- ASP.NET Core is an open-source, cross-platform framework for building cloud-based web apps on Windows, macOS, or Linux. It has higher performance than ASP.NET 4.x and uses .NET Core Runtime and there is no dependency on
System.Web
. - ASP.NET 4.x is a mature framework that provides the services needed to build enterprise-grade, server-based web apps on Windows.
You should use .NET Core for your server application when:
- You have cross-platform needs.
- You are targeting microservices.
- You are using Docker containers.
- You need high performance and scalable systems.
- You need side by side of .NET versions by application.
You should use .NET Framework for your server application when:
- Your application currently uses .NET Framework (recommendation is to extend instead of migrating)
- You need to use third-party .NET libraries or NuGet packages not available for .NET Core.
- You need to use .NET technologies that are not available for .NET Core.
- You need to use a platform that doesn’t support .NET Core.