Update:
This includes Free and Paid ones.
✅ Answers
? Favorite Answer
For developing Windows-only apps, it’s Visual Studio, undoubtedly. The Visual C/C++ compiler is pretty good, except for lack of support for C and C. The optimizer is excellent in “release” builds, and the “debug” builds include a ton of safety checks, both in generated code and in the libraries. The debugger itself knows about Windows and threads, and the editor’s language awareness is excellent. The profiler (only in Ultimate or Enterprise, I think, but check that) is also a nice tool to have. You can measure objectively which methods can benefit from optimization. You also get resource editors for producing Window-specific icons, string tables (as in translation strings for internationalized apps), images and more.
(However, a lot of the “more” only applies to “Managed C++”, which is a .NET language that looks a lot like C++ until you actually start using the .NET classes.)
For Standard C++ apps, I prefer the Code::Blocks + MinGW port. It will also compile Win and Win apps, but I use C::B to whip up quick tests and as access to a GNU compiler to help spot code that might not be portable. I also use C::B as my preferred IDE on Linux, where it’s an almost seamless transition. So, Code::Blocks gets my vote as best free C++ IDE.
Eclipse
Microsoft Visual C++
I’d say Visual Studio .