Steve Fenton

ASP.NET Core Identity AddDefaultIdentity vs AddIdentity

The short version on the difference between AddDefaultIdentity and AddIdentity is the default part adds in all the built-in controllers and views for logging in, recovering accounts, and password resets but doesn’t add roles. You can, though, add roles to AddDefaultIdentity to get all the things.

AddDefaultIdentity

This examples shows how to add the default version with AddDefaultIdentity but also adds roles on using AddRoles<IdentityRole>. This achieves “ticks in all the boxes” on the matrix shown above.

services
    .AddDefaultIdentity<IdentityUser>(options => { 
        // options are set here
    })
    .AddRoles<IdentityRole>()
    .AddEntityFrameworkStores<ApplicationDbContext>();

With this code you get the tables, the roles, and the built in pages.

AddIdentity

This example shows the AddIdentity version. You get the tables and roles for free, but you need to implement your own pages (which may be desirable, for example if you want full control over the experience for logins and registrations).

services
    .AddIdentity<IdentityUser>(options => { 
        // options are set here
    })
    .AddEntityFrameworkStores<ApplicationDbContext>();