Package comparison

Based on issue https://github.com/adoconnection/RazorEngineCore/issues/58. Data as of October 2026: package metadata from NuGet and GitHub, Razor features checked with small .NET 10 test apps against the latest package versions.

All improvements are welcome!

TL;DR

RazorEngineCore — lightweight runtime engine: templates are plain strings (from files, database, user input), compiled templates can be saved to a file or stream and loaded back, can be unloaded from memory. No ASP.NET Core dependency. Minimalistic by design: HTML encoding, @Include, @Layout are a few lines of your own code (see wiki), no @section, @model, @inject or tag helpers.
RazorLight — most downloaded, richest Razor feature set (layouts, sections, includes, encoding by default), but no release since January 2023, depends on ASP.NET Core MVC packages and requires PreserveCompilationContext.
RazorEngine.NetCore — .NET Core port of the classic Antaris RazorEngine. Targets netcoreapp3.1 / netstandard2.1, synchronous API only, issue tracker disabled.
Razor.Templating.Core — renders regular MVC views (.cshtml in your project or a Razor Class Library) outside of controllers. Full MVC feature set, but templates must exist at build time: no templates from strings or database.

	RazorEngineCore	RazorLight	RazorEngine.NetCore	Razor.Templating.Core
Latest release	2026.1.1 (Jan 17, 2026)	2.3.1 (Jan 16, 2023)	3.1.1 (Dec 9, 2025)	3.1.0 (Feb 22, 2026)
Last commit	Oct 2026	Jul 2024	Dec 2025	Feb 2026
NuGet downloads	~9.4M	~38.6M	~23.8M	~9.0M
GitHub stars	645	1,664	122	383
License	MIT	Apache-2.0	Apache-2.0	MIT
Target frameworks	netstandard2.0, net5.0 – net10.0	netstandard2.0, netcoreapp3.1, net5.0, net6.0	netstandard2.1, netcoreapp3.1	net10.0
Dependencies	Razor.Language + Roslyn only	ASP.NET Core MVC Razor packages, Microsoft.AspNetCore.App framework reference	Razor.Language + Roslyn	Microsoft.AspNetCore.App framework reference, Razor SDK
Extra project settings	none	PreserveCompilationContext required	none	views must be in the project or a Razor Class Library
Issue tracker	open	open	disabled	open

	RazorEngineCore	RazorLight	RazorEngine.NetCore	Razor.Templating.Core
Templates from string / database at runtime	✅	✅	✅	❌ build time only
Templates from files, embedded resources	read them yourself and pass a string	✅ built-in projects	✅ built-in template managers	✅ project views
Save / load compiled template	✅ file or stream	compiled dll cache in a directory	❌	not needed, views are precompiled
Caching	your own (example)	memory or file system provider	memory	not needed
Unload compiled templates from memory	✅ EnableUnloading() (2026.10.1+)	❌	❌	not needed
Async API	✅	✅ async only	❌ sync only	✅
Template debugging	✅

	RazorEngineCore	RazorLight	RazorEngine.NetCore	Razor.Templating.Core
HTML encoding by default	❌ few lines of code	✅	✅	✅
@Raw	few lines of code	✅	✅	@Html.Raw
Layouts	few lines of code	✅	✅	✅
Includes / partials	few lines of code	✅	✅	✅
@section	❌	✅	❌
@model	❌ use @inherits	✅	❌	✅
@inject	❌ use template base	compiles, open issues	❌	✅
@functions	✅	✅	needs extra configuration
Tag helpers	❌	❌	❌	✅
Strongly typed model	✅ RazorEngineTemplateBase<T>	✅	✅	✅
Anonymous / ExpandoObject model	✅	✅	✅

Empty cell — not checked.

RazorEngineCore

Philosophy: small core, everything else is a template base class you control. HTML encoding, @Raw, @Include, @Layout, localization are implemented in user code, examples are in this wiki.
Templates are not encoded by default — remember to use HtmlSafeTemplate when rendering user data into HTML.

RazorLight

Every render fails with "Can't load metadata reference from the entry assembly" unless <PreserveCompilationContext>true</PreserveCompilationContext> is set in the project.
An engine project has to be configured even for string templates.
Single-file publish is not supported (issue #429), README lists AWS Lambda and Azure Functions as not supported.
Compiled templates are loaded into the default AssemblyLoadContext and stay in memory until the process exits.

RazorEngine.NetCore

Fork chain Antaris/RazorEngine → hermanho → fouadmess, README and docs are inherited from the original project, some described features (@model) don't work on .NET Core.
Every compilation writes .cs, .dll and .pdb files to %TEMP%\RazorEngine_* and these folders may be left behind.
No async API, issues can't be reported (issue tracker is disabled).

Razor.Templating.Core

Uses MVC view engine, so it is a good fit when templates are part of your application and you want full MVC features (tag helpers, view components, _ViewStart, _ViewImports).
Rendering templates stored in a database or edited at runtime is not supported.

HtmlRenderer (Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.Web, .NET 8+) — renders Blazor .razor components to HTML outside of ASP.NET Core, Microsoft lists e-mails and static content as intended use. Components are compiled at build time.
RazorSlices — lightweight build-time Razor templates for ASP.NET Core minimal APIs, pre-1.0.