The following are the problems with ASMX:

• An ASMX page contains a complete set of information that describes how

the data will be formatted, how to wrap the data in a SOAP header, and how
to prepare it to be sent. However, it doesn’t tell you how to deliver it over the
transports and to use a specific type of security. All of those transport-
oriented notions are missing from today’s ASMX services, and this is
something that WCF enhances quite significantly.

• Another limitation of ASMX is the tight coupling with the HTTP runtime and
the dependence on IIS to host it. This problem is solved by WCF, which can
be hosted by any Windows process that is able to host the .NET Framework
3.0.

• ASMX service is instantiated on a per-call basis, while WCF gives you

flexibility by providing various instancing options such as Singleton, private
session, per call.

• ASMX provides the way for interoperability but doesn’t fulfill some of the
basic requirements; for example, it does not provide or guarantee end-to-
end security or reliable communication.