Top 20 NuGet Packages You Must Add to Your .NET Application

NuGet is the official package manager for .NET. It provides developers with a vast array of libraries, tools, and extensions that enhance productivity, optimize code, and solve real-world problems. As a .NET developer, integrating the right NuGet packages can make your application more efficient, secure, and scalable.

In this article, we'll explore the top 20 NuGet packages that you should consider adding to your .NET application. We’ll provide examples and step-by-step solutions to demonstrate how these packages can improve your development process.

1. Newtonsoft.Json
2. Serilog
3. Entity Framework Core
4. AutoMapper
5. Polly
6. FluentValidation
7. Swashbuckle.AspNetCore
8. MediatR
9. NLog
10. Dapper
11. Hangfire
12. xUnit
13. IdentityServer4
14. Refit
15. MiniProfiler
16. NSwag
17. Elasticsearch.Net
18. MassTransit
19. Quartz.NET
20. MailKit

Source: [https://producators.com/Top-20-NuGet-Packages-You-Must-Add-to-Your-NET-Application]

Comments

[lambertj]

Something is wrong here : you announce "We’ll provide examples and step-by-step solutions" and only copy/paste a list of packages, OK => Want to create traffic on your blogpost/website for details.

Then on your website, the examples are "full text mode" (your content interpreter seems off). Two weeks the article is online and you didn't check the format ?

Finally, some of the packages are not supported anymore (IdentityServer4 since November 2022, sad for and identity provider...) or in stale (Swashbuckle.AspNetCore will be removed from native framework because of no new features).

[Olumuyiwa Afolabi]

Thank you for your update.
This list provides enough information for any developer to understand. The documentation is well-written on NuGet.org and in the respective GitHub repositories.

Also, thank you for informing me about the website issue. It was caused by a stylesheet update.

IdentityServer4 has been replaced by Duende IdentityServer, which is actively maintained. Swashbuckle.AspNetCore is still in use and will be fully supported for many years before it is retired. Could you kindly help provide the latest package that is currently used in place of Swashbuckle.AspNetCore?
Many thanks.

[James]

And didn't Newtonsoft also stop major development because the principal moved to Microsoft for System.Text.Json work?

[Olumuyiwa Afolabi]

Thanks for your update,

System.Text.Json focuses primarily on performance, security, and standards compliance. It has some key differences in default behavior and doesn't aim to have feature parity with Newtonsoft.Json. For some scenarios, System.Text.Json currently has no built-in functionality, but there are recommended workarounds

When to Use System.Text.Json

1. Use for high-performance, simple JSON parsing in modern .NET projects (Core 3.0+ and later).
2. Ideal for new projects that don't require advanced features like polymorphism or LINQ-to-JSON.

When to Use Newtonsoft.Json

1. Use when dealing with complex JSON structures, extensive customization, legacy projects, or advanced features like schema validation and polymorphic deserialization
2. Best for projects needing more control over serialization and deserialization

While System.Text.Json is part of the .NET ecosystem, Newtonsoft.Json has broader usage and is compatible across more platforms, including older .NET Framework versions, Xamarin, and Unity