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Web Development · head to head

.NET vs Spacelift

.NET logo

.NET

Web Development

Free, cross-platform, open source developer platform

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Spacelift logo

Spacelift

Developer Tools

Infrastructure-as-code orchestration for Terraform, OpenTofu, Pulumi and Kubernetes

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

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; Spacelift users are unlimited and private workers are metered, so deployment concurrency rather than headcount drives the bill, which inverts how most engineering budgets are built and is easy to under-forecast.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which .NET and Spacelift actually diverge.

Attributes where .NET and Spacelift differ
Attribute.NETSpacelift
Pricing modelopen-sourceBy private worker and tier, not by user
PlatformsWebWeb, Self-hosted, Cloud
CategoryWeb DevelopmentDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in .NET

Nothing recorded that Spacelift does not also cover.

Only in Spacelift

  • Multi-tool orchestration
  • Policy as code
  • Private workers
  • Spaces
  • Blueprints
  • Drift detection

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

.NET

  • Web development with ASP.NET Core and Entity Frameworknot Spacelift
  • Cloud-native application development for Azurenot Spacelift
  • Mobile and desktop apps with .NET MAUI cross-platform frameworknot Spacelift
  • AI and machine learning applications using C#not Spacelift

Spacelift

  • Platform teams running infrastructure changes through approval gates rather than through application CInot .NET
  • Organisations standardising Terraform and OpenTofu across many teams with policy enforcementnot .NET
  • Estates needing private runners so cloud credentials never leave the networknot .NET
  • Teams wanting drift detection and reconciliation rather than plan-time checks alonenot .NET

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

Spacelift

  • Users are unlimited and private workers are metered, so deployment concurrency rather than headcount drives the bill, which inverts how most engineering budgets are built and is easy to under-forecast.
  • There is no affordable paid entry point. The free tier stops at two users and the next tier is a five-figure commitment with nothing in between.
  • Three of the five tiers are quote-only, so a shortlist cannot be costed without entering a sales process with each vendor on it.
  • The self-hosted build lags the hosted one, has no public worker pool and lacks the Azure and Google Cloud integrations available in the SaaS product, with OIDC federation offered as the workaround.
  • Stacks, Rego policies, Blueprints, Spaces and Spacelift-managed state are proprietary constructs, so leaving means rebuilding the orchestration layer rather than pointing it at a different runner.

Pricing, plan by plan

.NET

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the .NET review.

Spacelift

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Two users
    • Public workers only
    • No private workers
  • Starter Plus$undefined/year
    • Unlimited users
    • Two public workers
    • One to two private workers
  • Business$undefined/year
    • Unlimited users
    • Three private workers
    • Quoted
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Unlimited users
    • Five to thirty private workers
    • Self-hosted option

Which should you pick?

Choose .NET if

  • You want to start without paying.
.NET review

Choose Spacelift if

  • You need multi-tool orchestration.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Self-hosted, Cloud.
  • You also want policy as code.
Spacelift review

Questions people ask

Is .NET or Spacelift better?
Neither clearly leads. .NET starts at Free and Spacelift at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, .NET or Spacelift?
.NET starts at Free and Spacelift at Free.
Does .NET or Spacelift run on more platforms?
.NET runs on Web. Spacelift runs on Web, Self-hosted, Cloud.
Can I use .NET for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is .NET best used for?
.NET is most often used for web development with asp.net core and entity framework, cloud-native application development for azure, mobile and desktop apps with .net maui cross-platform framework, ai and machine learning applications using c#. Of those, web development with asp.net core and entity framework and cloud-native application development for azure are not what Spacelift is typically brought in for.
What can .NET do that Spacelift cannot?
Spacelift covers Multi-tool orchestration, Policy as code, Private workers, Spaces.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

.NET: Is .NET free to use?

Yes. .NET is completely free and open-source, available on GitHub.

Source
Spacelift: How is Spacelift priced?

By tier and by private worker count rather than per user. Users are unlimited on every paid plan. The published figure on the pricing page carries no period label, and the FAQ describes the tier as an annual subscription, so confirm the period in writing.

.NET: What platforms does .NET support?

.NET supports Windows, Linux, macOS, and Docker. A single C# codebase can run across multiple platforms including iOS, Android, and cloud environments.

Source
Spacelift: Does it support OpenTofu?

Yes, and Spacelift sponsors the OpenTofu project, which is a substantive hedge for anyone avoiding Terraform under the Business Source Licence.

.NET: How large is the .NET ecosystem?

NuGet provides 390,000+ unique packages with 50,000+ new packages added annually. .NET has 474K+ GitHub stars and active community support across multiple platforms.

Source
Spacelift: Is there a self-hosted version?

Yes, described as carrying Enterprise functionality, but it is priced on request and lags the hosted product on cloud integrations.

Spacelift: Why not just use the CI system we already have?

That is the real comparison. General purpose CI handles state, drift, approval gates and concurrency control for infrastructure poorly, and whether that is worth a five-figure floor depends on how much infrastructure change your organisation actually ships.

Spacelift: What happens to our pipelines if we leave?

They do not port. Rego policies, Blueprints, Spaces and managed state are Spacelift constructs and the orchestration has to be rebuilt elsewhere.

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