Exploring the New Features of .NET 10

Whether you're targeting high-performance back-end systems, modern web applications, cross-platform experiences, or intelligent AI-powered solutions, .NET 10 provides the tools, speed, and flexibility needed to create future-ready software. This post explores the key features and enhancements that make .NET 10 one of the most impactful updates in the .NET ecosystem.

Exploring the New Features of .Net 10

Getting Started

.NET 10, officially released as a Long-Term Support (LTS) version, marks a major milestone for Microsoft’s unified development platform. With three years of guaranteed support, it is fully optimized for production use and introduces substantial improvements across the runtime, languages, libraries, web frameworks, and even AI capabilities.

With this release, Microsoft once again pushes the boundaries of what a modern development platform can offer, focusing on long-lasting stability while delivering powerful advancements in performance, security, cloud-native development, and AI integration. From major runtime optimizations and enhancements in C# 14 to improved web development features, stronger cryptography, and built-in AI frameworks, .NET 10 represents a significant evolution for developers building applications at any scale.

Key Enhancements in .NET 10

NET 10 is a major release that brings significant performance, language, and platform improvements. At its core, the runtime has been highly optimized: the JIT compiler now offers better inlining, method devirtualization, and more efficient handling of struct arguments, while also supporting AVX 10.2 hardware intrinsics for high-performance workloads. Stack allocation of small fixed-size arrays reduces garbage collection overhead, helping deliver lower latency and memory use. NativeAOT (Ahead-of-Time compilation) has also been improved, giving smaller, faster startup applications.

On the libraries front, .NET 10 introduces richer APIs across cryptography (including expanded post-quantum cryptography support with ML-DSA and composite ML-DSA), globalization, serialization, and diagnostics. New JSON serialization options allow stricter settings and more efficient I/O using PipeReader. Networking gains include a simplified WebSocketStream API and TLS 1.3 support for macOS clients. For process management, Windows process group support provides better signal isolation.

In terms of tooling, the .NET 10 SDK improves the developer experience: the CLI now generates native tab-completion scripts, supports a standardized command order, and enables console apps to build container images natively. For languages, C# 14 introduces features like field-backed properties, extension properties, scoped warning suppression, and better control over auto-property accessors. F# 10 brings performance and expressiveness upgrades, including struct-based optional parameters, tail-call support, parallel compilation (in preview), and more efficient type checking.

Web and UI frameworks are also enhanced: ASP.NET Core benefits from automatic memory pool eviction, passkey-based authentication (WebAuthn / FIDO2), OpenAPI 3.1 by default, Server-Sent Events, and richer observability with built-in metrics and tracing. Blazor gets improvements in circuit resiliency, form validation (including for nested objects), better JS interop, and more intuitive not-found handling. .NET MAUI sees enhancements in XAML (such as global implicit XML namespaces and a source generator), multi-file media picking, image compression, and updated platform support for newer Android API levels.

Data access via EF Core 10 is strengthened too, with LINQ improvements, performance optimizations, named query filters, better Azure Cosmos DB support, and advanced features for JSON and vector types (opening doors for AI-style workloads). On the desktop side, Windows Forms gets clipboard improvements and modernized editors, while WPF sees performance tuning, Fluent-style refinements, and bug fixes.

Overall, .NET 10 focuses on performance, security, developer productivity, and future-ready capabilities, making it a compelling LTS (Long-Term Support) release for building modern, efficient, and scalable applications.

Here is a clean, detailed breakdown of the features in .NET 10, each with short explanations + code examples to make the enhancements easy to understand.

Performance & Runtime Optimizations

JIT Compiler Improvements
- The Just-In-Time compiler has been significantly enhanced: .NET 10 introduces better inlining, method devirtualization, and more aggressive optimizations for methods.
- A more precise loop inversion algorithm is used, based on a graph-based loop recognition, leading to better performance in loops.
- Improved code layout: the JIT now models basic-block reordering more smartly — using heuristics inspired by the traveling salesman problem — to improve hot‐path density and reduce branching costs.
Stack Allocation & Escape Analysis
- One of the most impactful additions is escape analysis: .NET 10 can detect when small objects (especially small fixed-size arrays) don’t escape a method and allocate them on the stack rather than on the heap. This reduces pressure on the garbage collector, improves memory usage, and lowers latency.
- Specifically, small arrays of both value types and reference types (when they don’t outlive their scope) can now be stack-allocated.
Hardware Acceleration
- Support for AVX 10.2 intrinsics on x64 processors has been added, enabling high-performance vectorized operations.
- On the ARM side, there are improvements in write-barrier performance for the garbage collector, which helps reduce GC pause times significantly (benchmarks show reductions of 8–20%).
Native AOT (Ahead-of-Time)
- .NET 10 further enhances its NativeAOT pipeline, producing even smaller and faster native executables.
- The type preinitializer supports more IL opcodes (like conv.* and neg), improving startup times and performance for AOT-compiled apps.

Languages: C# 14 & F# 10

C# 14
- Field-backed properties: The compiler can generate backing fields automatically, reducing boilerplate.
- Extension properties and methods, even on interfaces and static types, increasing flexibility.
- Null-conditional assignment operator, collection expression extensions, partial constructors, and more.
F# 10
- F# also gets a bump with F# 10, featuring scoped warning controls, improved property accessors, better tail-call support, and a preview of parallel compilation.
- Improvements in the FSharp.Core standard library and compiler service streamline development with functional paradigms.

Library & API Enhancements

Cryptography& Security
- Post-quantum cryptography (PQC) support is expanded: .NET 10 supports hybrid and quantum-resistant algorithms, including ML-DSA (HashML-DSA) and composite ML-DSA, via Windows CNG.
- AES KeyWrap with padding is added to bolster secure key wrapping scenarios.
Serialization & JSON
- The System.Text.Json API gets more options: you can now disallow duplicate JSON property names, use stricter serialization settings, and even work efficiently with PipeReader for higher performance.
- These fine-grained controls help build safer, leaner, and more predictable serialization pipelines.
Collections & Data Structures
- OrderedDictionary<TKey, TValue> is enhanced: new methods like TryAdd and TryGetValue can now give you the index of inserted/retrieved items which is useful for high-performance collection manipulations.
- ZIP file support (via ZipArchive) has been optimized: it now loads only the entries you need, reducing memory usage and improving performance.
Globalization & Text Handling
- Better Unicode handling: new span-based normalization APIs (TryNormalize, IsNormalized, etc.) let you work with text efficiently without creating new string instances.
- Numeric-aware string comparison: with CompareOptions.NumericOrdering, you can compare strings in a way that treats embedded numbers more “naturally” (e.g., "10" > "2" in numeric-sorting contexts).
Process & Diagnostics
- Windows process group support helps improve signal isolation when managing multiple processes.
- Diagnostics and tracing are enhanced, especially for web and container workloads, making production monitoring more insightful.

ASP.NET Core & Web Development

.NET 10 brings several exciting features for building web applications and APIs.

Web Authentication & Security
- Passkey support: ASP.NET Core Identity now supports passkeys (FIDO2 / WebAuthn), enabling more secure, passwordless authentication flows.
- Stronger diagnostics and observability with new built-in metrics for authentication, Blazor, and memory pools.
API & Minimal API Enhancements
- OpenAPI 3.1 support: ASP.NET Core now generates OpenAPI (Swagger) documents using the 3.1 spec, with better schema fidelity and JSON Schema compatibility.
- Server-Sent Events (SSE): A new TypedResults.ServerSentEvents() API makes it easier to stream real-time updates from server to clients.
- Validation is more powerful: integration with IProblemDetailsService allows custom error handling, and there’s AOT-friendly validation for OpenAPI-enabled APIs.
Blazor Improvements
- State persistence: Use the [PersistentState] attribute to declaratively persist component state across prerendering and reconnects.
- Resilient circuits: Blazor Server circuits are more robust to network disruptions.
- Improved validation: Performance is boosted through source-generator-based validation, making nested-object validation efficient and compatible with AOT.
- New components:InputHidden for rendering hidden form fields. QuickGrid enhancements and RowClass parameter for dynamic styling based on data.
- JavaScript interop: Stronger integration — you can now work with JS objects more directly: instantiate JS objects, read/write their properties, call constructors, sync or async.
- Testing: WebApplicationFactory now supports end-to-end browser automation testing using tools like Playwright.

Entity Framework Core 10 (EF Core 10)

EF Core 10, bundled with .NET 10, brings database access up to speed for modern workloads, including AI and data-driven applications.

Vector search support: EF Core 10 supports vector data types and functions (like VECTOR_DISTANCE()), enabling semantic search and AI-powered similarity queries in databases (e.g., SQL Server 2025, Azure SQL).
Native JSON handling: Deep support for JSON columns, with LINQ support using JSON_VALUE(), RETURNING clauses, and better translation of JSON operations.
Complex types: Better handling for struct-based complex types and richer LINQ capabilities.
Batch operations & interceptors: Pre-save/post-save interceptors give fine-grained control; batch

Developer Experience & Tooling

CLI improvements: The .NET CLI has been standardized to follow a consistent command order. It can now generate native tab-completion scripts for popular shells, speeding up developer workflows.
Container support: Console apps can now natively build container images. There’s a new SDK property to explicitly set the container image format.
Testing: Support for Microsoft.Testing.Platform is integrated into dotnet test.
F# improvements: The SDK brings enhancements to F# compiler and core library; by default projects pick up updated FSharp.Core unless pinned.
VB Compiler: The Visual Basic compiler respects the unmanaged generic constraint, and prioritizes Span-based overloads more effectively.

AI & Intelligent Systems

One of the standout themes of .NET 10 is its deep integration with AI:

Microsoft Agent Framework: A new framework for building multi-agent systems. You can define agents that interact, delegate tasks, and execute workflows.
Microsoft.Extensions.AI: Standardized extension libraries to integrate language models, tools, and telemetry.
Model Context Protocol (MCP): First-class support for building agents using MCP, making models more interoperable and easier to plug into workflows.
Polyglot orchestration (via .NET Aspire): .NET 10 introduces “Aspire” (previously Aspire 13) — a cloud-native app framework to coordinate services written in Python, JavaScript, and other languages, coupled with unified debugging, deployments, and secure resource access.

Why Upgrade to .NET 10

Performance boost: With major JIT and GC improvements, .NET 10 is one of the fastest .NET versions yet.
Long-term stability: As an LTS release, it's suited for production systems and will get updates for three years.
Modern, expressive code: New C# 14 and F# 10 features make code more maintainable and concise.
AI readiness: First-class support for agents and model-based workflows positions .NET as a powerful platform for intelligent applications.
Better web & cloud support: Upgraded ASP.NET Core and container tooling streamline building, deploying, and maintaining cloud-native services.
Future-proofing security: With post-quantum cryptography, .NET 10 begins preparing for a world where quantum attacks might be real.

Challenges & Considerations

Hardware dependency: Some performance gains (like AVX 10.2) depend on newer hardware, which may not be available on all machines.
Migration effort: Although .NET generally supports smooth version upgrades, moving to a major version (especially with new language features) may involve testing and refactoring.
Learning curve: New APIs (especially in serialization, cryptography, or agent frameworks) may require developers to familiarize themselves and re-think certain patterns.
Tooling: To take full advantage of the language features (like C# 14), you may need updated IDE/SDK support.

Summary

.NET 10 is a landmark release that balances performance, security, and modern development needs — all while embracing the future of AI. Whether you're building high-throughput back-end services, web applications, or intelligent multi-agent systems, .NET 10 offers compelling improvements. Its status as an LTS release also makes it a solid choice for long-term, mission-critical applications.

If you're currently on an earlier .NET version, upgrading to .NET 10 could pay off in terms of efficiency, future-readiness, and developer experience.

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Exploring the New Features of .NET 10