.NET 9, now available to developers, marks a significant milestone in the evolution of the .NET platform, pushing the boundaries of performance, cloud-native development, and AI integration.
.NET 9, now available to developers, marks a significant milestone in the evolution of the .NET platform, pushing the boundaries of performance, cloud-native development, and AI integration. This release, shaped by contributions from over 9,000 community members worldwide, introduces thousands of improvements that set the stage for the future of application development. With seamless integration with Azure and a focus on cloud-native development and AI capabilities, .NET 9 empowers developers to build scalable, intelligent applications with unprecedented ease.
Expanding Azure PaaS Support for .NET 9
With the release of .NET 9, a comprehensive range of Azure Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings now fully support the platform’s new capabilities, including the latest .NET SDK for any Azure developer. This extensive support allows developers to build, deploy, and scale .NET 9 applications with optimal performance and adaptability on Azure. Additionally, developers can access a wealth of architecture references and sample solutions to guide them in creating high-performance .NET 9 applications on Azure’s powerful cloud services:
- Azure App Service: Run, manage, and scale .NET 9 web applications efficiently. Check out this blog to learn more about what's new in Azure App Service.
- Azure Functions: Leverage serverless computing to build event-driven .NET 9 applications with improved runtime capabilities.
- Azure Container Apps: Deploy microservices and containerized .NET 9 workloads with integrated observability.
- Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS): Run .NET 9 applications in a managed Kubernetes environment with expanded ARM64 support.
- Azure AI Services and Azure OpenAI Services: Integrate advanced AI and OpenAI capabilities directly into your .NET 9 applications.
- Azure API Management, Azure Logic Apps, Azure Cognitive Services, and Azure SignalR Service: Ensure seamless integration and scaling for .NET 9 solutions.
These services provide developers with a robust platform to build high-performance, scalable, and cloud-native applications while leveraging Azure’s optimized environment for .NET.
Streamlined Cloud-Native Development with .NET Aspire
.NET Aspire is a game-changer for cloud-native applications, enabling developers to build distributed, production-ready solutions efficiently. Available in preview with .NET 9, Aspire streamlines app development, with cloud efficiency and observability at its core. The latest updates in Aspire include secure defaults, Azure Functions support, and enhanced container management.
Key capabilities include:
- Optimized Azure Integrations: Aspire works seamlessly with Azure, enabling fast deployments, automated scaling, and consistent management of cloud-native applications.
- Easier Deployments to Azure Container Apps: Designed for containerized environments, .NET Aspire integrates with Azure Container Apps (ACA) to simplify the deployment process. Using the Azure Developer CLI (azd), developers can quickly provision and deploy .NET Aspire projects to ACA, with built-in support for Redis caching, application logging, and scalability.
- Built-In Observability: A real-time dashboard provides insights into logs, distributed traces, and metrics, enabling local and production monitoring with Azure Monitor.
With these capabilities, .NET Aspire allows developers to deploy microservices and containerized applications effortlessly on ACA, streamlining the path from development to production in a fully managed, serverless environment.
Integrating AI into .NET: A Seamless Experience
In our ongoing effort to empower developers, we’ve made integrating AI into .NET applications simpler than ever. Our strategic partnerships, including collaborations with OpenAI, LlamaIndex, and Qdrant, have enriched the AI ecosystem and strengthened .NET’s capabilities. This year alone, usage of Azure OpenAI services has surged to nearly a billion API calls per month, illustrating the growing impact of AI-powered .NET applications.
Real-World AI Solutions with .NET: .NET has been pivotal in driving AI innovations. From internal teams like Microsoft Copilot creating AI experiences with .NET Aspire to tools like GitHub Copilot, developed with .NET to enhance productivity in Visual Studio and VS Code, the platform showcases AI at its best.
KPMG Clara is a prime example, developed to enhance audit quality and efficiency for 95,000 auditors worldwide. By leveraging .NET and scaling securely on Azure, KPMG implemented robust AI features aligned with strict industry standards, underscoring .NET and Azure as the backbone for high-performing, scalable AI solutions.
Performance Enhancements in .NET 9: Raising the Bar for Azure Workloads
.NET 9 introduces substantial performance upgrades with over 7,500 merged pull requests focused on speed and efficiency, ensuring .NET 9 applications run optimally on Azure. These improvements contribute to reduced cloud costs and provide a high-performance experience across Windows, Linux, and macOS.
To see how significant these performance gains can be for cloud services, take a look at what past .NET upgrades achieved for Microsoft’s high-scale internal services:
- Bing achieved a major reduction in startup times, enhanced efficiency, and decreased latency across its high-performance search workflows.
- Microsoft Teams improved efficiency by 50%, reduced latency by 30–45%, and achieved up to 100% gains in CPU utilization for key services, resulting in faster user interactions.
- Microsoft Copilot and other AI-powered applications benefited from optimized runtime performance, enabling scalable, high-quality experiences for users.
Upgrading to the latest .NET version offers similar benefits for cloud apps, optimizing both performance and cost-efficiency. For more information on updating your applications, check out the .NET Upgrade Assistant.
For additional details on ASP.NET Core, .NET MAUI, NuGet, and more enhancements across the .NET platform, check out the full Announcing .NET 9 blog post.
Conclusion: Your Path to the Future with .NET 9 and Azure
.NET 9 isn’t just an upgrade—it’s a leap forward, combining cutting-edge AI integration, cloud-native development, and unparalleled performance. Paired with Azure’s scalability, these advancements provide a trusted, high-performance foundation for modern applications.
Get started by downloading .NET 9 and exploring its features. Leverage .NET Aspire for streamlined cloud-native development, deploy scalable apps with Azure, and embrace new productivity enhancements to build for the future. For additional insights on ASP.NET, .NET MAUI, NuGet, and more, check out the full Announcing .NET 9 blog post.
Explore the future of cloud-native and AI development with .NET 9 and Azure—your toolkit for creating the next generation of intelligent applications.
Microsoft
