Pros and Cons of ClickOnce vs. DDay.Update

While DDay.Update is an alternative to ClickOnce, and uses the same manifest files as ClickOnce (and hence the same publishing mechanisms), I think it useful to declare the purpose of using DDay.Update in leiu of ClickOnce.

In short, ClickOnce is primarily meant to deploy applications from the Internet, with as little user intervention as possible to achieve this goal. DDay.Update takes this one step further to simplify the process and to make otherwise difficult customization not only possible, but simple. DDay.Update is not meant for initial deployment of your application - you'll need to use another something else for that (InnoSetup works well); however, once installed, DDay.Update will provide automatic updates and help manage the overall lifespan of your application.

That said, here are some of the pros and cons of ClickOnce and DDay.Update, denoted by feature sets.

X	-	Supported
*	-	Upcoming feature
^	-	Possible, but difficult
+	-	Intentionally left out

Feature	ClickOnce	DDay.Update
Install Files	X	+
Create Shortcuts	X	+
Associate File Extensions	X	+
Automatic Updates	X	X
Required Updates	X	X
Partial Updates (only update necessary files)	^	X
Non-Programmatic Updates	X	X
Asynchronous Updates	X	X
Customizable User Interface	^	X
Security permissions	Grants only permissions necessary for the application (safer, but restrictive)	Does not interfere with application permissions
Security Sandboxing	X	+
Rollback to Previous Version	X	*

While both ClickOnce and DDay.Update have additional feature sets, these are the main items worth comparing.