.NET Framework vs .NET Core: Which is Better Suited for Server-Side Apps?

Web apps are having quite a moment in the development world, even though it isn’t a new development. Nonetheless, the fact remains that web apps are deemed an essential constituent of the digital world today. And considering their importance in the overall scheme. It is based on the focus on the technologies and tools the market has to offer for app development. And among this sea of options, the .NET duo, i.e., .NET Core and .NET Framework, are widely accepted as the two of the most prominent tools. Their popularity is not without reason, though — they have consistently proven their worth as solutions that enable DevOps teams to establish robust foundations for their products.

While all this is great, the truth is that the path to leveraging the .NET duo is not exactly easy. Individually, it is an undeniably robust tool; but it is often a cause of confusion for people who are charged with the responsibility of deciding which one of the two will be used for the development of their projects. While .NET supports the implementation of both of them when it concerns a server-side application, and both of them have several components in stock as well, they are still two fundamentally distinct tools. And each one of them is primed to serve very different requirements and needs in the context of server-side web app development.

If you as well are trying to figure out your way around this conundrum, don’t worry because we put together a handy guide that will make it unambiguously clear to see if you should use .NET Core for building your server-side web app or if you should choose .NET Framework instead. 

Here it goes.

1. .NET Framework

.NET Framework is a veteran of sorts; launched in 2002; it is a highly-preferred Windows-only framework among developers all over the world. Now, let’s see when you should choose it over .NET Core.

• You already have a .NET Framework-based app. In such cases, you are better off turning to an extension instead of migrating.
• The existing app makes use of NuGet packages and .NET libraries that are not offered in .NET Core.
• The app is dependent on a platform that is not compatible with .NET Core
• The .NET technologies used by your existing app are not supported in .NET Core. Some of the most common techniques missing in .NET Core include ASP.NET web pages, ASP.NET webforms, WCF services implementation, and more. In addition to that, there’s also the restricted support for languages such as F# and Visual Basic. While .NET Core does support both of them, the scope is limited to only select project types.

2. .NET Core

So, .NET Core, the newbie among the two, aids the development of web apps that can run on a variety of OS and platforms, such as macOS, Linux, and more. It facilitates the development of cross-platform web apps. Time to look at the use cases for this one, then.

• The app you intend to develop must be highly capable across platforms.
• When scalability and top-notch performance are an absolute must for the app, .NET Core is your best best.
• If you are planning to take aim at microservices with the web app.
• When the project necessitates side by side .NET iterations for each app.
• When the app makes use of Docker containers.

As we mentioned above, picking between the multiple .NET implementations to ensure that it can successfully fulfill the requirements of the development project isn’t nearly as simple as one would hope and like for it to be. What complicates things, even more, is the fact that both of the two choices share plenty of components. But if you are clear about precisely what the goals are, the option won’t be that hard. And if you still find yourself struggling with the decision, you can always find a trusted .NET development company to assist.