Microsoft .NET Framework vs Microsoft System Center comparison

Microsoft .NET Framework and Microsoft System Center are both solutions in the Application Infrastructure category. Microsoft .NET Framework is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.4, while Microsoft System Center is ranked #13 with an average rating of 7.8. Microsoft .NET Framework holds a 6.1% mindshare in AIS, compared to Microsoft System Center’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Microsoft .NET Framework users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Microsoft System Center users who would recommend it.

Microsoft .NET Framework

Read 53 Microsoft .NET Framework reviews

1,565 Views
483 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Microsoft System Center

Read 19 Microsoft System Center reviews

184 Views
55 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Microsoft .NET Framework

Microsoft System Center

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

Microsoft .NET Framework and Microsoft System Center compete in enterprise IT solutions. .NET Framework appears to have the upper hand due to its cost-effectiveness and broad feature set, while System Center's strengths lie in enterprise integration and comprehensive management features.

Features: Microsoft .NET Framework includes robust web application development, integration capabilities with other Microsoft products, and strong cross-platform development support with tools like Visual Studio. Microsoft System Center offers effective automation for system management, native Windows integration, and comprehensive patch and license management.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft .NET Framework could enhance support for non-Microsoft environments and simplify deployment processes. Its community support is extensive but can be fragmented. Microsoft System Center needs to streamline its complex licensing, reduce initial costs, and improve its user interface for easier navigation and use.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft .NET Framework provides a straightforward setup with ample documentation and strong community support, making deployment and customer service effective. Microsoft System Center offers comprehensive support through enterprise technicians and tight integration within Windows environments, but deployment can be challenging due to its complexity.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft .NET Framework is free, offering a high return on investment through reduced development time and costs, thanks to extensive built-in libraries. Microsoft System Center's pricing structure is more complex and costly, usually integrated into broader enterprise subscriptions, but it is considered a long-term investment for efficient IT management.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft .NET Framework vs. Microsoft System Center Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft .NET Framework vs. Microsoft System Center

June 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft .NET Framework

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Microsoft System Center

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

13th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Monitoring Software (22nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of Microsoft .NET Framework is 6.1%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft System Center is 1.0%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Infrastructure

Featured Reviews

Alberto Carioni

Head Of Product Owner at Fresenius Medical Care

Integration with advanced tools improves development speed and efficiency

I use Azure DevOps because we have everything implemented in .NET by Microsoft, and we are integrated with the collection of the requirements, the .NET pipeline, and directing Azure DevOps for Azure Plus. I am more of a developer, so from an infrastructure point of view, I do not have feedback or…

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Ajinkya Mohod

System Security Engineer at Punch Powertrain nv

Makes user management and application management easy for users

Speaking about the impact of the automation feature that impacted our company's operational efficiency, I can say that the complete tool works on automation. You just have to configure it, and it works, especially in areas like auto-patching updates. I suggest that others can definitely go ahead with Microsoft System Center, especially beginners who choose it, can get hands-on experience with it, and acquire a good understanding of how things work. In terms of the value and benefits derived from the use of the solution, I can say that my company's operations have been made simpler because of the product, especially in areas like user management and application management where we have been benefited a lot. I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"In my opinion, the best thing about Microsoft .NET is the fully featured framework. It provides most of the things which a normal developer requires of any application out of the box."

"The most valuable features for us are web frameworks like MVC, Web API, and WCS."

"The .NET Framework simplified operations dealing with the allocation and deallocation of memory spaces and the additional processing resources."

"The most valuable feature is the financial accounting."

"Given that it's cross-platform right now, where you can use it on Windows and Mac, that is the single most significant feature that has resulted in wider adoption of .NET."

"The product has a good interface and easy-to-use programming language."

"Proven solution with valuable customization."

"It is a stable solution."

More Microsoft .NET Framework pros

"We like Microsoft System Center's Operations Manager. That is primarily why we use it."

"The deployment and asset management features are the most valuable. These are the product's main features."

"Many processes could be implemented out-of-the-box, and this helped to adopt processes in areas which we lacked."

"The detail in the alarms is great."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft System Center is its GUI (graphical user interface)."

"The features that I have found most valuable are the ease of configuration and the easy discovery of the environment."

"System Center helps to create the basis for ITIL alignment."

"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it helps us manage our company's application pool, license pool, application update pool, and OS updates."

More Microsoft System Center pros

Cons

"The product’s reliability needs improvement."

"If AI could be incorporated in Microsoft .NET Framework it would be helpful."

"This solution should include Power BI so that we don't have to use any third-party tools."

"The cloud features must be improved."

"They should have more training materials available that are specific to .NET. We spend a lot of money training our engineers."

"I would like to see a better response time from the technical support."

"In my opinion, this solution can be improved by providing out-of-the-box support for different types of libraries."

"This solution is best used with some training."

More Microsoft .NET Framework cons

"For me, the tool's UI seems to be too old."

"Implementation and integration in the case of multi-tenant environments needs improvement."

"Most of the documentation is online, however, there are some gaps there. The product documentation still refers back to the 2012 Server. We're pretty much in 2022. There's a ten-year gap there."

"The platform performance and responsiveness need improvement. It still demands high computing resources."

"Could be more user friendly."

"The multi-tenancy support needs to be improved. We need to have the ability to manage several different environments from one central point of administration."

"In Microsoft System Center, it is difficult to follow the steps to create dataflows at times."

"The solution's dashboard needs improvement."

More Microsoft System Center cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For the moment I can only give the product a rating of five out of ten since only some of the customers will be satisfied, those that have the financial resources for hosting a platform on Windows Server."

"The product and support for this solution are free for everyone."

"Considering the bigger picture, opting for the Microsoft ecosystem can be beneficial and it is priced well. When relying on entirely open-source solutions, you may encounter challenges associated with dealing with multiple vendors and potentially compromised security measures. However, it is important to note that Microsoft could enhance its performance when it comes to addressing critical security concerns."

"If you want to develop an enterprise-level application, you have to purchase the enterprise-level development license."

"Microsoft .NET Framework is very cost-effective for corporate users."

"I rate the solution's pricing a two out of ten because .NET is an open-source framework. You don't have to pay for a license."

"The Microsoft .NET Framework is free of charge, without licensing cost."

"The product’s pricing is a bit high."

More Microsoft .NET Framework pricing and cost advice

"We maximized our license investment."

"Microsoft System Center is quite expensive."

"I know that sometimes there is some reduction in the prices of Microsoft System Center because of the costs of Microsoft SQL Server, which can be advantageous."

"Microsoft System Center's licensing is costly."

"I rate the product price as five to six on a scale of one to ten, where one means it is cheap and ten means it is expensive."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."

"It's rolled into our enterprise subscription. The entire subscription is around $25,000 a year, however, that covers all the products that we use."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Real Estate/Law Firm

12%

Construction Company

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft .NET Framework?

Microsoft .NET Framework continually innovates, particularly in Visual Studio, which focuses on improving languages, debugging, and .NET functionality.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft .NET Framework?

The company is not paying anything for the license. I am not familiar with this area. For us, it's free.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft .NET Framework?

There may be some topics regarding connectivity and management of certificates that require attention. We are currently facing some issues.

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft System Center?

The product's initial setup phase was easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft System Center?

Microsoft System Center's licensing is costly.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft System Center?

Microsoft System Center should be easier to manage. However, it is complex to deploy, so people hesitate to use it. Though it has many features, such as licensing, asset tracking, and software depl...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 19% of the time

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JBoss Enterprise Application Platform vs Microsoft .NET Framework

Compared 13% of the time

Uniface vs Microsoft .NET Framework

Compared 9% of the time

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Veeam Data Platform vs Microsoft System Center

Compared 56% of the time

IBM BPM vs Microsoft System Center

Compared 44% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft .NET Framework

May 2025

Download Microsoft .NET Framework product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft System Center

May 2025

Download Microsoft System Center product report

Also Known As

MS .NET Framework

MS System Center

Overview

Microsoft .NET Framework is a software development framework for building and running applications for Windows, Windows Phone, Windows servers, XML Web services, and Microsoft Azure. The software is made up of two major components: Common Language Runtime (CLR) and the .NET Framework Class Library. The CLR is the execution engine that handles running apps and the Class Library is a library of tested, reusable code that developers can call from their own apps.

Microsoft .NET Framework Features

Microsoft .NET Framework has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Memory management: With Microsoft .NET Framework apps, the CLR allocates and releases memory and handles object lifetimes in many programming languages, so programmers are not responsible to do it.

Multitargeting: Microsoft .NET Framework targets .NET Standard, allowing developers to create class libraries that work on multiple Microsoft .NET Framework platforms.

A common type system: When using Microsoft .NET Framework, basic types are defined by the .NET Framework type system and are common to all languages that target Microsoft .NET Framework as opposed to traditional programming languages where basic types are defined by the compiler.

Side-by-side execution: By allowing multiple versions of the common language runtime to exist on the same computer, Microsoft .NET Framework helps resolve version conflicts. In addition, an app can run on the version of Microsoft .NET Framework with which it was built and multiple versions of apps can coexist.

Development frameworks and technologies: Microsoft .NET Framework provides libraries for specific areas of app development, such as ASP.NET for web apps, ADO.NET for data access, Windows Communication Foundation for service-oriented apps, and Windows Presentation Foundation for Windows desktop apps.

Microsoft .NET Framework Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing Microsoft .NET Framework. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Language interoperability: With this Microsoft .NET Framework feature, routines written in one language are accessible to other languages, enabling programmers to focus on creating apps in their preferred languages.

Version compatibility: Microsoft .NET Framework offers version compatibility for rare occasions when apps that are developed by using a particular version of Microsoft .NET Framework happen to run without modification on a later version.

Extensive class library: With Microsoft .NET Framework, programmers have the ability to use a readily accessible Microsoft .NET Framework class library instead of having to write vast amounts of code to handle common low-level programming operations.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by PeerSpot users currently using the Microsoft .NET Framework solution.

PeerSpot user, Syed A., Principal System Developer at a government, says the solution is a “Great all in one framework with extensive stack for web applications, windows applications and mobile applications.”

A QA Supervisor at a manufacturing company mentions, “It comes with many features that you can interact with and has all of the libraries readily available, which is not available in the RPA platforms. You can create your own SSIS package. You can integrate with all of the Windows objects, which is not available in Automation Anywhere, and you need to rely on their Object Cloning technologies to interact with them.”

Brennan G., IS Technical Architect at Avara Foods Holdings Limited, comments, “It is easy to use, and it runs on a Windows platform. The .NET Framework is a very good framework. It does what I need it to do.”

Microsoft

System Center helps customers realize the benefits of the Microsoft Cloud Platform by delivering unified management. Experience fast time-to-value with out-of-the-box monitoring, provisioning, configuration, automation, protection and self-service.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Curtin University, Rockwell Automation, Aruba Networks, Insurity Inc., City of Barcelona, Pennsylvania DCNR, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, A1 Telekom Austria AG, Eastman Chemical Company

Kassen_rztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein, Magyar Telekom Nyrt., Adeka, QualCare, Aeriandi, UniCredit Bank d.d., Mostar, Allianz Australia Ltd., Grupo Familia

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft .NET Framework vs. Microsoft System Center

June 2025

Free Report: Microsoft .NET Framework vs. Microsoft System Center

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft .NET Framework vs. Microsoft System Center and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

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