Web Development · head to head
.NET vs PHP
.
.NET
Web Development
Free, cross-platform, open source developer platform
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
P
PHP
Web Development
A popular general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited to web development
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: .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; PHP distributed under the Modified BSD License, also called the PHP License version 4, per php.net/license/; there is no paid tier or vendor price to compare
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which .NET and PHP actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (open-source), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Web Development).
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
.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
PHP
- Distributed under the Modified BSD License, also called the PHP License version 4, per php.net/license/; there is no paid tier or vendor price to compare
- PHP 8.2 lost active support on 31 Dec 2024 and enters full end of life on 31 Dec 2026, with only security fixes since, per php.net/supported-versions.php (Aug 2026)
Pricing, plan by plan
.NET
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the .NET review.
PHP
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the PHP review.
Which should you pick?
Questions people ask
- Is .NET or PHP better?
- Neither clearly leads. .NET starts at Free and PHP at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, .NET or PHP?
- .NET starts at Free and PHP at Free.
- Does .NET or PHP run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use .NET for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.