CS+ vs Visual Micro
CS+
renesas.comVisual Micro
visualmicro.comSide by side
| Figure | CS+ | Visual Micro |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $1.58/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 2 | 4 |
| Spec score · Embedded Development IDEs | 8.0 (#6) | 7.4 (#16) |
| Headquarters | Tokyo, Japan | Birmingham, UK |
| Integrations | CS+ can interoperate with Smart Configurator for the RX family, and Renesas offers a co-simulation tool linking CS+ with MATLAB and Simulink. | The maker describes integrations with Git repositories and TFS/Azure DevOps, including project libraries. |
| Support | Renesas offers online support communities, a knowledge base, and ticket submission for technical questions or confidential information. | Annual licenses include forum support and license assistance for their 12-month term; perpetual licenses include support according to license type and can purchase continued support. |
Plans
Visual Micro
- Non-Profit/Hobby — 1 machine, 1 year$19 a year
- Non-Profit/Hobby — 1 machine, perpetual$64.99, paid once
- Commercial — 1 machine, 1 year$75 a year
- Commercial — 1 machine, perpetual$250, paid once
In their own words
CS+
CS+ is Renesas’s integrated development environment for creating software for Renesas microcontrollers. The free IDE is available for development and production, while evaluation compiler packages may impose limits. CS+ for CC targets the RL78, RH850, and RX families; CS+ for CA,CX targets RL78, 78K, and V850. Its installer includes compiler packages for target products, and compatible Renesas emulators provide debugging functions. The graphical interface can generate C device-driver programs for MCU peripherals, although generation is unavailable for some MCUs. Modified or saved source files build automatically in the background, and action events can show variable values at a specified address. Smart Browser for CS+ for CC presents device information, hardware manual content, sample code, and related FAQs. CS+ can interoperate with Smart Configurator for RX, and Renesas offers a co-simulation tool linking it with MATLAB and Simulink. Current listed versions run on Windows 10 64-bit and Windows 11; 32-bit use requires CS+ IDE V8.06 or earlier. Debugging emulators are sold separately.
Visual Micro
Visual Micro has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.