What’s New in .NET 10: EF Core 10, MAUI, AOT, Cryptography & Tooling

EF Core 10 Adds Long-Requested Database Features

Entity Framework Core 10 is one of the biggest EF updates in years.

1. Left Join & Right Join Operators

Developers can now write clear, explicit join queries without awkward workarounds:

var query = context.Employees
    .LeftJoin(
        context.Departments,
        employee => employee.DepartmentID,
        department => department.ID,
        (employee, department) => new
        {
            employee.FirstName,
            employee.LastName,
            Department = department.Name ?? "[NONE]"
        });

2. Named Query Filters

Previously, disabling query filters meant disabling all of them.
Now you can disable specific filters:

modelBuilder.Entity<Blog>()
.HasQueryFilter("SoftDeletionFilter", b => !b.IsDeleted)
.HasQueryFilter("TenantFilter", b => b.TenantId == tenantId);
var allBlogs = await context.Blogs
.IgnoreQueryFilters(["SoftDeletionFilter"])
.ToListAsync();

3. Better ExecuteUpdateAsync

You can now use regular lambdas instead of expression trees:

await context.Blogs.ExecuteUpdateAsync(s =>
{
    s.SetProperty(b => b.Views, 8);
    if (nameChanged) s.SetProperty(b => b.Name, "foo");
});

4. Complex Types & Vector Search

EF Core 10 adds:

• Optional complex types

• Struct mapping

• Production-ready vector similarity search for AI workloads

.NET MAUI Modernizes Mobile App Development

.NET MAUI in .NET 10 focuses on stability, diagnostics, and cloud-native integrations.

1. .NET Aspire Integration

You now get:

• OpenTelemetry metrics

• Distributed tracing

• Service discovery for mobile apps

• Auto-configured defaults

2. CollectionView & CarouselView Becomes Defaults

These controls bring better performance and stability.
ListView and TableView are now deprecated.

3. Improved WebView

You can now:

• Intercept and rewrite requests

• Modify headers

• Provide local response content

• Play fullscreen videos on Android

4. SafeArea Improvements (iOS)

New SafeAreaRegions and SafeAreaEdges give developers more control.

5. Enhanced Diagnostics

Comprehensive metrics help identify rendering and layout bottlenecks.

Post-Quantum Cryptography Support

.NET 10 introduces quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms to prepare for future threats.

Supported algorithms:

• ML-KEM (Key Encapsulation)

• ML-DSA (Digital Signatures)

• SLH-DSA (Hash-Based Signatures)

New classes:

• MLKem

• MLDsa

• SlhDsa

.NET 10 also includes hybrid algorithms that combine traditional + quantum-resistant techniques.

Native AOT Compilation: Faster Startup & Smaller Footprint

Native Ahead-of-Time (AOT) compilation keeps improving.

Benefits include:

• Up to 75% faster cold starts

• Lower memory usage

• Smaller container images

• Predictable serverless performance

Developers can now AOT-compile specific assemblies, while keeping others JIT-compiled.

SDK & Tooling Enhancements

Key improvements include:

• Workload sets are now the default

• New dotnet tool exec for one-off tool execution

• New SLNX solution file format

• Better file-based app support

• Improved CLI introspection (--cli-schema)

Breaking Changes You Must Know

.NET 10 includes changes that may require code updates:

• ASP.NET Core deprecated components

• Stricter cryptography and certificate validation

• Updated Windows Forms / WPF APIs

• EF Core 10 breaking changes

• MSBuild behavior changes

• NuGet now enforces stricter validations

Development Tools with .NET 10 Support

For best results:

• Visual Studio 2026 (full support)

• Rider 2025.3

• VS Code with C# Dev Kit

Visual Studio 2022 can’t use C# 14 features.

Who Should Upgrade to .NET 10?

Recommended for:

• Teams on .NET 6, 7, 8, or 9

• Large enterprise applications

• High-performance microservices

• AI, data processing, and API workloads

• Mobile developers using MAUI

• Apps requiring strong security

Support timelines:

• .NET 8 & 9 end of support: Nov 10, 2026

• .NET 10 support lasts until Nov 2028

Getting Started

• Download .NET 10 SDK

• Review breaking changes

• Update dependencies

• Test AOT compilation if building microservices

• Migrate incrementally where possible

Final Thoughts

.NET 10 delivers major improvements across every layer of the stack:

• EF Core 10 → Better joins, filters, updates

• MAUI → More stable & cloud-native

• Cryptography → Quantum-safe

• AOT → Faster cloud workloads

• SDK → Cleaner workflows

• Tooling → Modern, powerful IDE support

Combined with three years of LTS support, .NET 10 becomes one of the most compelling releases for modern app development.