Neither Minimal APIs nor controllers are obsolete. ASP.NET Core supports both, and Microsoft recommends Minimal APIs for new projects because they require less boilerplate and have reduced overhead compared with controllers. That is general framework guidance, not a guarantee that every Minimal API will be faster or a reason to rewrite an existing controller-based service. Choose based on the MVC capabilities your application needs, how your team wants to organize endpoints, and what you measure in your own workload.
When should you use Minimal APIs or controllers?
For a new service made chiefly of HTTP endpoints, start by evaluating Minimal APIs: routes and handlers can be declared directly, with less scaffolding. Microsoft’s ASP.NET Core 9 APIs overview recommends them for new projects. Controllers are still a supported choice, particularly when the application relies on MVC extension points that controllers provide out of the box.
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The practical distinction is not “new versus old.” It is whether direct endpoint declarations suit the service and team, or whether controller conventions and MVC-specific capabilities are valuable enough to justify that structure.
What makes controllers the better fit?
Controllers are the stronger default when the project depends on MVC features that are not built into Minimal APIs in the same way. Microsoft identifies these controller capabilities:
#1 Best Overall
- Custom model binder providers and custom model binders.
- Advanced validation through
IModelValidator. - Application parts and the application model.
- OData support.
Microsoft notes that many of these features can be built for Minimal APIs with custom solutions, but controllers provide them out of the box. If a required integration depends on one of these extension points, compare the cost and maintenance of a custom Minimal API solution against using controllers directly.
Controllers also offer a familiar class-and-action structure. API controller classes generally derive from ControllerBase. In ASP.NET Core 10, the [ApiController] attribute enables automatic HTTP 400 responses when model validation fails. That is a controller convention, not a sign that Minimal APIs cannot validate requests.
Rank #2
What do Minimal APIs support beyond simple route handlers?
Minimal APIs include framework features for parameter binding, authorization, filters, and validation. Their smaller surface of scaffolding does not mean every handler must contain all cross-cutting logic inline.
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Validation behavior depends on the target ASP.NET Core version and the way request data is bound. The ASP.NET Core 10 Minimal APIs reference documents validation for request values and bodies using data annotation attributes, with customization through validation attributes and IValidatableObject. Check the reference for your target framework when choosing validation rules, binding sources, or error behavior; the extension mechanisms differ from MVC’s.
Rank #3
Endpoint filters
Minimal API endpoint filters can run before and after a handler, inspect or modify handler arguments, and intercept its response. Documented uses include validation, request and response logging, and API-version checks. They are an option for shared endpoint behavior; decide how that behavior will be applied consistently across the service.
OpenAPI documents and visual interfaces
Both Minimal APIs and controllers can participate in OpenAPI document generation. Minimal APIs have first-party generation support through Microsoft.AspNetCore.OpenApi. A generated OpenAPI definition is not itself a visual browsing or testing interface: the ASP.NET Core OpenAPI overview distinguishes document generation from a user interface, which requires a third-party package. Confirm package and UI compatibility with the project’s target framework.
How should you compare the approaches?
| Project constraint | What to decide | Likely direction |
|---|---|---|
| Required MVC extension points | Does the service need custom MVC model binders, IModelValidator, application parts or application model, or OData? |
Controllers provide these capabilities directly; a Minimal API implementation may require custom work. |
| Code organization | Do direct route declarations and handlers suit the team, or does it prefer controller classes and action methods? | Choose the structure that makes endpoint ownership and maintenance clear to the team. |
| Binding and validation | What binding sources, validation rules, error responses, and customizations are required on the target framework? | Verify the exact framework behavior and extension mechanisms for either approach before committing. |
| Cross-cutting behavior | How will authorization, logging, validation, and version checks be applied consistently? | Minimal APIs can use endpoint filters; determine how shared behavior will be organized and enforced. |
| API documentation | Is a generated OpenAPI document sufficient, or does the workflow require a visual UI? | Both approaches can generate OpenAPI; a visual interface involves a separate package choice. |
| Team and existing codebase | Would switching improve the service enough to offset migration cost and inconsistency? | Microsoft’s new-project recommendation is not a recommendation to rewrite working controller APIs. |
Does one approach perform better?
Microsoft describes Minimal APIs as having reduced overhead compared with controllers, but its overview does not provide a benchmark, workload, hardware, or measurement method. Treat that as qualitative framework guidance, not a promised throughput or latency improvement for your application.
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If performance is a deciding requirement, benchmark representative versions of the actual service under the same hosting, serialization, dependency, and request-workload conditions. Otherwise, use the capabilities and maintainability requirements to make the choice rather than assuming the endpoint style determines application performance.
Best Value
- Applying all key ASP.NET Core components, including MVC for HTML generation, .NET Core, EF Core, ASP.NET Identity, dependency injection, and more
- Integrating ASP.NET Core with leading client-side frameworks, including Bootstrap
- ASP.NET Core code for implementing business logic and data transformations
- Handling configuration, routing, controllers, views, and common tasks (including posting forms and presenting data)
- Performing complementary tasks: error handling, logging, application design, authentication, localization, and more
What changes in .NET 10?
The .NET 10 Minimal APIs reference documents a JSON deserialization change that also applies to MVC: both use PipeReader-based JSON deserialization starting in .NET 10. Microsoft says this improves performance for most applications without code changes. Custom JSON converters can be affected if they do not handle Utf8JsonReader.HasValueSequence; failures may include exceptions or missing data. This is a .NET 10 implementation detail shared by both approaches, not a reason to prefer Minimal APIs over controllers.
Quick Recap
A practical decision checklist
- For a new, endpoint-focused service, evaluate Minimal APIs first, consistent with Microsoft’s guidance.
- Use controllers when a required MVC extension point or OData support makes them the more direct fit.
- For either design, specify request binding, validation, authorization, shared endpoint behavior, and OpenAPI needs against the project’s target framework.
- For an existing service, weigh consistency and migration cost; there is no general need to replace controllers.
- Benchmark only when performance is material to the decision, and use the service’s representative workload.
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