Eloquent ORM vs Query Builder in Laravel

Laravel provides two main ways to interact with databases: Eloquent ORM and Query Builder. Both tools have their own strengths and weaknesses, so it's important to choose the right one for the job.

Eloquent ORM

Eloquent is an object-relational mapper (ORM) that makes it easy to interact with databases using PHP objects. Eloquent provides a number of features that make it a good choice for developing Laravel applications, including:

• Active record: Eloquent models represent database tables, and Eloquent objects represent rows in those tables. This makes it easy to perform CRUD (create, read, update, and delete) operations on database data.
• Relationships: Eloquent supports a variety of database relationships, including one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-many, and polymorphic relationships. This makes it easy to model complex data relationships in your Laravel applications.
• Query building: Eloquent provides a fluent interface for building database queries. This makes it easy to create complex queries without having to write raw SQL.

Query Builder

Query Builder is a tool that allows you to build database queries using raw SQL. Query Builder is a good choice for applications that need to perform complex queries or that need to use features that are not supported by Eloquent.

Query Builder is also a good choice for applications that need to interact with multiple database types. Eloquent only supports a subset of database types, but Query Builder can be used to interact with any database type that Laravel supports.

Which one to use?

Which tool you should use depends on the specific needs of your application. If you are developing a Laravel application and you need a simple and easy-to-use way to interact with the database, then Eloquent is a good choice.

If you need to perform complex queries or if you need to use features that are not supported by Eloquent, then Query Builder is a good choice.

Examples

Here is an example of how to use Eloquent to retrieve all of the users from the database:

$users = User::all();

Here is an example of how to use Query Builder to retrieve all of the users from the database:

$users = DB::table('users')->get();

Here is an example of how to use Eloquent to create a new user:

$user = new User();
$user->name = 'John Doe';
$user->email = '[email protected]';
$user->save();

Here is an example of how to use Query Builder to create a new user:

DB::table('users')->insert([
    'name' => 'John Doe',
    'email' => '[email protected]',
]);

Conclusion

Eloquent and Query Builder are both powerful tools for interacting with databases in Laravel. The best tool to use depends on the specific needs of your application.

If you are developing a Laravel application and you need a simple and easy-to-use way to interact with the database, then Eloquent is a good choice.

If you need to perform complex queries or if you need to use features that are not supported by Eloquent, then Query Builder is a good choice.