.NET Core and then.NET 5+ made.NET cross-platform. The.NET 7 release demonstrated that.NET on Linux is not just possible but optimal for many server workloads. The performance characteristics and deployment patterns have solidified.
Performance on Linux
The.NET team's TechEmpower benchmark results show.NET 7 at or near the top of the web framework performance rankings on Linux. The JIT compiler on Linux produces code that is competitive with Go and significantly faster than Java for HTTP throughput benchmarks. For teams that chose Java or Go specifically for Linux server performance, the.NET performance story in 2023 changes that calculation.
Container deployment patterns
The recommended pattern for.NET in containers is: use the official Microsoft.NET runtime image as the base, use a multi-stage build (SDK image for compilation, runtime image for the final container), and enable native AOT for startup-critical applications. The.NET SDK has built-in container publishing: `dotnet publish --os linux --arch x64 /t:PublishContainer` produces a container image without requiring a Dockerfile. Container size for a typical.NET 7 API on native AOT is 15-30MB, smaller than equivalent Go or Node applications.
Hosting options beyond IIS
IIS is still common for Windows.NET hosting but is not relevant on Linux. The Linux hosting model for.NET is Kestrel (the.NET web server) behind a reverse proxy (nginx or YARP, the.NET reverse proxy). Kestrel handles HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 natively. YARP (Yet Another Reverse Proxy) is a high-performance Microsoft-developed reverse proxy library that runs inside a.NET application, useful for API gateway patterns.
The developer experience on non-Windows
The.NET developer experience on macOS and Linux is now close to Windows for most workflows. Visual Studio Code with the C# Dev Kit extension provides IntelliSense, debugging, and test running..NET CLI is fully cross-platform. The remaining gaps are in Windows-specific features (WPF, WinForms, WinUI) and in performance profiling tools where Visual Studio on Windows still has a more complete feature set than the cross-platform alternatives.