How are ReSharper C++ and Visual Assist different?

Question

What's different between the two? JetBrains lists some differences here, but I heard there might be some inaccuracies in the list.

Answer 1

Disclaimer: I'm a developer on the ReSharper C++ team.

Since functionality of ReSharper C++ and VAX is similar in many areas, I'm going to highlight only the important differences.

ReSharper C++

• Provides on-the-fly code analysis with a vast array of both compile errors and code quality checks with corresponding quick fixes and configurable severities. For example, R++ will warn if an include is unnecessary, a variable is uninitialized, a polymorphic class has public non-virtual destructor or when a function can be made 'static' or 'const'.
• Code analysis can be performed on entire solution, so R++ can also serve as a static analysis tool.
• Has more code generation features (including generation of special member functions) and a set of context actions that help to understand and transform code (e.g. to substitute a macro call or an 'auto' specifier).
• Includes a configurable code formatter (VAX uses the builtin Visual Studio formatter).
• Has a unit test explorer and runner that support Google test and Boost.Test libraries.
• Is based on a precise code model which correctly handles template instantiations, preprocessing, context-depending parsing and overload resolution.

Visual Assist X

• Is generally faster on large projects than R++.
• Has debug assistance functionality, including a memory view tool window and debug step filters.
• Supports C++/CLI.

You can also take a look at a detailed feature-by-feature comparison page.

The point Knitschi made about pricing is not entirely correct. Comparing e.g. US prices, a yearly price for ReSharper C++ (which only supports C++ compared to ReSharper Ultimate) is less than the one for VAX both for organizations and individual customers. ReSharper C++ is also available for free for teachers, students and open source projects.

ReSharper C++ is in active development and gains a lot of new features with every release. If you have any problems or feature requests, please report them to the issue tracker.