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Grails VS Eloquent ORM

Compare Grails VS Eloquent ORM and see what are their differences

Grails logo Grails

An Open Source, full stack, web application framework for the JVM

Eloquent ORM logo Eloquent ORM

[READ ONLY] Subtree split of the Illuminate Database component (see laravel/framework) - illuminate/database
  • Grails Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-17
  • Eloquent ORM Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-11-05

Grails features and specs

  • Rapid Development
    Grails promotes rapid development through its convention-over-configuration approach and powerful features, like scaffolding and GORM (Grails Object Relational Mapping), which speed up the coding process significantly.
  • Groovy Language Integration
    Being built on Groovy, a dynamic language for the Java platform, Grails provides the flexibility and expressiveness of Groovy while maintaining compatibility with Java libraries and tools.
  • Spring Boot Foundation
    Grails is built on top of Spring Boot, leveraging its robust dependency injection, security, and configuration management capabilities, which ensures the stability and scalability of applications.
  • Plugin Ecosystem
    Grails offers a rich ecosystem of plugins for extending the framework. This allows developers to easily integrate various functionalities without reinventing the wheel.
  • Convention-over-Configuration
    The framework emphasizes conventions for many aspects of the development process, reducing the need for extensive configuration and allowing developers to focus more on business logic.
  • Strong Community and Documentation
    Grails has a strong community and extensive documentation, which make it easier for developers to find solutions to problems, share knowledge, and get support.

Possible disadvantages of Grails

  • Learning Curve
    Despite its many conveniences, Grails has a steep learning curve, particularly for developers not familiar with Groovy or the underlying Spring framework.
  • Performance Overheads
    The abstraction layers and dynamic aspects of Groovy may introduce performance overheads, making Grails applications potentially slower than those built with more streamlined frameworks.
  • Limited Flexibility
    While Grails' conventions can be beneficial, they can also limit flexibility, forcing developers into certain patterns and practices even when they may not be ideal for all scenarios.
  • Less Popularity
    Compared to other frameworks like Spring Boot alone or Hibernate, Grails has a smaller market share, leading to fewer job opportunities and a smaller pool of resources.
  • Complex Debugging
    The dynamic nature of Groovy can sometimes make debugging more complex and challenging, especially for those accustomed to statically-typed languages like Java.
  • Dependency Management Issues
    Managing dependencies in Grails can occasionally be problematic, particularly when dealing with transitive dependencies or conflicts between plugins.

Eloquent ORM features and specs

  • Simplicity
    Eloquent provides a simple and intuitive ActiveRecord implementation that makes it easy to interact with the database using models, reducing the need for complex SQL queries.
  • Relationships
    Eloquent makes it easier to define and manage relationships between different database tables through methods like hasOne, hasMany, belongsTo, and belongsToMany.
  • Built-in Data Handling
    Eloquent automatically handles common tasks like timestamps and soft deletes, which helps reduce boilerplate code and maintains data integrity.
  • Query Builder Integration
    Eloquent integrates seamlessly with Laravel's Query Builder, providing a powerful toolset for complex queries while keeping the interface elegant and expressive.
  • Mass Assignment Protection
    Eloquent provides a safeguard against mass assignment vulnerabilities, allowing developers to specify which attributes are fillable or guarded.

Possible disadvantages of Eloquent ORM

  • Performance Overhead
    Eloquent can introduce a performance overhead, especially with large datasets or complex queries, due to its abstraction and convenience features.
  • Learning Curve
    Although Eloquent simplifies many tasks, new users might face a learning curve in understanding its conventions and methods, especially if coming from traditional SQL.
  • Limited Flexibility for Complex Queries
    While Eloquent handles simple and straightforward queries well, complex queries might require reverting to raw SQL, losing Eloquent's expressive power.
  • Database-Specific Features
    Eloquent abstracts away the specifics of the database engine, which might limit the usage of database-specific features that can lead to more efficient queries.
  • Memory Usage
    Because Eloquent ORM loads entire objects into memory, it can result in higher memory usage compared to raw SQL queries, particularly in high-load applications.

Analysis of Grails

Overall verdict

  • Grails is a good choice for developers who appreciate convention over configuration and are looking for a quick, efficient way to build web applications. Its integration with the JVM ecosystem makes it particularly appealing for those with existing Java knowledge or infrastructure. However, as with any technology, its suitability depends on specific project requirements and team expertise.

Why this product is good

  • Grails is considered a powerful web application framework built on Groovy and the Spring Framework. It promotes rapid development, convention over configuration, and is designed to be easy to learn for Java developers. Grails provides a variety of built-in features such as ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) with GORM, a robust plugin system, and seamless integration with third-party libraries and frameworks. It aims to boost productivity by simplifying tasks and reducing configuration overhead.

Recommended for

  • Java developers looking to increase productivity
  • Teams that prefer convention over configuration
  • Projects that require rapid development and prototyping
  • Developers interested in using the Groovy language
  • Applications that need seamless integration with the Spring Framework

Grails videos

BUYING MY SNEAKER GRAILS ON STOCKX!

More videos:

  • Review - TOP 5 SNEAKER GRAILS
  • Review - Top 5 Grails with Superpower Review | Berkfamily54comics

Eloquent ORM videos

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Grails and Eloquent ORM)
Web Frameworks
88 88%
12% 12
Databases
0 0%
100% 100
Developer Tools
95 95%
5% 5
Python Web Framework
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Grails and Eloquent ORM

Grails Reviews

17 Popular Java Frameworks for 2023: Pros, cons, and more
Although you have to write your code in Groovy, Grails works well with other Java-related technologies such as the Java Development Kit, Jakarta EE containers, Hibernate, and Spring. Under the hood, Grails is built on top of Spring Boot to make use of its productivity-friendly features like dependency injection. With Grails, you can achieve the same results with much less...
Source: raygun.com
10 Best Java Frameworks You Should Know
Grails is a web application framework developed using Apache Groovy Language. It is a Framework that follows the coding by convention method which provides a Standalone environment. Also, it supports instance development with no configuration required.

Eloquent ORM Reviews

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Grails seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 6 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.

Grails mentions (6)

  • Mastering Node.js
    Trails is a modern web application framework. It builds on the pedigree of Rails and Grails to accelerate development by adhering to a straightforward, convention-based, API-driven design philosophy. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • RIFE2 web framework under development
    And frameworks like Grails build conventions and helpers on top of Spring. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Web app in Java with Template Engine
    I don't have any direct experience and am only suggesting it because you mentioned RoR...But Grails (https://grails.org/) is basically the JVM version of RoR (Groovy on Rails -> Grails). Source: over 2 years ago
  • Libraries other than Spring Boot for creating web APIs
    Grails - Spring under the hood. Much less boilerplate. Opinionated, which helps keep things consistent. Uses Spring-Security plugin for authentication. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • "get-it-done" MVC web framework like Django in Java?
    Also, Grails, which a Rails like framework build on Groovy, a JVM scripting language. Source: almost 4 years ago
View more

Eloquent ORM mentions (0)

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

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Grails and Eloquent ORM, you can also consider the following products

Ruby on Rails - Ruby on Rails is an open source full-stack web application framework for the Ruby programming...

Hibernate ORM - Hibernate team account. Hibernate is a suite of open source projects around domain models. The flagship project is Hibernate ORM, the Object Relational Mapper.

Django - The Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines

Doctrine ORM - PHP object relational mapper (ORM) that sits on top of a powerful database abstraction layer (DBAL).

Meteor - Meteor is a set of new technologies for building top-quality web apps in a fraction of the time.

Entity Framework - See Comparison of Entity Framework vs NHibernate.