We are using Jetbrains' dotTrace. Can anyone recommend any other profiling tools that you think are better for profiling C# Windows Forms applications?
+1
A:
We use DotTrace like you, but in the past we used Ants Profiler by RedGate. It is a nice tool also.
Dale Ragan
2008-09-08 15:15:59
+12
A:
No. I have tried pretty much every .NET profiler on the market (ANTS, vTune, OptimizeIt, DevPartner, YourKit), and in my opinion dotTrace is the best of the lot. It is one of only two profilers I have used (the other being YourKit) that has low enough overhead to handle a highly CPU-intensive application.
If and only if your application is relatively light, I could recommend ANTS Profiler. It's line-by-line stats are sometimes quite useful, but they come at a price in profiling efficiency.
McKenzieG1
2008-09-08 15:28:22
I was using ANTS on an optimizer that use the processor completely and it seemed to work fine.
Tomas Pajonk
2009-12-17 15:28:29
+2
A:
Ants Profiler just released version 4.
We use it, and are quite happy with it. There's a 14 day trial to evaluate (as is true for most offerings).
Bramha Ghosh
2008-09-08 15:35:06
+5
A:
For memory profiling you have both the free CLR profiler and the commercial .NET memory profiler. Both are excellent but the latter is a bit more polished.
On Freund
2008-09-08 15:36:14
+1
A:
I am very happy with RedGate ANTS. The only other one I tried was the one that comes with Visual Studio Team, and it sucks.
Jonathan Allen
2008-09-08 20:35:32
I actually prefer the VS one, it gives me more info than ANTS. You might prefer the ANTS profiler but I don't agree that the VS one sucks. It works well when you know how to use it.
Meta-Knight
2010-01-07 15:31:55
A:
nProf is a good tool if you're looking for something free. It's kind of finicky at points, and a little buggy, but if you're on a tight budget, it'll do the job.
Kibbee
2008-09-11 15:12:05
Seems like recently nProf has had some life breathed into it. It's been pretty stagnant for the last few years. Still no documentation though. I think your best bet is to just try it out. It's a pretty slim program, without a lot of options. Basically you just start your program from the profiler, and it records how long each method takes to run. When are are done running your program, it gives you totals of how long was spent in each method. Best thing to do is to run through the slow parts of your application, even just one action at a time, and see where it's slow.
Kibbee
2009-07-17 23:34:52
+2
A:
We've got on really well with AQTime. The great thing from our point of view is that it does the unmanaged parts of our code too.
Greg Whitfield
2008-09-11 15:45:19
+2
A:
@[mckenzieg1]
I know it's a test coming from Red Gate (ANTS), but http://www.simple-talk.com/community/blogs/jcrease/archive/2008/09/16/69546.aspx talks about the significant speed improvements with ANTS v4. Therefore, is your experience with just v3?
(and why is the username not hyperlinking?)
Ted
2008-09-17 19:45:02
+1
A:
It hasn't been mentioned yet, but for memory analysis Windbg is about as thorough and low-level as you can get. Using it in combination with sos.dll is incredibly powerful, but there is a fairly steep learning curve.
It's a free tool though, and Tess Ferrandez' blog is a great place to start with it. ANTS and other profilers are much more user-friendly, but Windbg can slice and dice the managed heap like none other in my opinion.
STW
2009-04-21 18:08:11
+4
A:
I have used the EQATEC Profiler. It is free and is a code profiler, not a memory profiler.
Peter Mortensen
2009-09-08 10:29:41
It's pretty basic but better than nothing if you want a free profiler.
Meta-Knight
2010-01-07 15:29:43
A:
I've been using the free SlimTune since its recent release. Although it has a minimal interface, it is super easy to use and provides good diagnostics which have already helped me a lot. It currently supports two kinds of displays, one of which is similar to nProf. It is from the same developer as SlimDX, so I expect the tool to become even better in the short term.
EDIT: As far as I know, it does not support memory profiling yet.
Trillian
2009-10-15 14:27:49
A:
You should check out SpeedTrace. We are pleased with the software and it helps us alot in resolving the root causes of my problem.
Tim Mueller
2010-04-16 18:21:45