---
title: "What is .NET Core?"  
description: "What is .NET Core?"  
author: "Anubhav Sharma"  
published: 2025-05-19  
updated: 2025-05-19  
canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/interview/34138/what-is-dot-net-core  
category: "c#"  
tags: ["c#", ".net core"]  
reading_time: 4 minutes  

---

# What is .NET Core?

[**.NET Core**](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/158975/can-you-explain-dot-net-core) is a **free, open-source, cross-platform framework** developed by Microsoft for building modern applications. It is a **successor to the .NET Framework**, and it's designed to be more **modular, lightweight, and flexible**.

### Key Features of .NET Core:

1. **Cross-platform**:

   1. Runs on **Windows, Linux, and macOS**.
   2. Enables you to write code once and run it on multiple operating systems.

2. **High Performance**:

   1. Optimized for performance and scalability, especially for web and cloud-based applications.

3. **Modular and Lightweight**:

   1. Uses **NuGet packages**, so you only include what your app needs.
   2. Smaller deployment footprint compared to the full .NET Framework.

4. **Unified Development**:

   1. Can be used to build **web apps (ASP.NET Core)**, **desktop apps**, **microservices**, **cloud services**, **IoT apps**, and **mobile backends**.

5. **Command-line Tools**:

   1. Comes with a powerful CLI (`dotnet`) for building, running, and publishing applications.

6. **Side-by-side Versioning**:

   1. Multiple versions of .NET Core can coexist on the same machine, enabling you to run different apps with different runtime versions.

7. **Open-source**:

   1. Fully open-source and developed in the open on GitHub ([**https://github.com/dotnet/**](https://github.com/dotnet/)).

8. **Part of .NET 5 and Later**:

   1. As of .NET 5 (released in 2020), .NET Core and .NET Framework were unified under a single platform called **.NET**, sometimes referred to as **.NET 5+** or just **.NET**.

### Use Cases:

1. ASP.NET Core web APIs
2. Console apps
3. Microservices
4. Cross-platform apps
5. Cloud-native applications with Docker and Kubernetes

### Summary:

.NET Core is a modern, high-performance, cross-platform framework ideal for developing web, cloud, and enterprise apps. It is the foundation of the future of .NET, now simply called **.NET** starting from version 5 onward.

## Read More

1. [**Developers Must Know The Difference Between .NET And .NET Core**](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/337825/developers-must-know-the-difference-between-dot-net-and-dot-net-core)
2. [**Difference between ASP.NET and ASP.NET CORE**](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/333463/difference-between-asp-dot-net-and-asp-dot-net-core)
3. [**ASP.NET Core Identity**](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/337263/asp-dot-net-core-identity)

## Answers

### Answer by Anubhav Sharma

[**.NET Core**](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/158975/can-you-explain-dot-net-core) is a **free, open-source, cross-platform framework** developed by Microsoft for building modern applications. It is a **successor to the .NET Framework**, and it's designed to be more **modular, lightweight, and flexible**.

### Key Features of .NET Core:

1. **Cross-platform**:

   1. Runs on **Windows, Linux, and macOS**.
   2. Enables you to write code once and run it on multiple operating systems.

2. **High Performance**:

   1. Optimized for performance and scalability, especially for web and cloud-based applications.

3. **Modular and Lightweight**:

   1. Uses **NuGet packages**, so you only include what your app needs.
   2. Smaller deployment footprint compared to the full .NET Framework.

4. **Unified Development**:

   1. Can be used to build **web apps (ASP.NET Core)**, **desktop apps**, **microservices**, **cloud services**, **IoT apps**, and **mobile backends**.

5. **Command-line Tools**:

   1. Comes with a powerful CLI (`dotnet`) for building, running, and publishing applications.

6. **Side-by-side Versioning**:

   1. Multiple versions of .NET Core can coexist on the same machine, enabling you to run different apps with different runtime versions.

7. **Open-source**:

   1. Fully open-source and developed in the open on GitHub ([**https://github.com/dotnet/**](https://github.com/dotnet/)).

8. **Part of .NET 5 and Later**:

   1. As of .NET 5 (released in 2020), .NET Core and .NET Framework were unified under a single platform called **.NET**, sometimes referred to as **.NET 5+** or just **.NET**.

### Use Cases:

1. ASP.NET Core web APIs
2. Console apps
3. Microservices
4. Cross-platform apps
5. Cloud-native applications with Docker and Kubernetes

### Summary:

.NET Core is a modern, high-performance, cross-platform framework ideal for developing web, cloud, and enterprise apps. It is the foundation of the future of .NET, now simply called **.NET** starting from version 5 onward.

## Read More

1. [**Developers Must Know The Difference Between .NET And .NET Core**](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/337825/developers-must-know-the-difference-between-dot-net-and-dot-net-core)
2. [**Difference between ASP.NET and ASP.NET CORE**](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/333463/difference-between-asp-dot-net-and-asp-dot-net-core)
3. [**ASP.NET Core Identity**](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/337263/asp-dot-net-core-identity)


---

Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/interview/34138/what-is-dot-net-core

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