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Azure Functions vs .NET

Azure Functions logo

Azure Functions

Software

Event-driven serverless compute on Azure

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
.

.NET

Software

Free, cross-platform, open source developer platform

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only .NET has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Azure Functions consumption plan free grant is capped at 1 million executions and 400,000 GB-seconds of resource consumption per month per subscription, billed per GB-second beyond that; .NET .NET 8 and .NET 9 both reach end of support on 10 November 2026, per dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/platform/support/policy (Aug 2026), forcing an upgrade to .NET 10 by that date

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Azure Functions and .NET actually diverge.

Attributes where Azure Functions and .NET differ
AttributeAzure Functions.NET
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionopen-source
Free tierNoYes

Identical on both: platforms (Web), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Azure Functions

  • Consumption plan free grant is capped at 1 million executions and 400,000 GB-seconds of resource consumption per month per subscription, billed per GB-second beyond that
  • The newer Flex Consumption plan's free grant is smaller still, at 250,000 executions and 100,000 GB-seconds per month
  • Premium plan avoids per-execution charges but bills continuously for allocated core seconds and memory regardless of invocation volume
  • Memory is rounded up to the nearest 128 MB and execution time to the nearest 1 ms for billing, so small overages round upward

.NET

  • .NET 8 and .NET 9 both reach end of support on 10 November 2026, per dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/platform/support/policy (Aug 2026), forcing an upgrade to .NET 10 by that date
  • Standard Term Support releases get only 2 years of patches versus 3 years for Long Term Support releases, per Microsoft's own support policy page, so teams on an STS release face a shorter upgrade cycle

Pricing, plan by plan

Azure Functions

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Azure Functions review.

.NET

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the .NET review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Azure Functions if

Nothing in the data separates Azure Functions from .NET on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Azure Functions review

Choose .NET if

  • You want to start without paying.
.NET review

Questions people ask

Is Azure Functions or .NET better?
Neither clearly leads. Azure Functions starts at On request and .NET at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Azure Functions or .NET?
.NET has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Azure Functions and Free for .NET.
Does Azure Functions or .NET run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use .NET for free?
Yes. .NET has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Azure Functions starts at On request.
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