Ask me why I love Blazor

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Rob Hutton

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As a longtime fan of the Microsoft technology stack — Azure PaaS, .NET, MVC, and SQL Server — I’ve seen firsthand how these tools have evolved to meet modern development needs. A few years ago, I took a detour into the world of React and TypeScript, which was a fun and eye-opening experience. I loved the rich, interactive components of React and the flexibility of Single Page Applications (SPAs). But in my heart, I missed working with C#, and I kept wondering if I could merge the two worlds. Then .NET Core (now .NET 8, soon to be .NET 9) emerged, and the game changed. Enter Blazor — a powerful, flexible framework that brought the best of both worlds together: the interactive richness of React with the robustness and scalability of C# and .NET. Blazor is the natural evolution of MVC, offering a modern, component-based architecture while retaining the familiar strengths of the .NET ecosystem.

React vs .NET: The Best of Both Worlds

My journey with React was exciting. React offered a component-based architecture that made UI development both powerful and fun. Some standout features of React include:

  • Component-based architecture: Building reusable and modular components made scaling large UIs much easier.
  • State management: Managing the state of components, whether locally or with libraries like Redux, was intuitive and powerful.
  • Web hooks: React hooks provided a way to manage side effects and reactivity in functional components, improving the overall development experience.

I loved these features, but .NET and C# remained my first love. For a while, it seemed like I had to choose between the two — until Blazor came along and solved that problem for me.

Blazor: A Developer’s Dream Come True

When I really started digging into Blazor, it was clear that it brought together all the tools I’d been searching for. Blazor leverages the power of the .NET ecosystem, allowing you to write your applications using C# and HTML, while benefiting from the familiar structure of the .NET framework. And on top of that, it gives you the modern, interactive SPA experience similar to what I appreciated in React, but with the power and flexibility of C#.

What makes Blazor truly special are the core features that .NET brings to the table:

  • Dependency Injection: Built right into the framework, making it easy to manage services, keep code clean, and improve testability.
  • Abstractions and Interfaces: These allow for clean, loosely coupled code that is easier to maintain and extend.
  • Extensions: With .NET, you can create reusable extension methods that make your codebase more expressive and modular.
  • CQRS + MediatR: The Command Query Responsibility Segregation pattern (CQRS) helps separate read and write operations, making complex applications easier to maintain. With MediatR, you can easily manage commands and queries through a central mediator, improving structure and scalability.
  • Repository Pattern: This pattern abstracts data access, making it easier to swap out the underlying data layer without affecting your business logic.
  • Result Wrappers: The ability to wrap responses in a Result object gives you cleaner error handling and helps ensure consistency across your app.

Blazor wraps all these .NET benefits into a robust, user-friendly platform that supports full-stack development with the languages and tools I already love.

Blazor’s Different Rendering Modes

One of Blazor’s most compelling features is its ability to support multiple rendering modes. Depending on the needs of your application, you can choose from several different options:

  • Blazor Static Server Side Rendering (SSR): If your app needs SEO but doesn’t require client-side interactivity, SSR is the perfect option. It delivers static HTML for fast initial load times and SEO benefits.
  • Blazor Server with SignalR: My personal favorite! This approach is great for web apps that don’t need offline capabilities but require high performance and real-time interaction. Blazor Server uses SignalR to maintain a real-time connection between the client and server, delivering updates instantly without the need for a full page refresh.
  • Blazor WebAssembly: For applications requiring offline capabilities or more client-side processing, Blazor WebAssembly is the way to go. It compiles C# code into WebAssembly (a .wasm file), allowing the app to run in the browser. This makes Blazor WebAssembly super performant, and it’s why many gaming companies are adopting it for its ability to handle real-time, high-performance tasks using WebSockets.

Each of these modes has its own strengths, and the flexibility to choose the right tool for the job is one of Blazor’s greatest advantages.

The Future of Blazor with .NET 9

Blazor continues to evolve, and with .NET 9 on the horizon, there are even more exciting features to look forward to. Some key upcoming improvements include:

  • Ahead-Of-Time (AOT) Compilation: This reduces startup times and improves performance, especially for WebAssembly apps.
  • Smaller payloads: With .NET 9, Blazor apps will benefit from smaller payloads, reducing load times and making applications even more responsive.
  • Improved tooling: .NET 9 brings improved debugging, diagnostics, and developer tooling, making it easier to build, test, and maintain Blazor apps.

As Blazor grows, it will continue to solidify its place as a go-to framework for building modern, scalable web applications.

Conclusion

Blazor is not just another framework — it’s a game changer. It has combined the best of the Microsoft stack and modern UI development into one cohesive platform, giving developers like me the chance to code in the language we love while delivering rich, interactive web experiences. Whether you’re a fan of React or .NET, Blazor brings the two worlds together in a way that just works. With .NET 9 on the way and even more performance and feature improvements on the horizon, Blazor’s future looks incredibly bright.

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