specification: API Commons Plans
specificationVersion: '0.1'
schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/interface-research/main/schema/api-commons.yml#/$defs/Plans
provider: Microsoft .NET
providerId: microsoft-net
created: '2026-05-04'
modified: '2026-08-29'
generated: '2026-08-29'
method: searched
source: >-
  https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/platform/support,
  https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/platform/support/policy/dotnet-core,
  https://www.nuget.org/policies/Terms
supersedes: >-
  The 2026-05-04 bulk-sweep scaffold that previously occupied this file. It invented a Free/Pro/Enterprise
  tier structure with placeholder quotas for a platform that has no paid tiers at all. Removed.
description: >-
  Microsoft .NET publishes no plans and no pricing, because there is nothing to price. The platform is
  free and open source under the MIT licence, the SDK and runtime are free downloads, and the NuGet
  Server API is free to call — anonymously for reads, and with a free account-issued API key for
  publishing. There is no paid tier, no metered usage, and no overage on any surface in this profile.
plan_count: 0
plans: []
evidence:
  - url: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing
    http_status: 404
    date: '2026-08-29'
    note: No pricing page exists on the .NET site.
  - url: https://www.nuget.org/policies/Pricing
    http_status: 404
    date: '2026-08-29'
    note: No pricing page exists on nuget.org.
  - url: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/platform/support
    http_status: 200
    date: '2026-08-29'
    note: >-
      The support page routes commercial customers to Microsoft Unified Support — an enterprise support
      contract covering Microsoft products generally, not a .NET API plan with quotas or per-call
      pricing. Priced by negotiation; nothing published.
  - url: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/platform/support/policy/dotnet-core
    http_status: 200
    date: '2026-08-29'
    note: >-
      Recorded verbatim: LTS releases "get free support and patches for three years", STS releases "get
      free support and patches for two years". Support duration, not price, is the axis .NET
      differentiates on.
commercial_model:
  free: true
  open_source: true
  licence: MIT
  paid_tiers: false
  metered: false
  enterprise_contact: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/platform/support
  note: >-
    Where money does enter the .NET ecosystem it is next to the platform rather than in it — Visual
    Studio subscriptions, Azure consumption, Azure Artifacts for private package feeds, and Microsoft
    Unified Support. None of those is a plan on the APIs profiled here, so none is recorded as one.