Ask HN: Node vs. .NET Core (2024 edition)

This same question was asked back when .NET Core was released in 2016.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13034904

How are things looking now after 8 years?

You use the tool best fit for your application. That's the answer to any language debate.

That's how people make millions in profit even running just PHP ;)

I use typescript because every single service that exists releases a first-party typescript or python library. I don't use python because the type system is just not nearly as well supported as typescript. The major problem I have with typescript is that the tooling is terrible but python has the same exact problem. For example, the entire node esm / commonjs disaster makes configuring projects extremely painful. Then throw in frameworks like Next.js that have their own custom workarounds to these problems and it's even more fragmented.

I would only use something like Golang or Rust in a self contained service where it solves a single specific problem and my primary apis would be in typescript.

Either. It really depends on your use case.

The developer experience is a lot better for .net, in my opinion, but it’s also expensive and usually requires windows (yes, Linux .net is completely possible). Microsoft invests heavily into building better, easier tooling from end to end. If you are an azure shop, it’s very easy to deploy.

I haven’t looked at the latest benchmarks, but when I did, c# was a clear winner in performance, multithreading, etc. nodejs isn’t slow by any means, either.

Nodejs excels at speed of development and in BFF patterns like next or other SSG. .net will steer you into better design patterns for maintainability in the future. There are also more gotchas around nodejs which is mostly due to the funkiness of JavaScript.

It’s quite nice if you use nodejs backend and frontend. It’s one language and if you use typescript you can share types!

Bottom line, there are tradeoffs to both. I would be more concerned about your team composition, skill set, and project type when picking between them.

If you held a hun to my head, I’d pick .net