ORM (SQLAlchemy, Prisma, Entity Framework) simplifies DB work. But it hides complexity and generates suboptimal queries.

ORM Advantages¶

• Fast development, less code
• Type safety
• Automatic migrations
• Protection against SQL injection
• Database-agnostic

Raw SQL Advantages¶

• Full control over queries
• Optimal performance for complex queries
• Window functions, CTE, recursive queries
• Less abstraction = fewer surprises

Hybrid Approach¶

SQLAlchemy — ORM for CRUD¶

user = session.query(User).filter(User.id == 1).first()

Raw SQL for complex queries¶

result = session.execute(text(‘’’ WITH monthly AS ( SELECT DATE_TRUNC(‘month’, created_at) as month, COUNT(*) as cnt FROM orders WHERE user_id = :uid GROUP BY 1 ) SELECT month, cnt, AVG(cnt) OVER() as avg_orders FROM monthly ‘’‘), {‘uid’: user_id})

Key Takeaway¶

ORM for CRUD, raw SQL for analytics and optimization. Hybrid approach is pragmatic.