.NET Core vs .NET Framework: when to choose which framework?

Today's developers face many different challenges when it comes to choosing a development framework. Developers who want to develop with Microsoft technology typically have four choices: .NET, .NET Core, ASP.NET, and ASP.NET Core. In this article, we'll explain the differences and similarities between .NET Core vs. .NET Framework. After reading, you'll know which framework is suitable for your type of application and what hosting options are available.

What is a development framework?

Before we discuss .NET Core vs. .NET Framework in more detail, it's important to define the concept of development frameworks in broad terms.

A development framework is a conceptual structure used for developing software, particularly to develop software more efficiently and quickly.

Development frameworks come in two different types: front-end frameworks and back-end frameworks. Front-end frameworks, for example, are used to shape stylistic elements and functions in an application. Back-end frameworks are used to communicate with the underlying systems of the software architecture, such as databases. Development frameworks are an essential component for developing modern software.

When we talk about software development, you can interpret that as broadly as possible. A web application, like an interactive website, is software. But that to-do application you have installed locally is also software. You can assume that both the web and to-do applications were developed using a framework.

There are many different frameworks, each with its own application. There are frameworks specifically aimed at developing web applications and frameworks focused on building local applications, for example, for your Windows or macOS operating system. Each framework is supported with its own programming language (e.g., C# or Java) or multiple programming languages.

What is the .NET framework?

.NET (pronounced dot-net) is a framework developed by Microsoft in 2002. Microsoft developed the framework to resolve a conflict with Sun Microsystems, the developer of Java, another well-known development framework. Additionally, Microsoft wanted to develop a framework that made it easier to develop web applications.

The .NET Framework supported the somewhat outdated Visual Basic (a programming language for local apps) and the newer C# (also a programming language), so there was a framework with which you could build both desktop and web applications. Since then, the framework has grown tremendously, particularly because the web has also grown, and applications are being developed in different ways. ASP.NET

ASP.NET

One of the first extensions to .NET was ASP.NET, a part of the .NET framework particularly suitable for developing dynamic websites and web applications. ASP stands for Active Server Page, which indicates that it's a server-side scripting programming language. With server-side scripting, you can retrieve dynamic data from a database and present the information to the web visitor via the browser. Another popular server-side scripting language is PHP, for example.

ASP.NET is best viewed as an extension of normal .NET, with built-in functions that allow websites to be built.

Evolution in the .NET world

Initially, .NET and ASP.NET were only suitable for developers using Windows operating systems. However, the IT world and Microsoft don't stand still, two additions were built on the existing frameworks: .NET Core and ASP.NET Core. These two frameworks are primarily seen as a response to a series of developments within the tech world. Here are some of them:

Microsoft's new direction

In recent years, Microsoft has changed significantly as a company. With the arrival of CEO Satya Nadella and a focus on cloud computing with Azure, among other things, the company has also started supporting many more open-source standards. While .NET and ASP.NET exclusively work on Windows systems, the core variants of these frameworks can be used cross-platform, and thus, they can also be used on Linux and macOS systems.

New programming languages and tools

When .NET and ASP.NET began, there were far fewer programming languages for the web than now. A good example of this is JavaScript and the ecosystem around it with front-end libraries like jQuery. This was not nearly as advanced at that time as it is now, and in many respects, it is the new standard for developing server-side web applications.

New deployment methodologies

The way web applications are delivered today differs significantly from the early days of .NET and ASP.NET. Techniques such as Docker containers, microservices development, or working in a DevOps manner, including integrated continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, didn't exist yet. Delivering applications is much more complex today but also much more efficient.

Cloud computing

The term cloud computing was not nearly as well-known 20 years ago as it is now. Major players like Amazon Web Services (started in 2006) and Microsoft Azure (started in 2010) didn't exist yet. The cloud opened doors for many developers to develop new types of applications. With the help of the public cloud, not only web applications but also applications for the Internet of Things, gaming, machine learning, and mobile applications could be delivered faster and on a larger scale.

The developments above have also contributed to an evolution in the .NET Framework for .NET Core, ASP.NET Core, and Xamarin/Mono. In the following paragraphs, we dive into those newer frameworks and what developers use them for. Xamarin/Mono is a framework specifically for mobile applications. We will not go into that further in this article.

.NET Core and ASP.NET Core

What is .NET Core?

.NET Core is the direct successor to the .NET Framework and is similar to its predecessor in many ways. Like the .NET framework, .NET Core is an open-source development platform (the programming language + the libraries) for developing various types of software. An important difference is that the original .NET can only work on Windows. .NET Core, on the other hand, is cross-platform, which means it can also work on Linux and macOS systems. It even works on a Raspberry Pi.

With .NET Core, you can develop applications such as web, desktop, microservices, and Internet of Things applications.

ASP.NET Core

Like regular ASP.NET, you can view ASP.NET Core as an extension of .NET, but specifically for creating dynamic websites and web applications. With Razor, syntax based on C#, it's possible to build dynamic web pages, for example. Furthermore, the framework is packed out-of-the-box with extensive authorization options for multi-factor authentication or external authentication with websites like X and Google.

For the front-end side of ASP.NET, it's also possible to integrate popular JavaScript libraries. In fact, some front-end libraries and frameworks are already standard in ASP.NET Core, such as the popular CSS framework Bootstrap and JavaScript library jQuery.

ASP.NET Core doesn't need to be installed separately if you're already using .NET Core; it's built-in as a standard.

When to use the frameworks?

The above might seem like a pointless question because you could always choose the newest framework, right? In that case, .NET Core would be the best framework for developing new applications. However, there are scenarios where the .NET framework fits better, for example, because it is very stable and has a very strong community.

Microsoft itself also has some tips on when to use .NET and when to use .NET Core:

Use .NET Core when you:

Have an application that needs to work cross-platform
Want to work with microservices
Use Docker containers or Kubernetes for your application
Require high-performance and scalable systems
Need side-by-side .NET versions per application

Use .NET Framework when you:

Currently have an application that uses the .NET Framework (Microsoft advises extending this rather than migrating)
Application uses third-party .NET libraries, packages, or other technology that is not yet available for .NET Core
Application doesn't need to run on operating systems other than Microsoft Windows systems

.NET Core (web) applications and Azure

We mentioned earlier that cloud computing motivated Microsoft to further develop the .NET Core development platform and that technological choices such as microservices and (Docker) containers also played a role in this.

Not coincidentally, Microsoft has paid a lot of attention to making (ASP).NET Core available via Azure (Microsoft's cloud) in a very accessible way. From various development programs, for example, it's quite simple to deploy the application to Azure, for example via the Azure Web Apps service. However, the ASP.NET Core framework can also be used for services such as Azure Container Services (ACI) and Azure Functions. Services to containerize the application and to work on microservices.

The combination of Azure and .NET (Core) is expected to take even more forms in the future. For example, an ML.NET framework has also been launched that is specifically intended for machine learning applications (artificial intelligence!)

By the way, both a .NET application and a .NET Core application can also be hosted very well in a private cloud.

.NET Core vs. .NET Framework: the winner

In this article, you read about the biggest differences between .NET Framework and .NET Core. But as you've also read, there isn't really a winner to choose. Both versions of the framework still have their own use.

.NET is wonderfully stable and has a large community as a base. .NET Core is especially suitable for development teams that want to deliver their applications via Docker containers, Kubernetes, or microservices. For both frameworks, there are plenty of scenarios to deploy them, and there's plenty of beauty on the horizon for further development into technologies such as machine learning or artificial intelligence.

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