.NET is widely-regarded as one of the best programming frameworks to use when building web and mobile applications. It’s trusted and used daily by countless developers, and .NET forms the building blocks of many successful sites and applications. In short, it’s a valuable piece of web dev technology that’s well worth learning about and utilizing for your development project.
However, .NET has changed a lot over the years, and there are various iterations of .NET to be aware of, including .NET Core and .NET 5. What’s the difference between the two, and how do they compare? That’s what this guide is here to discuss. Below, we’ll dig into all the big differences and key features of .NET Core and .NET 5, explaining how each one is used and what they have to offer.
The History of .NET
Before we dig into the nitty-gritty of .NET Core vs .NET 5, it’s worth taking a look back over the history of .NET technology to see how these different versions came to be. Here’s a quick rundown of how .NET has evolved over the years:
The Beginning
The very first version of the .NET framework was released back in 2002. It was designed as a new platform for developers to create Windows-based apps in an array of programming languages, like the then-novel C#. It introduced users to the Common Language Runtime (CLR) environment and rapidly became the tool of choice for developing Windows apps.
.NET Core Arrives
Many years after the .NET Framework was released and established, Microsoft came out with .NET Core. Released in 2016, .NET Core was a new platform designed to fix some of the issues that users had encountered with .NET Framework, like difficulty developing apps for non-Windows operating systems.
While .NET Framework was just for Windows, .NET Core went further, offering cross-platform development capabilities for these other operating systems. What’s more, .NET Core was released in open source format, freeing developers to adjust and modify the code and components to suit their needs.
Evolution into .NET 5
The .NET Core toolset went through several iterations, starting off with .NET Core 1.0 in 2016 and progressing through .NET Core 2.0, and .NET Core 3. Users expected a .NET 4 release eventually, but that never arrived. Instead, Microsoft skipped over version 4.0 and released .NET 5 in 2020, ushering in a new era for .NET development.
.NET 5 is effectively still part of the .NET Core family, but Microsoft decided to drop the “Core” part of the name. This signified the fact that .NET 5 represented a unification of Core and Framework technologies. In other words, while Core and Framework had been separate up to that point, .NET 5 was a single platform, fusing all the best bits of Core and Framework and introducing new features.
Since then, we’ve also seen new iterations of .NET arrive on the scene, such as .NET 6, which builds further on the success of .NET 5. However, for the purposes of this guide, we’ll focus purely on the key differences and features of .NET Core vs .NET 5.
All About .NET Core: Key Features and Functions
Next, let’s dig into the details of .NET Core with a look at its main features and functionalities.
Cross-Platform Development
As discussed above, the biggest change that .NET Core introduced over the previous .NET Framework was the possibility of cross-platform development. It was designed to run on all of three major operating systems – Windows, macOS, and Linux – without complicated modding or any special tools and extensions. This opened the doors of .NET development to a much bigger audience than before.
ASP.NET Core
.NET Core also introduced users to ASP.NET Core. This is a special framework designed exclusively for developing web apps. It was based on the foundations of ASP.NET, which was already part of .NET Framework, but went much further, opening up new development opportunities and key features like logging, advanced configuration, and dynamic web page creation.
Entity Framework Core
.NET Core also gave users a new and improved ORM framework in the form of the Entity Framework Core. Lighter and more flexible than the pre-existing Entity Framework, Entity Framework Core empowered developers to manipulate data with the aid of domain objects, rather than relying on traditional database tables.
All About .NET 5: Key Features and Functions
So, how does .NET 5 compare? Here are some of the more advanced features and useful functions .NET 5 gave the world.
Unification with Framework
While .NET Core gave us cross-platform compatibility, .NET 5 went further, bridging the gap between the Core and Framework aspects of .NET tech. It unified the two, taking everything developers loved about both Core and Framework and packaging it all up in one neat, fully-functional new form of .NET. Since the .NET 5 release, there’s no more separation between Core and Framework.
Additional Programming Language Features
.NET 5 also added a multitude of new programming language features, specifically for C# 9 and F# 5. C# 9, for example, received syntax simplification upgrades, as well as the addition of records to quickly and conveniently define immutable data types. Meanwhile, features like string interpolation and enhanced slicing came to F# 5, making it easier to work with and more versatile. If you tend to do a lot of work in either or both of these languages, you’ll find it much easier to get going in .NET 5 than in Core.
A Single Codebase
One of the features that devs loved most about .NET 5 after transitioning from .NET Core was the addition of a single codebase. In simple terms, that means that you can reuse the same code across a range of platforms and apps, from mobile apps to cloud services. It’s a serious time-saver, as developers no longer need to always rewrite or modify their previous code for new projects.
The Big Differences Between .NET Core and .NET 5
So, now that we’ve covered the basics of .NET Core and .NET 5, it’s much easier to see where the two differ. Here’s a rundown of all the biggest differences between the two.
No More Separation with Framework
Perhaps the biggest difference of all is that .NET 5 removes the separation between .NET Core and Framework. When working with .NET Core, you don’t get to enjoy the unique advantages that Framework has to offer. Everything is separate. But, with .NET 5, all the best bits of Core and Framework come together in one streamlined package. It’s like a “Best Of” package, perfect for developers who had grown weary of .NET’s separated elements.
Performance Enhancements
Of course, it’s also worth noting that every new version of .NET also brings stability and performance enhancements. And, given that .NET 5 is a newer version compared to .NET Core, it tends to run more smoothly, building on the foundations of the .NET Core CoreCLR runtime with new features and improvements like single-file executables and optimized code generation. In other words, .NET 5 should be seen as a true and complete upgrade over the older and less refined .NET Core toolset.
Greater Compatibility
Compatibility is a big selling point of both .NET Core and .NET 5. .NET Core famously introduced cross-platform compatibility with Macs and Linux devices, but .NET 5 goes further, helping .NET development work more seamlessly and easily with a range of other apps. It supports more APIs and libraries than .NET Core, which can make things easier when coding specific kinds of apps designed to work in tandem with other software.
Enhanced Versatility
In another win for .NET 5, this unified form of .NET technology also offers superior versatility when compared to its older sibling, .NET Core. Given that .NET 5 comes with a better range of features, enhanced tech, and more API support, it’s really no surprise that it’s a more versatile development tool. No matter what kind of app you’re working on, you’ll generally find the process easier and more manageable with .NET 5. It also supports a wider range of migration strategies when it comes to moving your project files and code around.
.NET Core vs .NET 5: Choose the Best Option for Your Projects
As we can see, .NET Core and .NET 5 are notably different to one another. They have different features, functions, and performance levels, with .NET 5 being the superior of the two. That’s not to say that .NET Core doesn’t have its uses or benefits. But, if you want the best results and easiest development experiences, it’s generally better to work with .NET 5.
.NET developers are also encouraged to keep up to date with the latest .NET developments and releases. .NET 5 was a major milestone for this technology, but Microsoft has already moved on to .NET 6 (which has a longer support cycle), .NET 7, and the newly-released .NET 8 (November 2023) giving you even more tools and upgrades to add to your development arsenal. So, if even .NET 5 doesn’t feel fully-featured enough for you, consider switching to 6 as a stable version or 8 for more long-term support.
