ASP.NET MVC vs. ASP.NET Core: Which one is better for web development?

.NET is the #1 most used web framework worldwide as of 2021. On the other hand, .NET Core is the 3rd most popular web framework used globally. They have a market share of 30% each and continue to grow as enterprise apps witness a gradual growth in the economy. Companies today hire .NET developers for high-quality enterprise and web applications.

ASP.NET Core is a unified framework that amalgamates the different components of the earlier ASP.NET MVC framework. Both the MVC controller and the Web API Controller are almost the same in the ASP.NET MVC and ASP.NET Core framework.

However, both these frameworks are based on the .NET framework. They enable .NET developers to build products and solutions that are scalable, versatile, and dynamic in nature. Both ASP.NET Core and ASP.NET MVC offer different advantages to developers, which allow developers to build high-quality sites. But they also have certain disadvantages that might drive developers to step away from the framework.

Read more: Top Things to Know about .NET 6

What is ASP.NET MVC?

As the name suggests, the ASP.NET MVC framework offers a Model-View-Controller web development architecture. It is a critical alternative to ASP.NET Web Forms for creating high-quality applications.

Enterprises use ASP.NET custom software development services to build scalable and interactive web solutions. The framework supports HTML/JS, WML and XML, VB.NET, C#, J#, JScript.NET, and Visual Studio.

The biggest reason a .NET development company offers ASP.NET MVC services is that it is a holistic platform for building web applications. Whether for enterprises or startups, it offers an easy way to develop, debug, and deploy web applications.

What is ASP.NET Core?

One of the most important cross-platform frameworks launched by Microsoft is the ASP.NET Core framework, an open-source framework, which is highly useful for web application development services.

ASP.NET Core combines ASP.NET MVC and ASP.NET Web API to ensure the delivery of high-quality products. It unifies the different components of the ASP.NET framework to provide a proper structure for development.

While it is a critical framework for developing web applications, ASP.NET Core offers companies the capabilities to build desktop solutions rapidly. By 2021, there were over 4200 websites in the top 1 million websites written in ASP.NET Core.

There are several reasons developers prefer either one of the frameworks over the other. But what are these differences? Let’s have a look at them in detail.

Difference between ASP.NET Core vs. ASP.NET MVC

Both ASP.NET Core and ASP.NET MVC enable developers to build high-quality web applications. While ASP.NET MVC works perfectly fine, ASP.NET Core is developed to expand the scope of development for the framework. Here are a few differences between ASP.NET Core and ASP.NET MVC -

• Platform support

  • The biggest advantage of ASP.NET Core is that custom application development services providers can easily build cross-platform applications using the framework. It enables developers to build applications on Windows, Linux, and Mac. This allows developers enough flexibility to choose the operating system on which they are comfortable.
  • ASP.NET MVC doesn’t support cross-platform development. When developers need to create an application on Windows, they can easily use ASP.NET MVC. The dedicated framework provides enough stability to ensure that standalone Windows apps are created with ease.

• Application functions

  • ASP.NET Core is the perfect framework for building a new kind of web application. It has dynamic elements that allow building interactive applications. Several companies in the FinTech, HealthTech, IoT and other innovation-driven domains use ASP.NET Core in their technology stack.
  • On the other hand, ASP.NET MVC is highly useful to extend the functionalities of an existing application. ASP.NET MVC offers you a pattern-based method for creating dynamic sites and applications. It has a plethora of features and integral assets. You can learn MVC and effectively work with Routing, UI, Layout, Theme, information, API, and others.

• Single aligned web stacks

  • ASP.NET MVC allows developers to choose from MVC or Web API, or both. This happens because the web stacks for MVC and Web API are different. While developers choose to work on the MVC pattern, they like to have the option of Web API as well.
  • ASP.NET Core vs. ASP.NET MVC also showcases a major difference between such web-aligned stacks. ASP.NET Core comes with a single aligned web stack. There’s no option to choose a Web API while building the web application.

• Cloud app development

  • An ASP NET web development company offers support for cloud application development with ASP.NET Core. The framework comes cloud-ready with all the elements and tools needed to scale and application. It offers flexibility, accessibility across devices, easier integrations with other systems, and data protection.
  • ASP.NET MVC doesn’t provide enough cloud deployment support. Since it uses only the Windows operating system, scaling may become a hassle. While it gives enterprises a few benefits to having a standalone solution, they will have to switch to other frameworks like ASP.NET Core when it comes to scaling.

• Open-source framework

  • ASP.NET is an open-source framework which enables developers to get all the help they need. There are code repositories on GitHub, which developers frequently use during several projects. Open-source also means that the framework can be easily downloaded, thereby eliminating any cost of licensing that might occur.
  • ASP.NET MVC has the limitation of being an operating system-specific framework with a closed source. Therefore, enterprises often think twice while utilizing ASP.NET MVC for building their enterprise solutions. However, it is still a great choice for web application development.

Wrapping Up

ASP Net vs. ASP Net Core performance has always been compared to identify which is the better framework. While both have advantages and disadvantages, enterprises and developers are moving towards ASP.NET Core for interactive and dynamic web solutions. Hiring a custom software development company that works on both platforms is the best way to go if you are confused about which framework to use. They will suggest the right framework based on your requirements and create a high-quality application.