A free foundation is a good start. The question is what you finish yourself.
Free .NET templates and open-source foundations are well built, and for some projects one of them is the right answer. Whichever you pick, the trade is the same: the price is zero, and everything the template does not carry - and everything it does, from the day you fork it - is yours to build, test and maintain. This page is about that trade, not about any one project.
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What "free" usually means
- Architecture templates
- A clean, opinionated project structure with a sample feature and the platform's identity system wired in. The right first answer to "how should I structure this?" Everything above sign-in - permissions, tenants, an admin application - is yours to design.
- Starter kits
- Closer to an application: often roles and permissions, sometimes multi-tenancy and an admin console, usually on one front end and one database. How much is finished varies a lot from kit to kit, and so does who is maintaining it next year.
- Open-source frameworks with a startup template
- A framework that solves the infrastructure - tenancy, permissions, auditing, localization - with a small application on top. The plumbing is there; the screens, the SaaS layer and most of the security flows are left for you to build on it.
We publish one of these ourselves: the free startup template of ASP.NET Boilerplate, the framework ASP.NET Zero is built on. ASP.NET Zero is what the rest of the table below looks like when it is finished.
Where the work lands
Free templates differ, so the left column says what is typical and who carries it. Hold the one you are considering against the same rows.
| Criterion | A free template or foundation what is typical, and who carries it | ASP.NET Zero commercial, full source |
|---|---|---|
| What you start with | Anything from a folder structure to a working admin console, depending on the template | A finished application foundation: backend, three web UIs, a public website and a mobile app |
| Sign-in and account security | Usually login and registration. Two-factor, lockout, password policies, SSO and LDAP are often yours to add and test | Two-factor, lockout, password policies, social logins, OpenID Connect, LDAP and Active Directory, ADFS, session management |
| Authorization | Roles are common. Per-user permissions, organization units and impersonation are rarer | Roles, granular user permissions, organization units, user delegation, tenant and user impersonation |
| Multi-tenancy | Missing in many; where present, check whether isolation is enforced for you or by convention | Single, per-tenant or hybrid databases; tenant isolation on every query; tenant sign-up and branding |
| Editions, subscriptions, payments | Rarely included. The SaaS layer is usually yours to build | Editions, feature gating, subscriptions with trials, Stripe and PayPal, invoicing |
| Admin application | From a sample page to basic user and role screens | Users, roles, tenants, editions, subscriptions, languages, settings, audit logs, organization units - in all three UIs |
| Audit logging | Often timestamps on entities; a readable audit trail with a UI is usually yours | Audit log and entity change history, with UI |
| Localization | Sometimes the framework support; a language management UI is rare | 11 languages and a language management UI |
| Front ends and mobile | Typically one web UI; mobile is rare | Angular, React and MVC & jQuery on one backend, plus a .NET MAUI app |
| Code generator | Rarely | Power Tools included: entity to UI, from your database or from scratch |
| Upgrades | Once you fork it, every .NET release is yours to apply to your copy | Every .NET version since 2013, with a documented upgrade path for each |
| Support | GitHub issues and the community, on their schedule | Support incidents included; forum since 2013 |
| Source code | Yours | Yours: full source, no runtime fees, no per-user cost |
| What it costs | Free to start; the rest in your team's time | $2,999 one time, up to 3 developers |
Six questions to ask of a free template
The README tells you what a template has. These tell you what you will be writing.
- Multi-tenancy: is tenant isolation enforced on every query by the framework, or left to each developer to remember?
- Permissions: can you grant one user one extra permission, or only put them in a role?
- SaaS: are editions, feature limits, trials and payments there, or is billing a module name with nothing behind it?
- Audit: does it record who changed what, including under impersonation, and can an administrator read it without a database query?
- Maintenance: who has kept it current through the last three .NET major versions, and will they be there for the next one?
- Tests: what ships with it, and does it cover the rows above or only the sample feature?
The price is zero. The cost is the rows you carry.
- Every row the template does not carry is a row your team writes, tests, and maintains against every .NET release. The build-vs-buy page puts weeks against each of them.
- The rows that matter most in an enterprise sale - permissions, tenancy, audit, SSO - are the ones free templates most often leave out, because they are the hardest to do generically.
- A free template's maintainer owes you nothing. That is fair, and it is also the difference between a GitHub issue and a support incident with a response time.
- What makes a free template attractive, you get from ASP.NET Zero too: the full source code, no runtime fees, no per-user cost, and the freedom to change anything.
Build vs buy has the effort against each area and the numbers our customers published. The feature list is the long form of the right-hand column.
When a free template is the right call
- A prototype, a proof of concept, or a learning project. A free template is the right starting shape, and you will learn more building the rest yourself.
- An internal tool with one kind of user and no tenants. Most of the rows above do not apply.
- A team that needs tenancy and permissions but is willing to build editions, billing and the admin screens itself, and has the time to.
If you are building a multi-tenant SaaS product, or a line-of-business application that enterprise customers will evaluate, the rows above are your backlog. That is the case ASP.NET Zero exists for.
Frequently asked questions
Is a free .NET template enough for a multi-tenant SaaS application?
Usually not on its own. Free templates typically carry sign-in and registration, sometimes roles. Multi-tenancy, editions and subscriptions, per-user permissions, an audit trail with a UI and a complete admin application are usually left to your team to build, test and maintain against every .NET release.
Is ASP.NET Zero open source?
No. ASP.NET Zero is a commercial product, but the license includes the full source code, with no runtime fees and no per-user cost, and you can change anything. It is built on ASP.NET Boilerplate, the open-source framework from the same team, which has a free startup template of its own.
What does ASP.NET Zero include that free templates usually leave out?
Multi-tenancy with single, per-tenant or hybrid databases; editions, subscriptions with trials, and Stripe and PayPal payments; granular permissions, organization units and impersonation; an audit log and entity change history with a UI; the admin application in Angular, React and MVC; a .NET MAUI mobile app; and the Power Tools code generator.
When is a free template the right choice?
For a prototype, a proof of concept or a learning project; for an internal tool with one kind of user and no tenants; or for a team that needs tenancy and permissions but is willing to build editions, billing and the admin screens itself, and has the time to.
How does the cost compare with a free template?
A free template costs nothing to start; the rest is paid in your team's time. ASP.NET Zero costs $2,999 one time for a team of up to 3 developers: a perpetual license with the full source code, one year of updates, and no runtime fees or per-user cost.
Check it against your own requirements
- Build vs buy: what a foundation contains, what building it takes, and the customers' published numbers
- vs AI-generated boilerplate: why generating the foundation is not the same as verifying it
- Everything included: the full feature list, so you can check it against your requirements
- Live demo: see the admin application before you decide anything
- Talk to an expert: 30 minutes, free, and we will tell you if a free template is the better fit
Free gets you started. This gets you shipped.
Explore the live demo, or book 30 minutes with the team that maintains it.