So, you are a coder and looking for the best Visual Studio Code themes then you are at the right place. Today, we are going to see that and a lot more in this article.
How good is Visual Studio Code?
Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code is one of the best slates to write codes. It has an array of extensions, an intuitive UI, and a whole lot more to quench any developer’s appetite for coding.
Another thing Microsoft always does with most of its products is cross-platform support, and Visual Studio Code is no exception. You can use this application on Windows, macOS, Linux, so, you will rest assured that no matter which machine you are working on you can enjoy coding in Microsoft’s Masterpiece (how’s that for a pun).
Best Visual Studio Code Themes 👌👌
Visual Studio Code is known for its themes as it has tons of good ones. However, in this article, we are going to find the great ones, and obviously, there can’t be hundreds of greats. So, without wasting any time, let us jump right into it.
1. Ariake Dark
Want a gorgeous slate to write to code that will also put less strain, go for Ariake Dark (Download Here). As the name suggests, Ariake Dark has a dark mode that will make aesthetics better, but the Dark background will be easy for your eyes to handle and if you have an AMOLED screen it will turn the pixels off as a result save your battery.
An aspect of dark themes that not many like is that sometimes it makes content less readable. However, Ariake Dark is programmed to highlight texts and increase the contrast of texts, hereby making them perfectly readable.
Another pro-tip, if you are using this theme, try to go for Fira Code text as it will add a bit of oomph to your presentation.
2. Rose’ Pine
If you are after elegancy, Rose’ Pine (Download Here) is the way to go. It is again one of those instances where adding a bit of black in the Background changes the whole aesthetics. It is a simple theme with a dark background and some pastels colors for texts and pinks being the dominant one.
Because of the use of Pastel colors, it retains the contrast that’s found on any regular light theme. It has two additional themes, Rosé Pine Dawn and Rosé Pine Moon, to add some panache to your Visual Studio Code editor. Rose’s Pine is a mix of elegance and practicality in one.
3. Celestial
If you are an OG user of Visual Studio Code, you may be familiar with Horizon (will be discussed later), it is one of the most loved themes and serves for years.
The only caveat with Horizon is that it has a not-so-dark background. That’s when Celestial (Download Here) comes into play, it is a much darker and aesthetically pleasing version of Horizon.
Just like any other dark theme on our list, readability in Celestial perfect. The texts are colorful and there won’t be any issue reading them. However, u need to keep in mind that it is darker than all the other themes we have discussed.
This darkness has its upside as well as downsides. The upside is that it will save your battery, even more, the downside is that some of you might find the darkness a bit jarring to your mind. So, pick accordingly.
4. Horizon
Horizon (Download Here) is probably one of the most popular and best Visual Studio Code themes in the market. It is an answer to those who think Celestial is a bit too dark. Horizon is not as dark Celestrial but it still is elegant, nevertheless.
It is warm, colorful, has enough contrast, and a lot of things to customize. It has all the bells and whistles of Celestial and is quite similar in every regard except the background color.
If you are looking for an elegant theme without sacrificing the fun bit Horizon is the way to go.
5. In Bed By 7PM
In Bed By 7 PM (Download Here), apart from having a weird name is one of the best Visual Studio Code Themes in the market. It is one of the best in the business mostly because of its aesthetics and readability.
Since the theme is dark, one of the things they have made sure of is to increase the contrast ratio. All the text is visible and separated from the background.
Another thing, that is pretty self-explanatory by the name itself is that the theme is designed to help your sleep cycle. According to science, the blue emitted by your computer can disturb your sleep cycle. So, if you are concerned about that, you can always get this theme, apply it, and sleep like a baby!
6. One Dark Pro
One of the best Visual Studio Code themes, arguably, One Dark Pro (Download Here), is a perfect blend of sophistication and practicality. If you don’t believe just search how many active users it has, the number is probably more than a million.
Its popularity alone didn’t make it to the list, there are some awesome features, coupled with gorgeous aesthetics, on top of some useful shortcuts and features. So, without any doubt, it is the one to get if you don’t have any particular preferences.
7. Material Theme
Material Theme was a hit from the moment it was released. It amps up the idea of minimalism and let’s be honest a developer is not looking for a piece of art while selecting their Visual Studio theme.
It uses the material design of Google and adds some other features to set the Standard of Modern UXs. It is flexible, elegant, practical, and one of the best Visual Studio Code Themes for someone demanding perfection.
And it also has the number back this up, almost 2.5 million people have downloaded and used this theme, so that’s that.
8. Night Owl
Night Owl is a minimalist theme, it doesn’t have any fancy bells and whistles but what it has is neat and perfect. The developers clearly focused on accessibility making a productivity tool more than a good-looking slate.
The contrast level here is adequate and the colors will not overwhelm you. So, calling it one of the best Visual Studio Code Themes for colorblind and for someone who ought to work late at night won’t be a big problem. Night Owl is a simple, neat, and intuitive theme for the masses.
9. Andromeda
Andromeda is for the crowd who wants to combine art with Computer Science. It has one of the best UI with vibrant colors, dark background, etc. It has some other customization options, such as the inclusion of Italian texts, an array of fonts, etc.
However, you need to keep one thing in mind before downloading this theme, do not download it if you are a minimalist person, it is not for you. The vivid color and high saturation can be overwhelming and the wide range of colors can sometimes make the theme sacrifice contrast.
But, if you are going for this theme, do make sure to either go for Operator Mono or Catograph Mono. These are the best fonts for this theme.
10. Tokyo Night
You may have heard about the glories and stories of the beauty of Tokyo Night. So, what if I say there’s a theme inspired by the Tokyo Night and looks nothing short of delightful, Tokyo Night is one such theme that you can install on your Visual Studio Code to make it look magnificent.
However, there is a big caveat here, it doesn’t have the best contrast ratio. So, because of this, it won’t be very readable. This reason alone makes it not best but one of the best Visual Studio Code Themes.
But don’t write it off because of this one drawback, there are some workarounds. The primary one being, disabling semantic system syntax. This can regain some of those lost contrast.
There’s another side of this story, the low-contrast can allow the editor to create a less-distracting slate. So, I don’t think you should just reject this theme because of this, try it and then make your decision.
11. Cobalt 2
I’m pretty sure that Visual studio code theme enthusiasts are familiar with Cobalt 2, it is one of the most liked themes with over 3 lakh monthly users. Making everything dark makes coding more exciting, but wasting more time in visual settings is not so exciting and is more likely will be loved by Ariake dark users.
Since the theme is dark, it has color palettes and a lot of designs to make reading fluid. It has all the things in the right place for you to select this dark theme.
12. Ayu
If you are familiar with NIght Owl, and Material theme, then no doubt you will like Ayu, a minimalist theme with warm colors. The theme does not do fancy jazz so keep in mind before downloading Ayu, is that it is not for extravagant people.
Working smart is better than working hard and that’s what Ayu is all about. The variable knick-knack themes make Ayu, a minimalist, neat slate for coders, and a simple visual studio code is worth the time.
It is a clean and intuitive theme without any bells and whistles and looks elegant. Sometimes, you need this when you are working late at night.
13. Monokai Pro
With no bad critics, Monokai Pro is undoubtedly rated professional visual studio code theme that comes fully packed with colors. The millions of users can give you detailed reports on the color quality and quantity.
Monokai developers focus on making the best color scheme theme backed up by a productivity tool. It is for color lovers who love a plethora of colors to play with while coding. Monokai Pro is colorful but you won’t get overwhelmed with colors. So, it is clean and bright, and perfect to code on.
14. Bear
Bear is not an exuberant theme with tons of features or frills for thrills. However, it is a clean, intuitive, simple theme for the masses.
Why I am saying this for the masses? It is because Visual Studio Code is for professional developers who don’t want elegance but practicality. Bear with its highlight, syntax, and some simple essential features enter our list easily.
Bear is not lacking anything, in particular, but depending on the kind of user you either love it or not. So, it is not polarizing, however, the simple and monotonous UI can be a bit boring. But if you are a professional, you may not care about it, but for anyone other than that, try looking at some other options.
15. Firefly Pro
“The night is darkest just before dawn. And I promise you, the dawn is coming.”, this quote by Harvey Dent from Batman may not incite fear in you but tells the uncanny nature of the night. And the night is dark. Firefly Pro embraces the darkness by just using black and grey in the background.
Aesthetics are not the only thing darkness brings but it practical as well. So, stick with me on this one. One of the things, we coders ought to do is to work at night, that’s the harsh reality. Now, because of this darkness, the blue light coming out of the monitor will be low, therefore, eye strain will be less.
16. Slime Theme
Darkness is practical as a lot of darkness can imbue a sense of pessimism in your heart. So, Slime Theme is not as dark as Firefly Pro, but it is still not bright to cause trouble during the night.
Just keep in mind that you need to change color intensity and saturation to make the codes readable. After doing that, you can enjoy this greyish-blue theme and get the best of both worlds, you are not taking strain on your eyes nor are having to code on a charcoal slate the absorbs light and sometimes exudes pessimism.
17. City Lights
City Lights is one of the bluest themes on our list. It is one of the best Visual Studio Code themes for someone who loves Blue.
It is a simple but elegant theme and has not an essence of blue but is completely blue. Predominantly, dark blue is what the blue of City Lights looks like.
As the name, City Lights suggests, the theme is inspired by the lights of the City. Lights look way more luminous during the night, so, this is how the dark blue-greyish background comes from.
Pro Tip: Make sure to use the City Lights icon package for the best result.
18. Quit Light
Quit Light is one of the best themes and is derived from the Espresso text editor. Quit Light probably one of the best light themes for Visual Studio.
However, you need to make sure that using it can cause a bit of strain on your eyes. This is quite explanatory as dark themes put less strain on your eyes as it emits less blue lights. However, there is one trick that allows you to put less strain on your eyes without having to use the dark theme. Try to use any theme with yellow text.
This theme supports many different languages such as C++, Python, HTML, Javascript, and more.
So, Quit Light is a perfect theme if you want to change but if you are looking for something to work at night then Quit Light is not what you should try.
19. Github Theme
You may know what GitHub is. It is a platform where a lot of developers use to host their software. However, with GitHub Theme you can use a simple UI that’s light but elegant. It doesn’t have any frills but it can keep you motivated if you are planning to upload your work on it.
This theme is just like GitHub and if you love GitHub, you will at least like GitHub.
20. Brackets Light Pro
Brackets Light Pro is derived from Adobe Bracket Code Editor and is one of the best Visual Code Studio Themes. It is one of the most gorgeous themes and looks like a piece of art.
Brackets Light Pro is clean, intuitive, and something that seems like it was designed by Picasso. It is unlike any other theme, the color scheme is light but it has a bit of fruity essence in it.
However, you need to make sure that you are twinning the font in a way to makes it more readable. If you want our suggestion on this then try using Fantasque Sans Mono as it is perfectly readable and looks good.
21. Noctis
Noctis is one of the best Visual Studio Code Themes not because of the fact that it is gorgeous. Noctis is gorgeous, don’t get me wrong, but the mere fact that it has both light and dark themes makes it a perfect UI as you don’t need two themes as Noctis is the one to go.
Noctis has all the things you need. The dark theme is dark enough to not put a strain on your eyes but not as dark to make them look dull. The light theme is a perfect blend of color and simplicity.
22. Nord
Nord which means True North is what this bluish theme is inspired by. Since the North Pole is covered by snow and the snow looks a bit blue, being blue is what the Nord theme takes pride in.
It is one of the very few themes that can be pragmatic for both day and night. Unlike, Noctis theme, Nord doesn’t have two themes, light and dark, for both day and night respectively. It has just one theme that is blue, neither dark nor light, and that’s enough for both times of the day.
One thing you need to make sure of is that the contrast ratio of Nord is not very high. So, before adapting it, make sure to use it for a while and check if it is readable for you.
23. Atom One Light
Atom One Light is a light version of One Dark Pro. It is light but has all the frills of One Dark Pro, as it is readable, sophisticated, etc but the major thing is that it looks light.
Atom One Light is derived from Atom but it is one of the best Visual Studio Code themes. Talking about one of its greatest strength, readability, texts in Atom One Light is colorful and all the colors have a fruity hue. And since the background is white, the contrast ratio is high. Therefore, Atom One Light is the greatest light theme in the world.
24. Panda Theme
The panda theme is inspired by the two-color look of a Panda’s shell. It is one of the simplest of not the simplest UI for you. One of its advantages is that since the developers are not trying to make it look pretty by adding a ton of colors, the contrast ratio of this theme is arguably the highest.
It is perfect for working day and night. So, if you don’t want your theme to have frills, try downloading and installing this theme on your Visual Code Editor.
25. SynthWave’84
SynthWave’84 is one of the best Visual Studio Code Themes it is dark and has an uncanny nature to it. It is inspired by Synthwave and has that retro look to it.
Talking about the color pallet, it can be a bit polarizing. You can either love it or hate it. The purple is very rich and is unlike any other blue we have seen so far in this article. However, this can a bit good thing as well. Because you can use the color of your screen as a flex. And since it is dark, it is good for your eyes.
26. GruveBox
GruveBox is inspired by wolves, jellybeans, and solar. It is one of the best Visual Studio Code themes but for a very specific niche. If you are looking for a theme that’s customizable, Groovebox is for you, if you are looking for something that looks colorful it is for you.
So, before downloading it, visit the site, check some screenshots, and conclude something.
27. Remedy
The Remedy is a dark theme but has orange as the accent color. It has different shades of orange, so, depending on the need, the developers have set the hue.
It is not like everything here is orange, the background is charcoal grey, and the text has multiple different colors. It has nice readability and is a perfect theme for someone looking for sophistication.
28. Aurora X
Arguably one of the nicest looking themes, Aurora X, has a clean black slate and all the colors of the text are punchy increasing the contrast ratio, hence, making it more readable.
29. Glass UI
Glass UI is a light theme and one of the polarizing ones. It has bright colors on the white background making the theme eye-searingly bright.
However, you should not write it off yet. Try installing it on your editor and see if you like the look of it and then decide.
These were some of the best Visual Studio Code themes. Hopefully, you will be able to pick the best one for you.
