Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Datomic VS Entity Framework

Compare Datomic VS Entity Framework and see what are their differences

Datomic logo Datomic

The fully transactional, cloud-ready, distributed database

Entity Framework logo Entity Framework

See Comparison of Entity Framework vs NHibernate.
  • Datomic Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-14
  • Entity Framework Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-18

Datomic features and specs

  • Immutability
    Datomic employs an append-only data model where data is never overwritten but instead appended, ensuring historical data is always available and providing strong consistency.
  • Time Travel Queries
    Datomic allows you to query the database as of any point in time, facilitating auditing and debugging by allowing easy access to historical data states.
  • Rich Data Model
    Supports complex data types like maps and sets directly within its schema, providing a flexible way to represent data.
  • ACID Transactions
    Datomic supports fully ACID-compliant transactions, ensuring reliable and predictable database operations.
  • Scalability
    Separates storage and compute, allowing for horizontal scaling of read operations, making it suitable for handling large datasets.
  • Query Flexibility
    Offers a powerful query language that supports recursive queries, making it suitable for complex data retrieval needs.

Possible disadvantages of Datomic

  • Complexity
    The architecture of Datomic can be complex to understand and implement, particularly for teams unfamiliar with its design principles.
  • Cost
    Can be expensive to operate, especially in a cloud environment, where costs increase with the amount of data stored and the compute resources required.
  • Limited Write Throughput
    Due to its append-only design, Datomic can have limited write throughput, which may not be suitable for applications with heavy write requirements.
  • Closed Source
    Datomic is a proprietary database system, which may not appeal to organizations that prefer open-source solutions.
  • Learning Curve
    Requires a learning curve as its conceptual model and query language are different from traditional databases, potentially requiring additional training.
  • Dependency on AWS
    Relying on AWS ecosystem for the storage backend can limit choices for deployment environments, impacting flexibility.

Entity Framework features and specs

  • Productivity
    Entity Framework automates database-related code generation, reducing the amount of boilerplate code developers must write and maintain. This allows developers to work more efficiently and focus more on business logic.
  • Abstraction
    It abstracts the database interaction details, enabling developers to work with higher-level .NET objects instead of raw SQL queries, resulting in clearer and more manageable code.
  • Code First Approach
    This allows developers to define their database schema using C# classes, making it easy to evolve the database alongside the codebase using migrations.
  • Support for Multiple Databases
    Entity Framework supports a wide range of relational databases, including SQL Server, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and MySQL, providing flexibility and choice to the developers.
  • Change Tracking
    It provides automatic change tracking of entity objects, simplifying the process of updating data in the database without manually tracking object changes.

Possible disadvantages of Entity Framework

  • Performance Overhead
    The abstraction layer can lead to performance overhead compared to plain SQL queries, as the generated queries might not be as optimized as handcrafted SQL.
  • Complexity
    For simple or small applications, the complexity introduced by using an ORM like Entity Framework might be unnecessary and could complicate the architecture.
  • Learning Curve
    Developers need to learn the specific concepts and configurations of Entity Framework, which can be time-consuming compared to traditional database access methodologies.
  • Debugging Difficulty
    Debugging issues can be more challenging because of the abstraction, making it sometimes difficult to trace the exact query being executed and pinpoint performance bottlenecks.
  • Limited SQL Features
    While Entity Framework supports a wide range of SQL functionalities, there are advanced features specific to certain databases that may not be fully supported or could require custom implementation.

Datomic videos

KotlinConf 2018 - Datomic: The Most Innovative DB You've Never Heard Of by August Lilleaas

More videos:

  • Review - "Real-World Datomic: An Experience Report" by Craig Andera (2013)
  • Review - Rich Hickey on Datomic Ions, September 12, 2018

Entity Framework videos

Entity Framework Best Practices - Should EFCore Be Your Data Access of Choice?

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Entity Framework 6 Tutorial: Learn Entity Framework 6 from Scratch
  • Review - Getting the best out of Entity Framework Core - Jon P Smith

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Datomic and Entity Framework)
Databases
61 61%
39% 39
Web Frameworks
0 0%
100% 100
Relational Databases
100 100%
0% 0
Development
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Entity Framework seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 15 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Datomic mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Datomic yet. Tracking of Datomic recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Entity Framework mentions (15)

  • Create a Simple .NET Workflow App From Scratch – Your Ultimate Guide
    For the simplicity we will use MSSQLProvider to fetch the data from the database. This class has basic functionality, if you want to create complex database queries, for example JOIN, you'd better use something like Entity Framework. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Entity Framework Core in .NET 7 7️⃣
    I only wanted to give a simple preview of what can be done with Entity Framework, but if this is something that interests you and you want to go further in-depth with all the possibilities, I recommend checking out the official docs where you can also find a great tutorial which will guide you through building your very own .NET Core web application. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • Got an internship, need help with .NET
    Entity Framework documentation hub - Entity Framework is a modern object-relation mapper that lets you build a clean, portable, and high-level data access layer with .NET (C#) across a variety of databases, including SQL Database (on-premises and Azure), SQLite, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Azure Cosmos DB. It supports LINQ queries, change tracking, updates, and schema migrations. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • How to create a "Database Project" that can be used across multiple .NET apps?
    You can create the DAL using your existing code or start using a Object Relational Mapper like Entity Framework which will do a lot of the work for you, check this out here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/ef/ also check out LINQ. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Website with Database. use C#
    And, possibly (not strictly speaking necessary but very useful) Entity framework as a backend part of it. Source: about 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Datomic and Entity Framework, you can also consider the following products

Valentina Server - Valentina Server is 3 in 1: Valentina DB Server / SQLite Server / Report Server

Sequelize - Provides access to a MySQL database by mapping database entries to objects and vice-versa.

MarkLogic Server - MarkLogic Server is a multi-model database that has both NoSQL and trusted enterprise data management capabilities.

Hibernate - Hibernate an open source Java persistence framework project.

MySQL - The world's most popular open source database

SQLAlchemy - SQLAlchemy is the Python SQL toolkit and Object Relational Mapper that gives application developers the full power and flexibility of SQL.