.NET Core vs .NET Framework—Key Differences & Which One to Pick?

Key Takeaways

> Want to build the best Windows apps but confused about the difference between .NET Core and .NET Framework?

> In our latest comparison blog- .NET Core vs .NET Framework – you will get to how these two fare fair in terms of performance, cross-platform abilities, deployment models, API support and other crucial development aspects.

> .NET Framework has been the legacy development framework from Microsoft in play since 2002.

> While, .NET Core was introduced in 2016, to cover more ground in terms of technologies, OS and features.

> Modern .NET is the new name given to the .NET Core framework.

Table of Contents

A few facts about .NET Core vs .NET Framework 

1. What is the .NET Framework?

⤷What are the key components of the .NET Framework? 

⤷Why is the .NET important? 

2. What is the .NET Core Framework?

⤷What are the key features of .NET Core?

⤷Why is the .NET Core framework important?

3. .NET Core vs .NET Framework: The Key Differences

⤷Performance Comparison

⤷Cross-Platform Capabilities

⤷Deployment Models

⤷API Support & Compatibility

4. .NET Core vs .NET Framework: When to Choose Which One?

⤷Choose .NET Framework 

⤷Choose .NET Core 

5. .NET Core vs .NET Framework: The Mitigation Process

⤷What tools to use for migration from .NET framework to .NET Core?

6. .NET Core vs .NET Framework: The Future Trends

7. Conclusion
8. FAQs

The .NET ecosystem from Microsoft has evolved a lot since it was first introduced in the 2000s.

For apps built on/for Microsoft technologies, developers and businesses need to understand the key difference of .NET Core vs .NET Framework.

This blog comparison between .NET Core vs .NET Framework will help you pinpoint their distinctions, use cases, and advantages.

If you are a business owner, a project manager, a developer, a Microsoft user, or a tech enthusiast, this .NET Core vs .NET Framework blog will help you understand the Microsoft apps better.

A few facts about .NET Core vs .NET Framework

• Applications made on .Net Core can run on Windows, macOS, and Linux due to its cross-platform nature.

• A testament to .Net Core’s efficiency is a 10-15% reduced CPU usage by upgrading from .NET 5 to .NET 6.

• The need for cross-platform development has encouraged 38% of developers to switch to .NET 6 or higher versions.

• More than 60 programming languages are supported by the .NET ecosystem, such as Visual Basic, F#, C#, and more.

• Roughly, 27% of the developers still use the traditional .NET Framework to maintain the legacy applications.

• .NET Framework was the most used development framework in 2024.

Fig 1: A graphical representation of various Development Frameworks as per their usage across the globe. [Source: Statista]

What is the .NET Framework?

Released in 2002, .NET Framework has been the primary development platform of Microsoft for Windows apps for almost two decades.

It facilitates a mature ecosystem to build Windows-based apps for web, server, and desktop environments.

The .NET Framework consists of,

• Common Language Runtime, or CLRCRL, that helps with memory management, exception handling, and type safety.

• Framework Class Library (FCL), which provides an extensive class library.

What are the key components of the .NET Framework?

The key components of the .NET Framework are,

• Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Windows Forms for desktop application development

• ASP.NET for web app and service development

• ADO.NET for database access

• Windows Communication Foundation, or WCF, for service-based apps

• Windows Workflow Foundation, or WF, for workflow-based apps

Why is the .NET important?

Because since 2002, the .NET Framework has been deeply integrated with the Windows OS (operating system).

The required version must be installed on a target machine to use the supported Windows apps and their features.

This tight coupling has ensured that Windows apps are limited to the Windows environments.

What is the .NET Core Framework?

The .NET Core framework was released in 2016, which paved the way for a reimagined .NET framework from Microsoft to help build modern-day applications.

It addressed the limitations of the .NET framework in areas like performance, deployment flexibility, and cross-platform support.

From .NET 5 and beyond, both .NET and .NET Core were merged together to work as .NET Core.

What are the key features of .NET Core?

Here are the key features of .NET Core,

• Cross-platform support across Linux, macOS, and Windows

• Modular architecture using composable and lightweight packages

• Microservices and Containerized applications support

• High-performance web apps via ASP.NET Core

• Simultaneous installations to facilitate multiple versions of .NET Core or a single machine

Why is the .NET Core framework important?

Because .NET Core brought the modern-day features and functionalities to the .NET ecosystem via CoreCLR or Core Common Language Runtime and CoreFX or Core Framework Libraries.

Thus, allowed applications made via .NET Core to be much better, more flexible, and more scalable than the ones made on .NET Framework.

.NET Core vs .NET Framework: The Key Differences

The difference between .NET and .NET Core is a vital comparison that every business and developer leveraging the Windows apps must know.

	.NET Core	.NET Framework
Release Date	2016	2002
Cross-Platform	Yes (macOS, Linux & Windows)	No
Application Types	Gaming, IoT, Cloud, Microservices, Desktop, Windows	Windows–Desktop, Service & Web
Development Model	Lightweight & Modular	Monolithic
Open Source	Fully (on GitHub)	Partially (ASP.NET, MVC, and more)
Supported Languages	VB.NET (to an extent), C#, F#	VB.NET, C#, F#
Updates	OS independent and via NuGet or manually	Via Windows Update

Fig 2: A tabular comparison of .NET Core vs .NET Framework to help your business understand their implications.

Now, let us dig a little deeper and get to know .NET Core vs .NET Framework, in terms of,

Performance Comparison: .NET Core vs .NET Framework

.NET Core easily outperforms .NET Frameworks for web applications and services as per the benchmarks.

• It is due to architectural advancements such as an efficient JIT compiler, streamlined base-class libraries, and optimizations for the modern-day hardware.

• ASP.NET Core, which is the web framework of .NET Core, is way better than the conventional ASP.NET.

Thus, .NET Core is better than .NET Framework in performance.

Cross-Platform Capabilities: .NET Core vs .NET Framework

The most crucial benefit of .NET Core is its cross-platform support, whereas .NET Framework is limited to Windows environments.

.NET Core opened up cross-platform functionalities like,

• Linux-based server ecosystems proving cost-effective over the Windows servers.

• Docker containers & Kubernetes orchestration

• Cloud-native app architectures, reducing licensing costs

• Non-Windows platform development

• Visual Studio Code, a lightweight and cross-platform code editor of .NET Core, allows app development on any OS.

Thus, the cross-platform support by .NET Core is unimaginable in the .NET Framework.

Deployment Models: .NET Core vs .NET Framework

The flexible deployment models brought in by .NET Core were not available in the case of the .NET Framework.

Below are the features of .NET Core deployment models,

Self-contained deployment

Apps can now bundle the required .NET runtime versions they need without a system-wide installation.

Framework-dependent deployment

Applications built using .NET Core can rely on the pre-installed .NET Framework, leading to smaller deployment packages.

Single-file executions

Single-file executions were made possible by .NET Core.

Native AOT compilation

Apps can now be compiled in native code, boosting startup performance and decreasing their memory footprint.

Even CI/CD (continuous improvement/continuous deployment) is possible via .NET Core.

Fig 3: A graphical representation of App Models and Base Libraries of .NET Framework and .NET Core.

API Support & Compatibility: .NET Core vs .NET Framework

Although .NET Core has a wider array of API coverage, it does not support all the APIs available in the .NET Framework.

Such as,

• Windows Forms & WPF (now available in .NET’s modern versions via Windows targets)

• ASP.NET Web Forms

• Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) server implementation

• Windows Workflow Foundation (WF)

• .Net Remoting

If your applications leverage these functionalities, then using .NET Core will be challenging, and the feasibility of these apps can be checked via Microsoft’s .NET Portability Analyzer.

But Microsoft is making migrations in between .NET Framework and .NET Core easier with the latest versions.

.NET Core vs .NET Framework: When to Choose Which One?

Let us further simplify the .NET Framework vs .NET Core discussion and help you choose either of them as per your requirements.

Choose .NET Framework

The .NET framework is currently used for maintenance and in scenarios such as,

• Maintaining applications built on .NET Framework

• Applications running on .NET Core unsupported technologies

• Apps that need a deeper Windows integration or use Windows-only APIs

• High stability apps

Just for your information, Microsoft will continue to support and provide security updates for the .NET Framework.

Choose .NET Core

The .NET Core framework is the way forward and should be chosen for,

• New apps with advanced features

• Cross-platform apps

• Microservices-powered apps

• High performance apps

• Cloud-native apps

So, choose .NET Core, unless there are specific requirements that suggest otherwise.

.NET Core vs .NET Framework: The Mitigation Process

Migrating from the .NET Framework to the .NET Core framework needs careful planning and implementation.

As per Microsoft, there are three methods to do it,

Incremental Migration

It is used in the case of large-scale apps and done by,

• Identification and extraction of components that can be migrated.

• Decreasing the dependency on unsupported technologies

• Creation of .NET Standard libraries for shared codes

• sdfvfdvgf vdvcGradual mitigation from .NET to .NET Core

Complete Rewriting

It can be used in case of smaller apps or for those apps that urgently need full-scale modernization.

Hybrid Approach

Some apps can have a few features running on the .NET framework while other features use the modern .NET Core.

It can happen in the case of incremental migration.

What tools to use for migration from .NET framework to .NET Core?

The below tools can be used for a successful migration from the .NET framework to .NET Core.

.NET Portability Analyzer

It helps in checking the compatibility issues, if any.

Try-Convert Tool

It automatically upgrades the project files to the new SDK (software development kit) format.

.Net Upgrade Assistant

It helps with guided migration assistance.

It is best to work with a reliable .NET and .NET Core development company so that your essential business systems can ensure 100% uptime.

.NET Core vs .NET Framework: The Future Trends

With the AI era in place, the technology world is rapidly evolving, and you must know the future trends in .NET development to guarantee the long-term usability of your .NET apps.

Fig 4: A graphical representation of the Future trends in the .NET Development.

Unified Platforms

With .NET 5 onwards, Microsoft is working on a unified .NET platform.

Cloud-native Focus

Modern-day .NET frameworks are becoming more and more cloud-native focused.

Performance Improvements

Performance upgrades such as less startup time, memory usage, and required throughput are being delivered with every new version of the .NET framework.

WebAssembly & Blazor

WebAssembly helps in running the .NET code in web browsers, and via the Blazor framework, the .NET apps can now function as web apps.

AI & ML Integration

Microsoft is boosting the .NET’s capabilities to incorporate AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning) functionalities.

Enhanced Cross-platform UI

Using projects like MAUI or Multi-platform App UI, the cross-platform capabilities of the .NET framework are being boosted to bring out native UI development for mobile and desktop platforms.

Try to include as many of these trends as you can in the upcoming .NET development to elongate the sustainability of the developed apps.

Conclusion

After the above detailed comparison of .NET Core vs .NET Framework, it is evidently clear that until and unless your apps need .NET Framework, you should opt for the .NET Core framework.

And since Microsoft has promised continued support for both frameworks, you can choose any of them without worrying about long-term sustainability.

All you need now is a credible .NET developer company….

Wildnet Technologies is a leading Design and Development company in India that has been recognized for their developmental prowess & niche expertise far and wide in diverse technologies like .NET Framework, .NET Core, and more.

If you need to hire .NET developers and/or hire .NET Core developers, we provide them on a contractual basis as well.

Wish to Upsill yourselves?

> Blazor WebAsembly and .NET, The Future of Frontend Development

> The Future of ASP.NET Development

> Wildnet’s Digital Glossary

> Wildnet’s Digital Yum (our thought leadership’s weekly newsletter about the latest and the hottest in digital world)

FAQs

FAQ 1: What is the latest version of .NET Core?

Ans: The latest version of .NET Core is .NET 9, released in 2024.

FAQ 2: Is .NET Core faster than the .NET Framework?

Ans: Yes, without a doubt, the .NET Core framework is faster than the .NET Framework.

FAQ 3: Can .NET Framework applications run on .NET Core?

Ans: No, you would need to undergo the migration process.

Choose the best migration process and the migration tools listed in the above blog for the seamless migration.

FAQ 4: Is the .NET Framework getting discontinued?

Ans: No, it is not getting discontinued, but it won’t receive any updates except the required security updates and support to keep it bug-free.

The last major version of the .NET Framework was 4.8, which was released in Apr 2019.

FAQ 5: Can you compare ASP.NET vs ASP.NET Core?

Ans: To help you understand the difference between ASP.NET and ASP.NET Core, here’s a tabular comparison,

	ASP.NET	ASP.NET Core
Runs on	.NET Framework	.NET Core
OS	Windows only	Cross-platform
Performance & Scalability	Mediocre	Better
Architecture	Modular (Monolithic)	Modular with middleware components
Disadvantage	Cannot unify MVC & Web API	Does not support WebForms

FAQ 6: What factors should be considered while choosing between .NET Framework and .NET Core?

Ans: The below factors will help you make the best decision when comparing .NET Core vs .NET Framework for your next development project.

• Performance & scalability needed

• Cross-platform deployment

• Long-term maintenance & support

• Backward compatibility and Third-party dependencies

• Team expertise & learning curve

FAQ 7: Should I use .NET Core or .NET Framework for new projects?

Ans: For the modern-day projects, modern .NET or .NET Core should be used.

While .NET Framework should be used in the case of development projects that require .NET Framework-specific functionalities and features.