Nutshell Series

.NET Framework vs .NET Core: Key Differences

Manjunath

.NET Framework and .NET Core differ significantly in architecture, deployment, performance, and their support for modern development needs. Below is a detailed comparison covering both high-level and low-level aspects.

Key Differences

Feature .NET Framework .NET Core
Platform Support Windows only Cross-platform (Windows, Linux, macOS)
Performance Moderate due to legacy architecture Optimized for high performance with Just-In-Time (JIT) and Ahead-Of-Time (AOT) compilation improvements
Deployment Requires installation of .NET Framework on the system Can be deployed as a self-contained application without requiring .NET installation
Microservices Support Limited support due to monolithic architecture Designed for microservices with built-in support for containerization (Docker, Kubernetes)
Future Development No longer actively developed (last version .NET Framework 4.8) Actively maintained, evolved into .NET 8+
Runtime CLR (Common Language Runtime) with Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation CoreCLR with improved JIT and support for Ahead-Of-Time (AOT) compilation
APIs & Libraries Includes older Windows-specific APIs (e.g., WCF, Web Forms, Windows Workflow Foundation) Uses .NET Standard libraries and modern APIs with broader compatibility
Development Model Traditional Windows development with limited DevOps support Supports modern DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud-native applications

Low-Level Differences

  • Garbage Collection: .NET Core has an improved garbage collection mechanism, including low-latency GC modes suitable for high-performance applications.
  • Memory Management: .NET Core optimizes memory usage with Span and ValueTask to reduce allocations and improve efficiency.
  • Networking: .NET Core provides an enhanced networking stack with HTTP/2 support, asynchronous programming improvements, and lower latency.
  • Security Model: .NET Core follows a more modular security model with built-in support for modern authentication protocols (OAuth, OpenID Connect).
  • Threading and Concurrency: .NET Core enhances parallel processing with features like System.Threading.Channels and Task-based asynchronous patterns.

The choice between .NET Framework and .NET Core depends on your needs. If you’re maintaining legacy applications that rely on Windows-specific features, .NET Framework is suitable. However, for new, scalable, high-performance applications, .NET Core (or .NET 8+) is the best choice.

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