Quick answer: A Visual Studio licence key unlocks the Professional or Enterprise edition permanently on the PCs it covers; without one, Professional runs as a 30-day trial. Community is free but its licence excludes most commercial use in organisations with more than five developers or over $1 million in revenue. Visual Studio 2026 Professional for 5 PCs costs $24.99 at GetDigiMarket against Microsoft’s $45 per month or $1,199 per year Professional subscription. Enter the key in Help, Register Product, Unlock with a Product Key.
Developers searching for a Visual Studio licence key usually arrive from one of two situations: a Professional installation whose 30-day trial has expired, or a team that has outgrown the Community licence. This guide explains what the key does, which edition you need, what it costs through us compared with Microsoft, how to enter it, and what to do when a key is refused. It covers Visual Studio 2026, the current release, and notes where 2022 differs.
Community, Professional and Enterprise: the real differences
| Community | Professional | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Microsoft: $45/month or $1,199/year subscription; GetDigiMarket: $24.99 for 5 PCs (perpetual) | Microsoft: $250/month or $5,999/year |
| IDE features | Same core IDE as Professional | Full IDE, CodeLens, Live Dependency Validation | Adds IntelliTrace, Live Unit Testing, Code Map, architecture tools, Snapshot Debugger |
| Licence for individuals | Any use, including commercial | Any use | Any use |
| Licence for organisations | Only if up to 5 developers AND under $1M revenue AND under 250 PCs/users; otherwise academic, open source or classroom only | Any organisation | Any organisation |
| Activation | Sign in with a Microsoft account | Product key or subscription sign-in | Product key or subscription sign-in |
For a solo developer or a small startup under the thresholds, Community is legally fine and functionally almost identical to Professional. The moment an organisation exceeds five developers, $1 million in annual revenue or 250 users, or is an enterprise using it for anything beyond open source and training, each developer needs Professional or Enterprise. Professional is the edition almost every business needs; Enterprise’s extra tools matter to large teams with dedicated testing and architecture roles.
What a Visual Studio licence key does
Professional installs as a 30-day trial. Entering a product key converts it to a permanently licensed installation on that PC, with no further sign-in required to keep working. Microsoft’s own route is a subscription tied to a Microsoft account, which must be renewed and which licenses one named user. A perpetual key, which is what we sell, licenses the installations it covers for the life of the version with no renewal. The Visual Studio 2026 Professional listing covers five PCs with one key.
Price comparison
Microsoft sells Visual Studio Professional as a subscription: $45 per month or $1,199 for the first year of the standard subscription, which includes Azure credits and software for development and test. A developer who only needs the IDE pays for benefits they never use. Our 5-PC perpetual licence is $24.99 at the time of writing. For a five-person team that is under one percent of the subscription cost over a year, with the trade-off that the perpetual key does not include Azure credits, Microsoft’s download benefits or the subscriber portal.
How to enter the key
- Install Visual Studio 2026 Professional from the official Microsoft link in your delivery email (the Visual Studio Installer; choose the workloads you need).
- Open Visual Studio. Go to Help, Register Product (on 2022: Help, Register Visual Studio).
- Click “Unlock with a Product Key”, enter the 25-character key, and click Apply.
- The licence panel changes from “Trial” with days remaining to “Product key applied”.
No Microsoft account is required for the key, although signing in is still useful for settings sync and extensions. On the remaining PCs covered by a 5-PC licence, repeat the same steps with the same key.
Visual Studio 2026 versus 2022
Visual Studio 2026 (released as the successor to 2022 in 2025) brings Copilot integration throughout the IDE, a 64-bit architecture carried forward from 2022 with faster solution loads, Fluent UI refresh, and support for .NET 10 and C++23. Visual Studio 2022 remains supported until January 2032. A 2026 key licenses 2026; a 2022 key licenses 2022. Both editions’ Community versions stay free. Our Visual Studio category lists the current keys.
Refused or expired keys
“The product key you entered is not valid for this edition.” The key is for Professional and you installed Enterprise, or vice versa. Install the matching edition from the Visual Studio Installer (Modify, change edition) and enter the key again.
“This product key has already been used.” On a 5-PC licence the count is tracked; if a machine was reinstalled without removing the licence, the count may be exhausted. Contact us with the order number and the machines in use; our guide to keys reported as used or blocked explains the general process.
Trial expired before entering the key. Enter the key through Help, Register Product; the expired trial unlocks immediately.
Key refused after a version update. Visual Studio updates within the same version (2026 17.x builds) keep the licence. A move to a new major version needs the matching key.
If a key cannot be applied and we cannot fix it, the order is covered by the 180-day money-back guarantee.
MSDN keys and what we sell
Searches for “MSDN product keys” refer to the keys historically available through MSDN (now Visual Studio) subscriptions, which are licensed for development and test use only and tied to the subscriber. The keys we sell are standalone Visual Studio Professional licences for the IDE itself; they are not MSDN subscription keys and do not include the subscription’s Windows and Office keys. For Windows and Office licences, our Windows and Office categories have the perpetual keys.
Who buys a Visual Studio key from us
Freelance developers who have crossed the Community revenue threshold, agencies with six to twenty developers standardising on Professional, schools and training providers that want the Professional edition on lab PCs without managing subscriptions, and companies replacing expiring subscriptions on machines that only need the IDE. In each case the perpetual 5-PC key costs less than one month of Microsoft’s subscription.
Installing Visual Studio 2026 Professional: a short walkthrough
Download the Visual Studio Installer from the official Microsoft link in your delivery email and run it. Choose the Professional edition when the installer offers Community, Professional and Enterprise. Select workloads: “.NET desktop development” and “ASP.NET and web development” for most C# work, “Desktop development with C++” for native code, “Mobile development with .NET” for MAUI, “Python development” or “Node.js development” as needed. Each workload adds gigabytes, so pick only what you use; more can be added later from the installer’s Modify button. Installation takes ten to forty minutes depending on workloads and connection. On first launch, skip or complete the sign-in prompt, then enter the key through Help, Register Product. The licence panel confirms the key and the trial countdown disappears.
System requirements
Windows 10 version 1909 or later, or Windows 11 (64-bit), or Windows Server 2019 and later. A 1.8 GHz quad-core processor and 8 GB of RAM are the practical minimums; 16 GB and an SSD make a noticeable difference with large solutions. Disk space ranges from 20 GB for a single workload to 200 GB with everything installed. Visual Studio for Mac was retired in 2024; Mac users use VS Code or a Windows virtual machine.
Keeping the licence after a reinstall
The key is stored with the installation, so a Visual Studio repair or update within the same version keeps it. After a Windows reinstall, install Visual Studio again and enter the same key; on a 5-PC licence, that reinstall counts as the same machine as long as the earlier installation is gone. Keep the delivery email; it contains the key and the official download link, and the Orders page in My Account holds a copy.
Visual Studio and the rest of the toolchain
A Visual Studio licence does not change what you can build or deploy; the compilers, .NET SDKs and runtimes are free. What it licenses is the IDE itself. Teams that pair Visual Studio Professional with Windows 11 Pro for BitLocker, Hyper-V and Windows Sandbox, and with Windows Server 2025 for test environments, can license an entire development workstation and lab from the same store with the same guarantee. SQL Server Developer edition remains free from Microsoft for development and test use, and VS Code is free for everything.
Extensions, Copilot and the key
The product key licenses the IDE. GitHub Copilot inside Visual Studio 2026 is a separate GitHub subscription (free tier available) signed in with a GitHub account, and it works on a key-licensed Professional installation exactly as on a subscription one. Marketplace extensions install normally. ReSharper and other paid third-party tools carry their own licences.
Summary
Community is free and legally sufficient for individuals and very small organisations. Professional is the edition businesses need, and a perpetual 5-PC key at $24.99 licenses it for a fraction of Microsoft’s subscription when you only need the IDE. Enter the key under Help, Register Product, and keep the delivery email for reinstalls. If a key is refused, check the edition first, then contact us; every key is covered by the 180-day guarantee.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a licence key for Visual Studio?
Community is free and needs no key. Professional and Enterprise run as 30-day trials until a product key is entered or a subscription account is signed in.
Can I use Visual Studio Community commercially?
Individuals can. Organisations can only if they have up to five developers, under $1 million in annual revenue and under 250 PCs or users, or for open-source, academic and classroom use. Beyond that, Professional or Enterprise is required.
Where do I enter the Visual Studio product key?
Help, Register Product, Unlock with a Product Key. On Visual Studio 2022 the menu item is Help, Register Visual Studio.
Is the key a subscription?
No. It is a perpetual licence for the installations it covers. Microsoft’s subscription includes extras such as Azure credits; the key licenses the IDE only.
Does a Visual Studio 2022 key work on Visual Studio 2026?
No. Keys are version-specific. Buy the key for the version you install.
How many PCs does the key cover?
The listing states the count; the current Visual Studio 2026 Professional licence covers five PCs with one key.