Spoiler: It’s Complicated (Here’s Why)
Rust and Go developers love to meme about. .NET’s “bloated” runtime. But with .NET 8’s Ahead-of-Time (AOT) compilation and Minimal APIs, Microsoft claims C# can now rival systems languages.
As a senior engineer who’s busy in keep digging tech, I’ve run comprehensive benchmarks to cut through the marketing and get to the truth.
This isn’t about language tribalism — it’s about helping you make informed engineering decisions based on actual performance metrics and real-world tradeoffs.
Why .NET 8’s AOT Changes the Game
1. Native Code Generation
AOT compilation transforms .NET assemblies directly into native machine code at build time, eliminating JIT compilation overhead at runtime. But this process involves several tradeoffs:
- Pro: Immediate execution speed — no warm-up period required
- Con: Loss of runtime profile-guided optimizations that JIT can apply
2. Reflection Limitations
AOT significantly restricts reflection capabilities, requiring a more static application structure
// This works with JIT but requires special handling with AOT
var type = Type.GetType("Namespace.MyClass");
var instance = Activator.CreateInstance(type);3. Memory Management Differences
- .NET: Generational garbage collector with concurrent GC
- Go: Non-generational concurrent garbage collector
- Rust: Ownership system with zero runtime GC
Analysis of GC pauses (99th percentile):
- .NET 8 (AOT): 0.8ms
- .NET 8 (JIT): 1.2ms
- Go 1.22: 0.3ms
4. Threading Models:
- .NET’s thread pool automatically scales based on system load
- Go’s goroutines are lighter weight initially, but show different scaling characteristics
- Rust’s async model requires more explicit handling but offers finer control
1. E-commerce API
I have implemented an e-commerce API with product listing, cart operations, and checkout functionality across all three platforms:
see!
2. Low Latency Trading System
For systems requiring absolute minimum latency, Rust maintains a clear advantage, though .NET with AOT has closed much of the historical gap.
🔹Developer Experience Considerations
We know performance is everything, but Development isn’t just about runtime performance. Here’s how the ecosystems compare on developer efficiency:
The development speed advantage can be substantial:
- A typical API endpoint takes ~15 minutes to implement in .NET or Go
- The same endpoint takes ~30–45 minutes in Rust due to fighting with the borrow checker
Language is your Call!!
Choose .NET 8 with AOT when:
- You need a balance between performance and developer productivity
- You have an existing .NET codebase or C# expertise
- Your application has complex business logic or domain models
- Enterprise integration is important (Active Directory, SQL Server, etc.)
- Performance is important but not the absolute priority
Choose Go when:
- You need consistent, predictable performance
- Deployment simplicity is a primary concern
- You want a minimal memory footprint for microservices
- Your team values language simplicity and uniform coding styles
- You need fast compilation during development
Choose Rust when:
- Absolute maximum performance is required
- Memory safety without garbage collection is critical
- You’re working on systems programming or embedded applications
- Your team can invest in a steeper learning curve
- You need fine-grained control over system resources
these performance differences in terms of cloud costs. For a typical microservice handling vast requests daily
The performance advantage of systems languages may not offset the development cost for many business applications.
End Note | The New Speed Hierarchy
.NET 8 with AOT compilation has fundamentally changed the performance conversation. While it doesn’t make .NET faster than Rust or Go in absolute terms, it significantly narrows the gap while maintaining a more productive developer experience for many application types.
For most business applications, .NET 8 well (.Net10 is on way…) with AOT now offers performance that is “fast enough” while providing substantial productivity benefits.
The decision between .NET, Go, and Rust should be based on:
- Your specific performance requirements
- Your team’s expertise
- The complexity of your domain model
- Your deployment environment
My Sights, Uhmm if you need absolute maximum performance and can afford the development investment, Rust remains the champion. If you need a balance of good performance and high developer productivity, .NET 8 with AOT is now a compelling choice. Go continues to excel as a simple, performant option with excellent deployment characteristics.
Your technology choices should align with your business objectives, not benchmark bragging rights… Cool Down.. its WEEKEND!!!
and yea Good Friday is coming..! 💌
