ReleaseRun Badges for .NET
Live version freshness, EOL status, CVE counts, and health badges for .NET. Embed in your README, docs, or dashboard.
Live Badges
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Why Use .NET Health Badges?
.NET’s alternating LTS and STS release cadence means half of all .NET versions lose support after just 18 months. A health badge in your project README makes it immediately clear whether your .NET version is still receiving patches or silently drifting into unsupported territory.
ReleaseRun badges go beyond Shields.io. While Shields.io shows a version number, our badges show security posture: CVE counts, EOL countdowns, and a composite health grade that factors in freshness (35%), security (35%), and support status (30%).
.NET Release History & EOL Timeline
Since unifying under “.NET” (dropping “Core” and “Framework”), Microsoft ships a new major version every November. Even-numbered releases are Long-Term Support (LTS) with 3 years of patches. Odd-numbered releases are Standard-Term Support (STS) with just 18 months.
- .NET 9 (STS) – released November 2024. Current release. Standard-Term Support means it reaches end-of-life in May 2026. Teams that need longer support windows should target .NET 8 instead.
- .NET 8 (LTS) – released November 2023. The recommended choice for production workloads. Supported until November 2026.
- .NET 7 (STS) – released November 2022. Reached end-of-life in May 2024. No further security patches. The ReleaseRun EOL badge turns red automatically.
- .NET 6 (LTS) – released November 2021. Reached end-of-life in November 2024. Despite being LTS, its three-year window has closed. Projects still on .NET 6 should migrate to .NET 8.
- .NET 5 (STS) – released November 2020. End-of-life since May 2022. This was the first unified .NET release and is now well past its support window.
- .NET Framework 4.8 – the final .NET Framework release. Still supported as a Windows component, but receives no new features. Microsoft recommends migrating to modern .NET for new development.
The LTS vs STS distinction catches many teams off guard. Choosing .NET 7 for a project that takes a year to ship means you arrive at production with only six months of support remaining. Badges make this risk visible before it becomes a problem.
Badge Customization Examples
ReleaseRun offers four badge types for .NET. Each serves a different monitoring purpose:
- Health badge – composite A-F grade reflecting overall risk. Embed:
 - EOL badge – end-of-life countdown or status. Embed:
 - Version badge – latest stable version number. Embed:
 - CVE badge – known vulnerability count. Embed:
Add ?style=flat-square or ?style=for-the-badge to any URL for alternative rendering. The embed builder above lets you preview all styles before copying.
Common Use Cases
- NuGet package authors: Show which .NET versions your package targets and their health status. When .NET 7 reached EOL in May 2024, maintainers with badges gave consumers clear notice to update their target frameworks.
- Enterprise migration teams: Many organizations are still migrating from .NET Framework 4.x to modern .NET. Badges on internal documentation help prioritize which applications to migrate first based on support status.
- Azure DevOps pipelines: Embed .NET health badges in your pipeline dashboards or wiki pages. STS versions move quickly through their support window, and a badge provides an early visual warning.
- Compliance and audit: Regulated industries require evidence of patched runtimes. A CVE badge showing zero known vulnerabilities serves as lightweight, continuous compliance monitoring.
Related ReleaseRun Tools
.NET badges are part of a broader toolkit for managing your .NET dependency lifecycle:
- Dependency EOL Scanner – scan your
.csprojfiles orpackages.configand flag any dependency approaching end-of-life. - Tech Stack Health Scorecard – get a holistic health grade across your entire stack, including .NET, SQL Server, and Azure services.
- Upgrade Path Planner – plan your migration from .NET 6 to .NET 8 with step-by-step guidance and breaking change analysis.
- CVE Dashboard – monitor known vulnerabilities across all your tracked products including .NET and ASP.NET Core.
- Badge Generator – create custom health badges for any product in the ReleaseRun database.
What Makes These Different
Every badge pulls live data from the endoflife.date API and the NIST National Vulnerability Database. Data refreshes every 6 hours. Badges are edge-cached for 5 minutes, fast enough for CI pipelines, NuGet package pages, and Azure DevOps wikis.
📚 Also see: 195+ Developer Reference Guides — quick-reference cheat sheets for every language and framework. 84+ free developer tools — security scanners, package health checkers, and more.
.NET Versions
Security Overview
CVE vulnerability data is sourced from the NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD) and refreshed every 6 hours.
Check specific version CVEs using the badge builder above or visit our .NET hub page for detailed security analysis.
Upgrade Guidance
Running an older version of .NET? Here's what to consider when planning your upgrade:
- Check breaking changes in release notes
- Review EOL dates for your current version
- Test in staging before production rollout
- Consider LTS versions for stability
See the official .NET documentation for detailed upgrade instructions.
Version Comparison
Not sure which .NET version to use? Compare versions side by side.
Embed Builder
Usage Guide
Copy any snippet below to embed a .NET health badge in your project.
Markdown
[](https://releaserun.com/dotnet/)HTML
<a href="https://releaserun.com/dotnet/"><img src="https://img.releaserun.com/badge/health/dotnet.svg" alt=".NET Health"></a>reStructuredText
.. image:: https://img.releaserun.com/badge/health/dotnet.svg
:target: https://releaserun.com/dotnet/
:alt: .NET HealthData sources: endoflife.date (version lifecycle), NIST NVD (CVE data)
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What do the badges show for .NET?
- ReleaseRun badges display real-time version freshness, end-of-life status, CVE vulnerability counts, and an overall health score for .NET releases.
- How do I embed a .NET badge in my README?
- Use the embed builder above to select your version and badge type, then copy the generated Markdown or HTML snippet into your README.
- How often is .NET badge data updated?
- Badge data refreshes every 6 hours from endoflife.date and NIST NVD. Badges are cached for 5 minutes at the CDN edge.
- Can I customize the badge style?
- Yes, append ?style=flat-square or ?style=for-the-badge to the badge URL. The embed builder lets you preview all available styles.