I use .NET Framework for development because my client uses it. It was already in place when I started the product. They work with .NET because it's mainstream and .NET programs are widely available.
Software architect/programmer at FreeLancer
There's a wide array of pre-programmed functions available, but web integration could be better
Pros and Cons
- "Pre-programmed functions for .NET Framework are widely available."
- "I would like more web integration."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Pre-programmed functions for .NET Framework are widely available.
What needs improvement?
I would like more web integration.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with .NET Framework for the past two years.
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Microsoft .NET Framework
June 2025

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The framework is stable, but it depends on the size of the application. If it's a larger application running on multiple machines, you may experience issues because it's on Windows, the least stable platform.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy, and it takes less than half a day.
What other advice do I have?
I rate .NET Framework seven out of 10. If you are using .NET, make sure your setup meets the requirements because that was an issue that caused a lot of problems. I would recommend Magic rather than .NET. It takes longer to develop something on .NET. The framework has extensive possibilities, so the learning curve is steep.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

Associate Professor of Computer Engineering at Just
User-friendly and straightforward; difficult to scale for enterprise organizations
Pros and Cons
- "User-friendly and straightforward."
- "Difficult to scale this product for large organizations."
What is our primary use case?
I'm an associate professor of computer engineering.
What is most valuable?
The solution is user-friendly and straightforward. I enjoy using it.
What needs improvement?
It's a little difficult to scale this product for large organizations.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It usually takes a few months for each new version to become stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is a bit messy so we're forced to use different solutions for different clustering.
How are customer service and support?
We're satisfied with customer service.
What other advice do I have?
This is a good product and although it's not suitable for everyone, we're able to support various clients who use this.
I rate this solution seven out of 10.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft .NET Framework
June 2025

Learn what your peers think about Microsoft .NET Framework. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.
IS Technical Architect at AVARA FOODS HOLDINGS LIMITED
Rapid development, easy installation, and excellent technical support
Pros and Cons
- "The .NET Framework is a very good framework. It does what I need it to do."
- "This solution is best used with some training."
What is our primary use case?
I have built many things in Microsoft .NET Framework. At a high level, the main focus would be on integration.
Microsoft .NET Framework is primarily for the integration of solutions.
How has it helped my organization?
It enables us to do rapid development. We can develop solutions very quickly.
What is most valuable?
It is easy to use, and it runs on a Windows platform.
The .NET Framework is a very good framework. It does what I need it to do.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with different versions of Microsoft .NET Framework for 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft .NET Framework is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's a scalable product.
In our organization, we have 700 users.
How are customer service and support?
Microsoft technical support is excellent.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
The previous solution we used, was also provided by Microsoft and Microsoft retired it.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is straightforward. It's very easy.
It took an hour to deploy this solution.
We have a team of five analysts, and developers to maintain this solution.
What about the implementation team?
Hitachi Consulting and Oracle Consulting have assisted us in other companies.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft .NET Framework is licensed under the Windows License.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to others would go to get some training. This solution is best used with some training.
I would rate Microsoft .NET Framework a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
IT Development Manager, Architect, Developer at Miltel Communications LTD
Rich libraries and very good development tools are key to this great solution
Pros and Cons
- "Ease of use, the richness of the libraries and basically very good development tools."
- "The .NET open source community could be larger."
What is our primary use case?
Basically all my development work is done with .NET Framework. It's web services, data processing, get web APIs, and also web development. I work as an IT development manager and am also an architect.
What is most valuable?
The ease of use, the richness of the libraries and basically the good tools are all valuable features. Most important are the very good development tools that Microsoft has, it's a good environment.
What needs improvement?
Things could always be a little easier and smoother. You'll sometimes find bugs but because I'm using an older version these bugs have already been fixed in later versions. The .NET open source community is very small and it would be nice if it were larger. I know Microsoft is now contributing a lot, but in other languages there's not too many frameworks that are not Microsoft. It would be good to have a richer environment for that.
The solution could include an open source framework as an additional feature, I can't think of anything else.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for a total of about 15 years, although I had a break from it for a while.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is fine.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I think scalability is more a matter of architecture. One of the things possibly missing is, as already mentioned, open source framework. You can use Kubernetes or something called Orleans but there's not too much richness in that area, but there are solutions. Scalability is a matter of architecture, it's not a matter of programming language.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have an option for technical support but haven't used it. I generally find my solutions on the internet.
How was the initial setup?
The new versions are really, really easy and smooth and they get their updates. I'm migrating now from an older to a newer version and the setup is very easy. The old version had some glitches. I think the setup of the tool is fairly easy.
What other advice do I have?
My advice is that C# is a very rich language with lots of advanced facilities, which makes it easier to develop by not being too complex. There are a lot of libraries in out-of-the- box .NET Frameworks, which gives you tools to do almost anything you need and there are extension libraries for most of the rest. It's not the same as Python which is a bit slower but has a lot of libraries because everybody writes libraries for Python. But most of the time I find what I need.
I would rate this product a 10 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Solution Architect at Komatsu
Easy modular development with good technical support, but the features could be enhanced
Pros and Cons
- "As we are a software company, we find that accessing resources using this technology is easier compared to the others."
- "In the next release, I am looking for more advanced technologies such as socket communication and enhanced features like realtime chat with the clients."
What is our primary use case?
We are a software company, and we build software. This is one of the solutions that we use in our development environment.
I have a profound handle on Microsoft. Net Framework.
What is most valuable?
As we are a software company, we find that accessing resources using this technology is easier compared to the others.
What needs improvement?
The main obstacle in this technology is that it is currently paid. If you want to develop an enterprise-level application, you have to purchase the enterprise-level development license. I think that this is a hurdle. If it is made free then more people will learn and the industry will have more proficient people with better performance.
In the next release, I am looking for more advanced technologies such as socket communication and enhanced features like realtime chat with the clients. This is what I have been looking at adopting into my existing application.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have approximately six years of experience with Microsoft .NET Framework.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This solution is stable if the logic is handled sufficiently. It all depends on what kind of coding you are doing while you are developing the application.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is scalable. The modular development plus expansion is quite easy.
We have 2000 users who are actively using this solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
When we contact technical support, we open a ticket with the vendor, who then assigns us to a person. We meet to discuss the technical challenges we are facing and they come up with a solution.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we were using the IBM integration bus.
We were using Microsoft, Mobility Android, and iOS applications.
Most of my experience is with Microsoft solutions.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was quite easy. The installation itself is easy. The prerequisites are already available on the internet.
It is a two-step deployment, the first being the development environment. The installation of that took between one hour and an hour and a half. For the processing, the deployment was a little bit different. I needed the information server hosting the Microsoft application.
While it's on a public cloud, some are on-premises that are accessed by the application.
We have a team of ten to maintain this solution. There are several internal connections to the system. For example, an interface with the other system which included SAP, Oracle, and IAD. The team looks for support queries that include any issues found or for any troubleshooting that needs assistance.
What other advice do I have?
There are proper resources. Stability and scalability are quite good. We handle 3000 to 4000 users at any time and they are users from all over the world, including North America, Australia, and the Middle East. This is a good option for the level of the audience.
We are using version 4.5 but we are gathering a few more projects that are running on version 4.7 and 4.8.
I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
CEO at Shiraz University
Has improved our efficiency in the time it takes to program a solution
Pros and Cons
- "A great solution for creating program solutions in a framework for Microsoft Windows quickly and easily."
- "It would be nice if the framework were able to work with additional environments and systems like Linux."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use is to be able to build solutions more quickly and easily that has good flexibility. When you want to build a product, you have to have faith in the nature of its functionality and know you can write your code to run on their core. Another solution is to write software code to run on top of the framework.
Microsoft .NET Framework is a very good infrastructure and we program over that. It handles many tasks for us and it helps us to write our programs very fast and very efficiently. Although it is like a virtual machine, it is still fast — or faster — and it is efficient. Compared to Java Virtual Machine (JVM), I prefer to use the Microsoft .NET Framework because it is built specifically to work with Microsoft Windows. I have grown to trust Microsoft over a long time and we can easily write programs in familiar languages to work with Windows over the Microsoft .NET Framework.
How has it helped my organization?
It has improved our efficiency in the time it takes to program a solution.
What is most valuable?
For us, direct integration with Microsoft Windows is probably the most valuable feature.
What needs improvement?
One thing that could improve Microsoft .NET Framework is to give it more flexibility. It is designed to work just on Windows. If it could run over Linux, over MAC, over mobile phone, etcetera, it would be a very good improvement. If it were the case, I would be able to write a program and I could be sure that my program would run on all those platforms and over other operating systems.
I know that Microsoft is currently working on solutions for this and the company makes .NET Core now. The .NET Core they propose is a framework like .NET Framework that will allow implementing programs across other operating systems like Linux. It is introduced in idea, but it has a lot of room for improvement.
If I were able to install Microsoft .NET Core over other operating systems, such as Linux, Unix, or mobile and it works as well as .NET Framework, then it solves other problems for me.
For how long have I used the solution?
I'm using Microsoft .NET framework over different versions from 2003 up to now. A total of about 16 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of the current version of the product is very good. In the lower versions of the framework, sometimes I saw a crash but after version 4, I haven't seen any crashes. It is really, really stable and I like it. I wrote some services that have run for about a year without any crash at all. All issues with stability seem to be fixed.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft .NET Framework is a solution, where the scalability is dependent on the programmer. The programmer could write a very large scale project — a large scale enterprise solution — using .NET Framework. They can also work on much smaller projects. It is just a tool to use.
All of our company members and all of our customers currently use the .NET Framework. The programmers write based on that .NET Framework. We define the scope of our work based on the project. Some projects need four to five programmers, but on some projects need ten to twenty staff. It depends what has to be done.
We can scale at any time except with some limitations on operating systems. By making our applications based on .NET Framework, our applications run already on the .NET Framework for our clients. When we do the development for our programs based on .NET Framework, our customers who want to use this solution also have to use .NET Framework. This is why it is a little limiting.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support is really, really good. Every time that I ask a question on the Microsoft Network, someone answers me and I never have felt ignored when I need some type of support. I am very satisfied with their work in supporting the .NET Framework.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, I used C++ for my development and it wasn't over any framework. It was the mentality at the time. When I saw the benefit of using a framework like .NET, I saw the simplicity of working over frameworks and the development advantages. That is when I decided to switch over to .NET Framework.
How was the initial setup?
Installation is very straightforward for the Microsoft .NET Framework. I never heard any complaints from any of my customers. Even those customers who still use a lower version of Windows like Windows XP or Windows 7 don't have problems. Because .NET Framework is not pre-installed on Windows 7 or on Windows XP or 7, the customers need to install it themselves. But on Windows 8 and 10, Microsoft .NET Framework is pre-installed.
I never heard any complaints from my customers who couldn't install the .NET Framework, and none have said they had difficulty with .NET Framework. They all have said they could install it very easily and get running with it without a problem.
How long will it take to make it do what you want depends on the things you want to accomplish. Some products take more or less time to deploy and some solutions take more to build. But the .NET Framework is very fast, not hard to learn, and even amateurs don't have a hard time with deployment and getting started.
What about the implementation team?
We deploy this solution by ourselves. We never have had to reach out for help from vendors or other consultancies for the product itself. The programming is a different thing and is not the fault of the product.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
One advantage to Microsoft .NET Framework is that it is a free product and everyone can use it. It is a very good point about that product because it makes it friendly and easy to adopt over many users. The solutions and use of technical support are free as well.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did evaluate at least one other option before choosing Microsoft's .NET Framework. It was JAVA Bridge, but I prefer to use Microsoft .NET Framework because I only wanted to develop for Microsoft products and Microsoft Windows. The .NET Framework is, I think, more compatible with Windows than JAVA Bridge Virtual Machine.
What other advice do I have?
One piece of advice that I would give to people considering the use of this product is to use it because of several things: it is free of charge, it is fast, it is compatible with Microsoft Windows, and whenever a new version comes out, it supports the older version. These are all very good points. The development of the framework is really good and was approached intelligently.
If considering other options, when you want to use a framework, you have to look at its ability to work with different types of other products. With the.NET Framework, you are able to work with different environments like Microsoft SQL Server 7, MySQL, Oracle — any kind of database. You have to also know its limitations. It is my opinion that when you want to use the .NET Framework, it is a very good solution and you can have confidence in the functionality. The stability of the framework you choose is very important.
On a scale of one to ten with one being the worst and ten being the best, I would rate this product as a ten because my standard is Microsoft products.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Software engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Ensures efficient application development and deployment while providing versatile language support, robust security model, seamless interoperability and excellent scalability
Pros and Cons
- "It facilitated the streamlined scheduling process by amalgamating inputs from various sources, including location data and other systems."
- "Improvements are needed in .NET development, particularly in a backend scenario."
What is our primary use case?
I developed an application tailored for the oil and gas sector, focusing on risk assessment and activity mapping for wells across Brazil. This tool utilized the .NET Framework, specifically version 4.6, to ensure robust performance and seamless integration with existing systems used by oil and gas companies in the region.
How has it helped my organization?
The .NET Framework streamlined the integration of our enterprise-level applications by leveraging .NET service-oriented architecture. This approach simplified development as we could modularize our system into microservices, enabling us to assist each component seamlessly within the .NET environment, tailored to the specific scenario at hand.
The .NET Framework's interoperability with other applications and its language independence has proven invaluable for our development projects. In my latest project, I developed a portal application capable of simulating various applications tailored to different user roles within the company. Using the .NET framework, I created a secure domain model to manage user authentication and bill distribution across these applications. I particularly appreciated the .NET Bot framework for its ability to quickly translate existing class models into code, facilitating rapid development and seamless integration with our database.
The support for multiple programming languages in .NET has influenced our choice of languages for various tasks. As a team, we possess a solid understanding of .NET, making it easy to leverage its capabilities. While clients may not always have insight into the technical aspects of our work, the versatility of .NET enhances our productivity. This allows us to deliver results to clients more efficiently and encourages their active participation in the development process.
The security model of the .NET Framework significantly contributes to the overall security of our .NET applications. This is largely facilitated by our proficient IT team, who meticulously plan and manage the infrastructure. As our .NET applications are primarily utilized within our company's intranet, security measures are inherently more manageable.
What is most valuable?
The features that significantly enhanced our application's performance primarily revolved around integrations. For instance, in one scenario, our application was tasked with scanning field activities within the .NET framework, encompassing both onshore and offshore operations. It facilitated the streamlined scheduling process by amalgamating inputs from various sources, including location data and other systems. Users could input data and conduct simulations within the application to assess the viability of certain activities. Additionally, the application was backed by a database running SQL scripts to support its functionalities.
What needs improvement?
Improvements are needed in .NET development, particularly in a backend scenario. For example, if you're planning to develop an application to track project operations using .NET, a good starting point would be to adopt domain-driven design principles. This approach allows you to visualize all the relevant components within the .NET framework for such a project. You can begin by defining the core domain entities, such as projects, tasks, and locations, leveraging .NET classes to represent these concepts effectively. Additionally, incorporating a scheduler component in .NET to manage activities associated with each project would be beneficial. By organizing these classes systematically, you can streamline the process of generating database tables directly from your code.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with it for almost a decade.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is outstanding. I encountered no issues, with any concerns primarily related to infrastructure servers rather than the .NET framework itself. I would rate it nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is exceptional. I would rate it nine out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
We didn't require support assistance as Microsoft offers ample resources, including instructional videos, for implementing and resolving any issues independently. I would rate it nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. However, as operations start, a structured approach is essential. This involves establishing distinct layers of code, each with specific responsibilities aligned with the product's objectives. For example, if managing a product class, its functions should exclusively pertain to product-related tasks. Similarly, when dealing with a layer handling thousands of transactions, caution must be exercised to ensure it remains focused on its designated operations without encroaching upon other aspects of the project. This segregation of tasks ensures clarity and efficiency within the development process, despite its inherent complexity.
What about the implementation team?
In our web and desktop application development workflow, we typically support IT personnel by providing them with the necessary components to set up a server for deploying our applications. We hold weekly meetings to discuss our approach and progress, and throughout the week, we collaborate on various tasks. Once the work is completed, we publish the applications to the server, ensuring that all required roles are fulfilled for successful deployment.
For deployment, we didn't have to do much as it was already completed for us. Additionally, we utilized GitLab and Jira in conjunction with Docker for streamlined deployment processes.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Business Unit Manager at COSOFT GROUP
Scalable product with efficient technical support services
Pros and Cons
- "The technology is very scalable and accessible to use."
- "The product could have a better framework for application development."
How has it helped my organization?
We use Microsoft .NET Framework to develop various products, including an ERP system.
What is most valuable?
The technology is very scalable and accessible to use.
What needs improvement?
The product could have a better framework for application development. We have used Xamarin technology by Microsoft. It needs to be up-to-date compared to other technologies.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The platform is very stable. I rate its stability a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have 20 Microsoft .NET Framework users in our organization. We use it every day. I rate its scalability an eight out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support services are good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft .NET Framework an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

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