SourceSafe does not even allow two developers to modify two files at the same time, and all the developers must keep their changes on the same line, one after the other.

This implies that if one developer introduces a bug on the main line, the rest of the developers will have to wait until the problem is solved.

Plastic SCM is designed to deploy the branch per task pattern, allowing several developers to check out the same file simultaneously, and it goes further through its easy and efficient branching and merging; these operations are widely automated so they are very easy to use and they eliminate problems that developers fear when talking about branching and merging.

Plastic SCM groups every check-in done on a "group of changes", which is given a specific number. This way it is very easy to identify which changes made up a certain feature. Going even further, every change related to a specific task can be put together on a branch, as creating branches and merging them with others is a very automated and efficient process with Plastic, some steps ahead from SourceSafe branching.

Due to its design, branching with SourceSafe in not very efficient and it creates a copy of every item in the project.

Apart from this, merging branches very often leads to errors. This is why branches cannot be widely used, they are only created when it is inevitable and it will always require a higher amount of work.  

Plastic SCM has created a solid core for managing branches, especially for merging; and not just files but also directories.

These operations have been completely redesign from scratch and are totally different from SourceSafe operations. This is why Plastic recommends using branching in order to implement parallel development methods such as "branch per task" or "branch per developer".

Using Source Safe it is difficult to keep more than one copy of a project on your machine. This slows a developer job when working on simultaneous tasks (for instance, making a small change while working on a bigger task).

SourceSafe does not keep versions of the project structure. When a file is renamed, it keeps the name. Even when trying to obtain a previous version, on which it had a different name, the file will show the last given name. Working on Visual Studio, renamed items are not always properly taken into SourceSafe.

Plastic SCM keeps a complete history of every change done on the project's structure. Folders are first level items, as well as files, so when retrieving a previous version, every file will be kept with the name it had in that version.

Thanks to Plastic advanced merge system; these changes are usually passed on between branches when they are merged.

SourceSafe stores every version on a special shared folder, and there is actually not a SourceSafe server; the clients access this shared folder directly.

If a single client is not working properly the whole database can be corrupted. Additionally, Microsoft advises that the database should not be bigger than 5GB.

Plastic SCM stores its information on a SQL database, and the clients always access data through Plastic server, which ensures that every operation goes through the server.

Furthermore, the data integrity is guaranteed by a SQL database engine, totally stable with diverse data terabytes volumes.

SourceSafe relies on the service of sharing Windows folders and files, so its operation through the internet is very limited.

Plastic SCM operates through a single port and compresses file data in order to increase the transmission efficiency, so it works perfectly on remote via internet or VPN.