What is the difference between ViewData, ViewBag and TempData?

 In order to pass data from controller to view and in next subsequent request, ASP.NET MVC framework provides different options i.e., ViewData, ViewBag and TempData.

Both ViewBag and ViewData are used to communicate between controller and corresponding view. But this communication is only for server call, it becomes null if redirect occurs. So, in short, it's a mechanism to maintain state between controller and corresponding view.

ViewData is a dictionary object while ViewBag is a dynamic property (a new C# 4.0 feature). ViewDatabeing a dictionary object is accessible using strings as keys and also requires typecasting for complex types. On the other hand, ViewBag doesn't have typecasting and null checks.

TempData is also a dictionary object that stays for the time of an HTTP Request. So, Tempdata can be used to maintain data between redirects, i.e., from one controller to the other controller.

ViewData

1. ViewData is used to pass data from controller to view
2. It is derived from ViewDataDictionary class
3. It is available for the current request only
4. Requires typecasting for complex data type and checks for null values to avoid error
5. If redirection occurs, then its value becomes null

ViewBag

1. ViewBag is also used to pass data from the controller to the respective view
2. ViewBag is a dynamic property that takes advantage of the new dynamic features in C# 4.0
3. It is also available for the current request only
4. If redirection occurs, then its value becomes null
5. Doesn’t require typecasting for complex data type

TempData

1. TempData is derived from TempDataDictionary class
2. TempData is used to pass data from the current request to the next request
3. It keeps the information for the time of an HTTP Request. This means only from one page to another. It helps to maintain the data when we move from one controller to another controller or from one action to another action
4. It requires typecasting for complex data type and checks for null values to avoid error. Generally, it is used to store only one time messages like the error messages and validation messages

You can easily find detailed examples for implementation of ViewBag, ViewData and TempData here.