SQL Sentrys' Plan Explorer(tm) is now free for all users.
I haven't been doing much plan analysis lately, as I have been working with largely legacy SQL Server 2008 R2 (and earlier) code. I did spend a lot of time with the free version of Plan Explorer about a year and a half ago. I'm unaware of a better tool for it's specific task.
While I am on the subject, the other things that round out my SSMS extensions are:
- Poor Man's T-Sql Formatter. There is a downloadable for SSMS & Visual Studio.
- Mladen Prajdić's SSMS Tools Pack. I have been surviving on this, mostly, as it's free for legacy use and I've got a lot of legacy...
- Redgates' SQL Search tool. It is a little quirky, but I've been using it for years and I'm well used to it.
I've been experimenting with the ApexSQL Refactor and Search tools lately, but I haven't committed to them yet. I like the "reformat" that Apex provides. It is much more flexible that the "Poor Man's formatter", but, if I'm honest, I must say that I'm a little bewildered about how to configure it best for the way I like to see code. The Apex Search tool seems like a good replacement for Red-Gate's search, but I can't say that I've really found anything fatally wrong with Red-Gate's search.