Node.js vs .NET: Which is Faster and More Efficient for Your Web Application

When we are developing an application, requires a lot of choices, choice of layout, choice of code editor, and choice of which technology to be used.

The technologies used for creating the application decide the speed and efficiency of the application, so it should be chosen carefully.

In this tutorial, we will provide you with a complete comparison between Node.js and .NET to see which of them is faster and more efficient for web applications.

Let’s start with comparing in terms of performance.

Performance Comparison between Node.js vs .NET

Node.js uses a single thread to handle all requests, the request which can execute immediately is executed and the request which requires more time for execution is sent to the event loop and then moves to the next request. Once the request is completed it waits in the callback queue to complete the execution of the previous request in the stack, once completed and the stack becomes empty, then the request from the queue gets called.

If you find the above concept confusing, we have a separate tutorial on Event Loop Mechanisms, consider reading that.

.NET implement a single thread for each request from the thread pool, and if there are many requests it goes out of the thread, all the upcoming request has to wait for the thread to be free, this decrees the performance at some level however if the request is non-blocking .NET handle it very well.

Another thing to note is that .NET has an in-built IIS server that uses kernel caching which makes it super fast to render static pages which increases the overall performance.

So if the application required less number of non-blocking request or static page rendering then .NET is definitely performed well, but if the request handles heavy request and load, and blocks request then Node.js definitely wins in terms of performance.

Platform Support

Node.js is a platform independence environment, that supports multiple operating systems, it can run on Windows, macOS, Linux, SmartOS and IBM.

.NET initially only comes with windows support, but after the continuous update, it now also becomes platform independent and can run on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Community Support

Node.js has a vast and global active community. On GitHub, a large number of developers are there to help with your Node.js project. Even the new framework launched nowadays is based on Node.js making the overall community increases day by day.

.NET also have a big community, Node.js has a big community in Github as it was there from its earliest stage whereas .NET has a big community in StackOverflow.

Use Case

Node.js is considered best for server-side rendering as it has an event loop that can handle multiple tasks simultaneously. It can be used for heavy loads and real-time applications whereas .NET is best for applications that request less operation as .NET has some limited tread to dedicate to each operation. Also, .NET is the best for creating an application having static pages as it has an in-built IIS server for fast rendering.

Learning Curve

Suppose you are developing a website using .NET, still need JavaScript for front-end interaction, so eventually, one has to learn both technologies. But, in the case of Node.js, it uses JavaScript for the server side as well, so it is only required to learn one language to develop a website from scratch.

Real World Example

Node.js is used by many popular companies like PayPal, Linkedin, GoDaddy, Netflix, etc whereas .NET is used by Chipotle, GoDaddy, Asgard Systems, etc.

Summary

To say any one of the technology faster than the other is not appropriate, it depends upon the number and type of requests it is handling, if the number of requests is limited and non-blocking, .NET is considered to be super faster whereas if there is a million of request coming to handle then Node.js handle best using it single thread event loop mechanism.