Choose the right .NET Core version
Tip
This content is an excerpt from the eBook, Porting existing ASP.NET Apps to .NET 6, available on .NET Docs or as a free downloadable PDF that can be read offline.
The largest consideration for most organizations when choosing which version of .NET to target is the support lifecycle. Long Term Support (LTS) releases ship less frequently but have a longer support window than Current (non-LTS) releases. Currently, LTS releases are scheduled to ship every other year. Customers can choose which releases to target, and can install different releases of .NET Core side by side on the same machine. LTS releases will receive only critical and compatible fixes throughout their lifecycle. Current releases will receive these same fixes and will also be updated with compatible innovations and features. LTS releases are supported for three years after their initial release. Current releases are supported for three months after a subsequent Current or LTS release.
Most customers looking to migrate a large .NET Framework app to .NET Core/.NET 6 today are probably looking for a stable destination, given that they haven't already made the move to an earlier version of .NET Core. In this case, the best .NET version to target for the migration is .NET 6, which is the most recent LTS version. While support for .NET Core 3.1 ends in December 2022, support for .NET 6 will continue until November 2024.
Updating from .NET Core 3.1 to .NET 6+ requires much less effort than porting from .NET Framework to .NET Core. For this reason, many customers may choose to upgrade to .NET Core 3.1 first as an incremental step, and then further upgrade to .NET 6 once the upgrade to .NET Core 3.1 has succeeded.
This book assumes .NET Framework apps will be upgraded to .NET 6.
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