EF Core vs Dapper — Choose the Right Tool for you

When you work with databases in .NET applications you will find two popular approaches, they are Entity Framework Core (EF Core) and Dapper. Both have their strengths and weaknesses to make them suitable for different scenarios. Here I tried to compare EF Core and Dapper in terms of performance, code simplicity, flexibility, and best practices.

What is EF Core and Dapper ? Lets introduce them first..

1. Introducing them…

Entity Framework Core (EF Core)

An Object-Relational Mapper (ORM) EF Core provides a high-level abstraction over database operations. It allows developers to interact with databases using LINQ queries and strongly typed models. It has some pros and cons too, like other things in the universe.

Pros are:

• It will help you to simplify database interactions
• Supports migrations and change tracking
• Also works well with complex domain models
• You will get built-in support for multiple database providers

Cons:

• Slower than raw SQL due to abstraction overhead
• Higher memory consumption is a big problem