
2020 · antenna.dev · its alternatives →
20
GitHub Codespaces▲4
Your instant dev environment
2020 · github.com · its alternatives →
21
Share Code Snippets ▲96
Code sharing made simple and easy
2021 · goonlinetools.com · its alternatives →
22
CodeSpeedy▲95
Simple tool to manage your VS Code code snippet
2022 · its alternatives →
23
Visual Studio 2017▲140
Productivity for any dev, any app, and any platform
2017 · learn.microsoft.com · its alternatives →
24
CodingView.io▲86
Collaborative coding environment for technical interviews
2020 · codingview.io · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →