Performance Comparison of CRUD Methods using NET Object Relational Mappers: A Case Study

Most applications available nowadays are using an Object Relational Mapper (ORM) to access and save data. The additional layer that is being wrapped over the database induces a performance impact in detrimental of raw SQL queries; on the other side, the advantages of using ORMs by focusing on domain level through application development represent a premise for easier development and simpler code maintenance. In this context, this paper makes a performance comparison between three of the most used ORM technologies from the .NET family: Entity Framework Core 2.2, nHibernate 5.2.3 and Dapper 1.50.5. The main objective of the paper is to make a comparative analysis of the impact that a specific ORM has on application performance when realizing database requests. In order to perform the analysis, a specific testing architecture was designed to ensure the consistency of tests. Performance evaluation for time responses and memory usage for each technology was done using the same CRUD (Create Read Update Delete) operations on the database. The results obtained proved that the decision to use one of another is dependent of the most used type of operation. A comprehensive discussion based on results analysis is done in order to support a decision for choosing a specific ORM by the software engineers in the process of software design and development.

@article{Zmaranda2020,
  title     = {Performance Comparison of CRUD Methods using NET Object Relational Mappers: A Case Study},
  journal   = {International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications},
  volume    = {11},
  number    = {1},
  year      = {2020},
  publisher = {The Science and Information Organization},
  author    = {Doina Zmaranda and Lucian-Laurentiu Pop-Fele and Cornelia Gyorödi and Robert Gyorödi and George Pecherle},
  doi       = {10.14569/IJACSA.2020.0110107},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2020.0110107}
}