Top 10 Features You Didn’t Know .NET 8 Can Do

2. Blazor Hybrid Apps – Run Web Code on Desktop with a Single Codebase

With .NET 8, Blazor evolves beyond just browser-based apps. It now supports hybrid app development, where you can write your UI using HTML and C# (instead of JavaScript) and run it directly on desktop platforms like Windows or macOS using WebView technology. This is game-changing because you can build and maintain one codebase that works across both web and desktop platforms — drastically reducing development time and cost.

3. Minimal APIs with Built-In Swagger and Simpler Routing

Minimal APIs were first introduced in .NET 6, but .NET 8 makes them more powerful and user-friendly. Now you get automatic OpenAPI (Swagger) documentation, simplified route mapping, and better parameter validation — all with just a few lines of code. This is a great feature for small apps, internal tools, or microservices where you want fast setup and easy maintenance, without the complexity of full MVC structure.

4. Built-In Rate Limiting Middleware to Protect Your APIs

Security and reliability are top priorities for any public-facing API. .NET 8 now offers out-of-the-box rate limiting middleware, allowing you to control how often clients can make requests. Whether you want to block abuse, prevent spam, or throttle usage to protect your backend services, this feature gives you granular control over rate policies — all without writing custom logic or relying on third-party tools.

5. Faster JSON Serialization with Source Generation

Dealing with JSON is part of almost every application today. .NET 8 upgrades System.Text.Json to include source-generated serialization, which is much faster and more memory-efficient than the reflection-based approach. This leads to better performance for APIs, data exchange, and mobile apps, especially when handling large or frequent data transfers.

6. Simplified Authentication and Identity Setup

.NET 8 makes it easier than ever to integrate user login, registration, and security features. It provides better templates and tighter integration with OpenID Connect and external login providers like Google, Microsoft, and GitHub. Whether you’re building an internal dashboard or a full SaaS product, setting up secure authentication now requires less boilerplate and fewer third-party tools.

7. Mature Support for .NET MAUI – Real Cross-Platform Development

With the improvements in .NET 8, .NET MAUI (Multi-platform App UI) is now stable and production-ready. You can build applications that run on Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS — all using the same C# codebase. Combined with hot reload, native APIs, and XAML support, MAUI allows developers to create rich, native apps without needing to learn multiple languages or frameworks.

8. Time Abstraction with TimeProvider – Better Testing & Time Control

.NET 8 introduces a new built-in TimeProvider API, which lets you abstract system time in your applications. This means you can mock or simulate time in your unit tests, enabling much more accurate and controlled testing scenarios — especially useful when dealing with timeouts, delays, token expirations, and scheduled tasks.

9. Output Caching Middleware – Serve Pages Lightning Fast

Serving dynamic content repeatedly can slow down your web apps, especially under load. .NET 8 brings built-in output caching middleware, which stores the result of a request and returns it instantly on repeated calls. This can greatly improve performance for public pages like product listings, blogs, dashboards, or reports — while reducing stress on your server and database.

10. OpenTelemetry Integration for Monitoring and Tracing

Observability is key in modern DevOps and microservices architecture. .NET 8 offers native support for OpenTelemetry, allowing you to collect logs, traces, and metrics for your applications — without relying on custom monitoring scripts. You can send this data to tools like Jaeger, Zipkin, Azure Monitor, or Grafana to understand how your app behaves in real-time.