--- title: ".NET 4.5 Reviews" meta\_title: ".NET 4.5 Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2" meta\_description: Filter 81 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how .NET 4.5 works for a business like yours. aggregate\_rating: rating\_value: 4.2 review\_count: 81 scale: '5' date\_modified: '2026-08-07' parent\_category: name: Development url: https://www.g2.com/categories/development --- # .NET 4.5 Reviews & Product Details Claimed ###### Profile Status This profile is currently managed by .NET 4.5 but has limited features. Are you part of the .NET 4.5 team? [Upgrade your plan](https://sell.g2.com) to enhance your branding and engage with visitors to your profile! .NET Framework 4.5 is a comprehensive and consistent programming model developed by Microsoft for building applications with visually stunning user experiences, seamless and secure communication, and the ability to model a range of business processes. This version introduces significant enhancements that improve developer productivity and application performance. Key Features and Functionality: - Asynchronous Programming: Incorporates the `async` and `await` keywords, simplifying asynchronous code and enhancing application responsiveness. - Networking Enhancements: Adds support for WebSockets, enabling real-time, bidirectional communication between client and server. - ASP.NET Improvements: Introduces model binding for Web Forms, allowing for cleaner and more maintainable code. - Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) Enhancements: Includes the new Ribbon control for rich user interfaces and improved performance when displaying large data sets. - Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Updates: Simplifies configuration and supports multiple authentication modes on a single endpoint. - Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) Enhancements: Adds support for state machine workflows and improved designer features. Primary Value and Solutions Provided: .NET Framework 4.5 addresses the need for developers to create high-performance, scalable, and responsive applications across various platforms. By introducing asynchronous programming patterns, it allows applications to remain responsive under heavy workloads. The support for WebSockets and improved networking capabilities enable the development of modern web applications with real-time communication features. Enhancements in ASP.NET, WPF, WCF, and WF provide developers with powerful tools to build rich user interfaces, efficient communication systems, and complex workflows, thereby reducing development time and improving application maintainability. * * * Seller [Microsoft](https://www.g2.com/sellers/microsoft) Discussions [.NET 4.5 Community](https://www.g2.com/products/net-4-5/discuss) Solution Type Best-of-Breed Overview by Mayank Kaushik Show More ## Value at a Glance Averages based on real user reviews. ### Perceived Cost $$$$$ [ View More Pricing Information ](https://www.g2.com/products/net-4-5/pricing) ## Top-Rated Alternatives [ ![Essential Studio](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Essential Studio") Essential Studio 4.5/5(797) ](https://www.g2.com/products/essential-studio/reviews) [ ![Okta](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Okta") Okta 4.5/5(1,366) ](https://www.g2.com/products/okta/reviews) [ ![Termius](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Termius") Termius 4.8/5(268) ](https://www.g2.com/products/termius/reviews) [ View All Alternatives ](https://www.g2.com/products/net-4-5/competitors/alternatives) ## User Insights Average based on 81 real user reviews. Perceived Cost $$$$$ [Log in to unlock pricing and user insights](/login) ## .NET 4.5 Integrations (3) What do users say about integrations? Integration information sourced from real user reviews. [ ![Product Avatar Image](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Product Avatar Image") Microsoft SQL Server ](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-sql-server/reviews)[ ![Product Avatar Image](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Product Avatar Image") Visual Studio ](https://www.g2.com/products/visual-studio/reviews)[ ![Product Avatar Image](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Product Avatar Image") WordPress.org ](https://www.g2.com/products/wordpress-org/reviews) Show More ![Verified User in Hospital & Health Care](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Hospital & Health Care") UH Verified User in Hospital & Health Care Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 7/30/2018 ".Net 4.5 the improved and more functional .net framework" 4/5 What do you like best about .NET 4.5? Ability to use asynchronous methods within the I/O classes. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about .NET 4.5? The framework performs as expected, so nothing to dislike. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering .NET 4.5: It's a great development product. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is .NET 4.5 solving and how is that benefiting you? Improved performance in .net based apps with new features fro parallel computing. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Oil & Energy](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Oil & Energy") UO Verified User in Oil & Energy Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 7/20/2018 "Integration of applications in .NET 4.5" 4/5 What do you like best about .NET 4.5? It is a good IDE to develope new web applications. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about .NET 4.5? It is not easy to download plugins from the application sometimes. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering .NET 4.5: It is easy to develope some types of applications Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is .NET 4.5 solving and how is that benefiting you? Integration of applications. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerSource: Organic ![Verified User in Financial Services](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Financial Services") UF Verified User in Financial Services Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 7/27/2018 Business partner of the seller or seller's competitor, not included in G2 scores. "Architect" 5/5 What do you like best about .NET 4.5? Ease and use and comprehensive options !! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about .NET 4.5? Complexity and lack of good documentation Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is .NET 4.5 solving and how is that benefiting you? Application development Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Rui Miguel C.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Rui Miguel C.") RC Rui Miguel C. Owner and Consultant Computer Software Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 1/10/2017 "Best development platform ever invented" 5/5 What do you like best about .NET 4.5? .Net and its companion languages like C# are unique as a developer platform and a runtime. I love the fact that .Net has a common runtime that supports several languages to be used to develop on top of it and the interoperability between those is absolutely flawless. The is made possible by the metadata that is included in the binaries that are compiled, which are called assemblies. The other thing I love is the fact that the compiled binaries do not contain by default native code, but intermediate language code (which is binary, not text) that is just-in-time compiled to native on runtime. This is a very small performance penalty on application start-up (and the first time each method is used for the first time), but essentially makes applications multi-platform. In the end, native code is actually run, so performance is not an issue. Yet another amazing aspect .Net has is the incredibly optimized garbage collector. This means that developers don't need to worry about managing object memory. There are no segmentation faults for trying to access already de-allocated memory. There are no memory leaks (strictly speaking that is - in practice, there still can be memory mismanagement by making bad use of static variables). As to the performance, while purists will stand by their highly optimized C and C++ code, for applications that have a lot of objects being created and disposed, the GC does represent an incredibly \*better\* performance than C and C++. I've already benchmarked this and the difference can be of something between 5x and 10x faster, where .Net solidly wins. Moreover, .Net manages very well the problem of memory fragmentation. Finally, .Net supports some language features I absolutely became dependant on. Delegates are so much better than Java's anonymous interfaces. Properties are an incredibly better way to expose private state, that Getters and Setters. Generics are well implemented instead of being erasure generics. Finally, there's the unique killer feature, LINQ - Language Integrated Query. Linq allows for expression trees to be written in the language of your choice (for instance C#) and have those expression trees be translated by database providers into optimized SQL queries to that database. This allows a whole new level of ORMs and a great example is Entity Framework. But this is just one of LINQ's many aspects. Depending on the context, the exact same LINQ, usually represented as a lambda expression, might be used as either an expression tree or an anonymous method. This means the same logic used to query a database can be used to query non-database things like lists of objects, XML, Json and so on. It is extremely versatile. There are so many more things I absolutely love about .Net, but these are probably the main things. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about .NET 4.5? The fact that in the past .Net was officially a Windows only proposition. In fact, .Net 4.5 is still only Windows. It kind of defeats one of its great characteristics, the fact that it is in theory multi-platform. However, there has been Mono, an alternative .Net implementation that wasn't supported by Microsoft and even better, .Net has been rebooted and a there is now .Net Core that is officially multi-platform. In practice, nowadays we can run .Net in a very broad range of devices ranging like macOS computers, Linux desktops and servers, iPhones and iPads, Android devices and Windows UWP, Even IOT devices, hologram and Xbox are supported now. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering .NET 4.5: Do consider .Net Core. .Net Core is still not the complete framework, so it still misses some bits. If you need some more advanced features like AppDomains and more control over threads, you're out of luck with .Net Core and you will need the full framework like .Net 4.5. However, if you don't need those features, .Net Core is a supported multi-platform solution. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is .NET 4.5 solving and how is that benefiting you? I've developed many line-of-business applications. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Information Technology and Services](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Information Technology and Services") CI Verified User in Information Technology and Services Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 2/27/2017 ".net 4.5 my preferred framework to develop web applications" 5/5 What do you like best about .NET 4.5? There is a lot to like about .net 4.5 framework, it has made a lot of improvements since 4.0 such as: Support for Windows Runtime Support for Async Programming Faster ASP.NET Startup Better Data Access Support .net 4.5 framework has a lot of builtin functionality and classes that can be used to speed up programming. I like the fact that as .net framework evolves they keep adding new functionalities and classes that is seen as a common need in the industry .net 4.5 is a very mature framework finding documentation on classes and usage is easy to find not to mention tons of examples Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about .NET 4.5? Applications built on .net 4.5 could only be hosted on windows, this has been resolved in later release "Asp.NET Core". Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering .NET 4.5: .net 4.5 is a great framework to either start your development path or to switch to easily build robust applications. If you are however looking to build a cross platform web application, you should consider using Asp.NET Core framework instead of Asp.NET 4.5 Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is .NET 4.5 solving and how is that benefiting you? I have mostly used .net 4.5 to building enterprise systems that implements Microservices Architecture to ensure that applications are built with scalability in mind. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Viacheslav S.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Viacheslav S.") VS Viacheslav S. Software Developer Internet Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 9/14/2016 "5 years using product" 5/5 What do you like best about .NET 4.5? 4.5 introduced tons of performance and stability improvements to mature and well known .NET Framework technology. The best features I like are: Background garbage collection for servers and Ability to explicitly compact the large object heap (LOH) during garbage collection Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about .NET 4.5? Cross-Platform Development with the Portable Class Library. Some features are available only when using Visual Studio 2013 or higher. New reflection engine Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering .NET 4.5: .NET 4.5 and 4.6 are the most up to date versions of well known Microsoft development technology. I'd highly recommend using it today due to: \* maturity of platform, language and tools; \* high number of developers familiar with the technology; \* high stability and robustness; \* unclear future of .NET 5 and next generations. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is .NET 4.5 solving and how is that benefiting you? Development and support of enterprise server applications and services Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Information Technology and Services](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Information Technology and Services") GI Verified User in Information Technology and Services Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 9/2/2016 "Great platform for rapid application development" 4.5/5 What do you like best about .NET 4.5? Very feature rich and flexible platform for development of cross-platform applications. You can use the language that is most comfortable to you, from VB.NET to C# - it's up to you. In addition, now with Microsoft's purchase of Xamarin, you can build thick-client, thin-client, or native mobile apps all using one familiar platform and framework. This gives you maximum flexibility with your development projects and ensures quicker time to market for your software and applications. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about .NET 4.5? i think that the previous version of the .NET framework being a closed system was a negative, but this is being addressed with .NET Core 1.0. Opening the framework up to the community will only increase adoption and get more people on board. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is .NET 4.5 solving and how is that benefiting you? We run a development shop that creates cross-platform applications. This includes web applications as well as native mobile applications. Our core competencies are on the .NET platform so we are looking forward to the new .NET Core. We have benefitted from being able to quickly build any type of application with standard technologies and consistency across our development teams. The tools that back the .NET platform, including Visual Studio and now Xamarin only help to make our jobs easier. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Insurance](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Insurance") UI Verified User in Insurance Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 10/20/2016 "Vast improvement over .net 4.0" 4/5 What do you like best about .NET 4.5? Support for Async and overall speed improvements have made this product a vast improvement over 4.0. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about .NET 4.5? Had to update past Windows 8, which wasn't a huge deal, just a time burden for us. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering .NET 4.5: Play around with it, if you are using 4.0 and are reluctant to move, this is a great time to do so. Speed of execution alone is worth the change. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is .NET 4.5 solving and how is that benefiting you? Speed.....always the most important thing when pushing something to a customer. 4.5 has improved on that greatly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Anas J.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Anas J.") AJ Anas J. Senior .Net Developer Information Technology and Services Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 2/27/2016 Business partner of the seller or seller's competitor, not included in G2 scores. "support of Async Programming and Windows Runtime and Faster ASP.NET Startup" 4.5/5 What do you like best about .NET 4.5? 1- Support for Windows Runtime, Metro Style Applications,WebSockets, Workflow Support - BCL and Async Programming. 2- Garbage Collector Improvements and Faster ASP.NET Startup. 3- Have a great features like ADO,Net, WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) and WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) 4- You can write application using multiple languages like C# and VB.Net. 5- Can use it to develop Web Applications using ASP.Net. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about .NET 4.5? Need to be cross platform library.and it does not support Windows CE Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering .NET 4.5: improved starting load for asp.net and adding async programming make it great. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is .NET 4.5 solving and how is that benefiting you? using the main libraries that using data structures, multithreading, web development, text libraries, mobile development and desktop development Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More 5/21/2016 Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Nico C.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Nico C.") NC Nico C. Web Developer Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 3/22/2016 "A good framework, with its proprietary restrictions" 5/5 What do you like best about .NET 4.5? I only write C# code (I love its syntax), but I really like the general idea to write different parts of a product in different languages. You can write a math library in F#, a GUI in C# and backend in VB and everything will work great together. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about .NET 4.5? It is a Windows only framework, which disallow you to develop under \*nix like system and then reduces the scalability of your code. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering .NET 4.5: Always keep in mind that you won't be able to develop with .NET in non-Windows desktop environment. You can use Mono, which is not satisfactory enough. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is .NET 4.5 solving and how is that benefiting you? I mostly use it for ASP.NET developing, UWP and trying Xamarin right now. It allows me to reduce number of programming languages I have to to in a full-stack developing. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ##### Pricing Pricing details for this product isn’t currently available. Visit the vendor’s website to learn more. [ View More Pricing Information ](https://www.g2.com/products/net-4-5/pricing) .NET 4.5 Comparisons ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_aab77c0248895bef22781874141e5a39/outsystems.png "Product Avatar Image") OutSystems 4.5/5(1,801) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/net-4-5-vs-outsystems) ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_b37510b506065ad3ac5cf01a327e3145/microsoft-power-apps.png "Product Avatar Image") Microsoft Power Apps 4.3/5(572) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/net-4-5-vs-microsoft-power-apps) ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_dc218a7b4e898f9384267cbd98b09aa8/apache-airflow.jpg "Product Avatar Image") Apache Airflow 4.4/5(130) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/net-4-5-vs-apache-airflow) ##### ##### .NET 4.5 Features Functionality Ease of Use File Management Multi-Language Support [ View More Features ](https://www.g2.com/products/net-4-5/features) ##### Categories on G2 [Other Development](https://www.g2.com/categories/other-development)[.NET Integrated Development Environments (IDE)](https://www.g2.com/categories/net-integrated-development-environments-ide) ##### Explore More [Leading digital experience platforms for enterprise use](https://www.g2.com/discussions/leading-digital-experience-platforms-for-enterprise-use)[What cloud edge security tools are best for companies moving workloads from on-premise to multi-cloud that need security controls to follow the data?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-cloud-edge-security-tools-are-best-for-companies-moving-workloads-from-on-premise-to-multi-cloud-that-need-security-controls-to-follow-the-data)[What are the best automotive marketing tools for dealerships requiring faster website optimization and competitive positioning?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-are-the-best-automotive-marketing-tools-for-dealerships-requiring-faster-website-optimization-and-competitive-positioning) [Which digital wayfinding software reduces patient navigation confusion in large healthcare systems without complex implementation?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/which-digital-wayfinding-software-reduces-patient-navigation-confusion-in-large-healthcare-systems-without-complex-implementation)[What insurance rating tools integrate with agency management systems to avoid rekeying data?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-insurance-rating-tools-integrate-with-agency-management-systems-to-avoid-rekeying-data)[Pros and Cons Details](https://www.g2.com/products/net-4-5/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons) [Show MoreShow Less](javascript:void(0);)