Hey everyone! How are you? Today, we’re deep diving into the world of technology again, but this time we’ll be wandering a little more around the middle ground. You know, sometimes you set out on a road without knowing exactly what will happen but you go anyway… That’s exactly where we are today. Dapper and Entity Framework… Two giants, two different worlds. As someone who’s worked with both extensively over the years, I want to share my experiences and insights with you. Maybe some of you have questions in mind, who knows? 🙂 Honestly, when I first started, everything seemed really complicated. Choosing which one to go for was quite tough.
First of all, I want to say that both are fantastic tools used for data access in the .NET ecosystem. Imagine a builder with both a hammer and a drill. Which one to use depends on the job, right? That’s how Dapper and EF are. One is more about “fast and practical”, while the other aims for “secure and comprehensive”.
Entity Framework, or EF, is actually a ORM (Object-Relational Mapper) developed by Microsoft. It converts database tables into your C# classes, and you work with those classes to manage the database. Instead of writing code, you work with objects, isn’t that nice? This way, database complexity seems to disappear. Especially with those migrations, where you manage your database schema via code and update it with a single command. My own program gets stuck trying, but well, that’s another story. Anyway, those features are pretty good.
However… Yes, there’s a big ‘but’. Sometimes EF tries to behave so smart that it seems like it doesn’t understand what you want. Like when you want to deviate from a recipe while cooking, but the recipe won’t let you change anything… Some queries generated by EF can be like that. Sometimes even the simplest SQL query turns into something hard to understand. And performance-wise, you might not always get what you expect, especially when dealing with large datasets, as the generated SQL can sometimes be a real headache.
That’s where Dapper steps in. Dapper belongs to the micro-ORM category. It’s less comprehensive than EF but performs its job super fast. With Dapper, you write your SQL queries yourself. Yes, plain SQL! But that’s actually a good thing in my opinion. Because you know exactly what you want and can write the query in the most optimized way. Dapper takes that SQL query you wrote, pulls the data from the database, and maps it directly to your C# classes. And does so at an incredible speed!
Recently, I had a project where a report took 3 seconds with EF. Then I switched it to Dapper, and the same report was coming in 300 milliseconds. Can you imagine the difference? They perform the same task, but one is lightning fast, and the other feels slow motion. Of course, this isn’t always the case, but generally, Dapper tends to be faster. Especially if you work with stored procedures, Dapper really becomes a lifesaver. You call the stored procedure directly, get the results, no complexity, no performance loss…
There’s also the fact that errors are more likely in Dapper because you write your own SQL. Like choosing the wrong route when mountain climbing; if you pick the wrong SQL query, your program might crash or give unexpected results. EF provides that safety net, that AI that thinks on your behalf. But then, there’s a certain satisfaction in being in control, right?
Let me give you an example. Suppose you’re fetching a user list. With EF, it might look like this (roughly):
var users = _context.Users.Where(u => u.IsActive).ToList();
This is quite understandable, right? But the SQL generated by EF can sometimes bother us.
Now, let’s do the same with Dapper. Look how simple it is:
var sql = "SELECT * FROM Users WHERE IsActive = 1";var users = connection.Query
See? I just wrote SQL directly, called Dapper, and it’s done. It’s clearer and much faster. Of course, you have to set up the `connection` object, which is a separate topic, but the main idea is this.
Ultimately, the choice is yours. If your project isn’t too complex, needs to be developed quickly, or performance is your top priority, Dapper can be a fantastic option. Sometimes, you can even use a hybrid approach—use EF where it’s more suitable and Dapper for critical performance parts. Like having both a hammer and a screwdriver—you need both at times.
My personal experience is this: For large, enterprise projects with a focus on team collaboration and database schema management, EF might be more appropriate. But for smaller, performance-driven, or microservice-based projects, Dapper’s speed and flexibility really appeal to me. It reminds me of a camping trip I went on with my wife, feeling so fresh in the morning, like I could do everything. Dapper gives me that feeling sometimes, like I’m in control. 🙂 But after the trip, when I’m tired in the car returning, EF’s comfort is sometimes better.
In conclusion, both have their own advantages and disadvantages. The key is to choose what best fits your project’s needs. Maybe the best approach is to learn both and use whichever suits each situation best. What do you think? If you want more detailed information about Dapper, you can find great tutorials on Google. Or, there are comparison videos on YouTube too, which I also check out to learn new things.
I hope this article gave you some ideas. See you in the next one, take care of yourselves!