Node.js vs .NET Core the winner?

Alpesh Patel
C# Programming
Published in
5 min readJul 20, 2021

.NET Core/ASP .NET Core vs Node.js: The basics

Node.js

As an alternative to Apache HTTP Server, Node.js was created for Apple’s and Linux operating systems. By being a JavaScript-based language Node.js is used for backend and frontend development and can be used with any JavaScript compliable language.

Within packages, you can find modules (code that has been prewritten) that allows you to cope with programming faster. You can find approximately a million packages within the Node.js repository. To easily secure new dependencies you can use an automatic lock-file mechanism.

.NET Core/ASP .NET Core

In this aspect, .NET Core is totally different, as it is based on C# and is solely used for .NET projects. .NET Core allows developers to use various languages like F# or C++.

.NET libraries incorporate prewritten code, so that data structures were supported. It also has different libraries for encryption, security, and database access. The class libraries are used to render graphics, and interact with databases.

There’s also NuGet, a package management tool that tracks and saves versions and updates within dynamic link libraries and handles dependency chains during package installation.

Asynchronous and synchronous processing models: Node.js vs .NET Core

.NET Core and Node.js have utterly different processing models.

Node.js

Being an asynchronous platform, Node.js server handles multiple requests simultaneously and doesn’t block them. While the code is executed in the main thread, it spawns on different threads to perform other tasks. This is a secret to efficient and lightweight solutions even if the app must be heavily loaded with data.

.NET Core

.NET Core isn’t synchronous too. Every request is handled by a separate thread and each I/O is not blocking the thread. Thanks to that ASP .Net Core is one the fastest web frameworks currently among all web frameworks in all languages and exactly asynchronous processing makes it fast.

ASP.NET Core/.Net Core vs Node.js. community support

Both development environments can boast having active and strong community support which ultimately means it won’t be burdensome to find a solution to the problem. However, keep in mind that .NET has more community support on Stack Overflow whereas Node.js is supported more via GitHub. The best example is the Stack Overflow question and answer website that has around 4 million registered users.

Platform support

Node.js

Node.js runs on multiple platforms and this attribute makes Node.js an attractive platform. Node.js is officially supported by Windows, Linux, macOS, SmartOS, FreeBSD and IBM AIX.

.NET Core

.NET being solely Windows platform-based before 2018, it went through a massive transformation and now it runs on Linux and macOS too since NET Core update.

Scalability

Node.js

Node.js is perfectly designed for distributed systems. Microservices-based software enables components to scale autonomously which prevents an app from falling apart due to its weight. As more and more enterprises prefer to develop the software on top of microservices, Node.js has gained tremendous popularity among businesses like eBay, Netflix, Twitter, Uber, and others.

.NET Core

.NET Core is also a very scalable platform. It fits into microservices architecture equally well.

.NET Core vs Node.js performance

Due to the asynchronous model, Node.js apps have high performance without being too heavy in comparison to other solutions. According to Nodejs.org, 48% of companies identified increased app performance when they switched to Node.js.

However, other tests showcase that .NET Core/ASP .NET Core has better performance than Node.js.

There’s no final victory here, as it depends upon the structure and the purpose of the application.

Stability reliability and security

ASP.NET Core/.NET Core is definitely a winner in this category. The security and reliability the platform provides make it a great option to create robust software with C# language. Node.js is more reliable for complex enterprise software developed with TypeScript than on its own.

Pros of using Node.js

- Node.js has been regarded as a full-stack JavaScript for serving both the client and the server-side applications.

- Node.js interprets the JavaScript code via Google’s V8 JavaScript engine. It compiles JavaScript code into the machine code(directly). This makes it easier and faster to implement the code.

- Speed of the code execution also enhanced by the runtime environment as it supports the non-blocking I/O operations.

- Latest versions of Node.js are strongly overlapping with the development of V8. With V8, JavaScript code is converted to byte code for use in a VMs.

Pros of using .NET Core

- The most important benefit of the .NET Core is its high performance. With recent updates, the code gets much more optimized which improves performance at the very end.

- .NET Core demands less coding now, developers can easily optimize the code structure by means of writing much lesser statements. That ends up with less time spent on development and smaller budgets which puts .NET Core very close to Node.js in terms of development speed.

- Maintaining a large .Net Core application is much more easier comparing to Node.js.
- Platform agnostic nature of the .NET Core makes it easy to create autonomous, self-sufficient, and microservice applications.

- .NET Core is easier to get it to work and work WELL. It puts you, as a developer, into certain limits which are very precise, yet very flexible when you approach things in a right way.

Companies using Node.js

Many big names armed their products with Node.js. Netflix, PayPal,Medium, eBay. Node.js is very popular among start-ups as it allows you to build products faster and cheaper, especially on early stages of the product.

Companies using .NET Core/ASP .NET Core

Dell, Stack Overflow, Intel, Intuit, Cisco, Morgan Stanley, Siemens, and many more are using .NET Core for enterprise application development for years.

How do you make the right decision?

Node.js vs .NET Core? If you know the type of app or software you want to develop it will be easier for you to choose the solution. If you still have doubts, give inVerita a hint and we will help you to make the right decision based on your project requirements.

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Alpesh Patel
C# Programming

Technology Specialist and Full-Stack Developer. Find me on linkedin for more details https://www.linkedin.com/in/alpesh-patel-8b930952