Entity Framework 4 vs NHibernate

.net nhibernate entity-framework orm
Deependra Solanky picture Deependra Solanky · Oct 28, 2009 · Viewed 37.4k times · Source

A lot has been talked about Entity Framework first version on the web (also on stackoverflow) and it is clear that it was not a good choice when we already have better alternative like NHibernate. But I can't find a good comparison of Entity Framework 4 and NHibernate. We can say that today NHibernate is the leader among all .NET ORMs, but can we expect Entity Framework 4 to displace NHibernate from this position. I think if Microsoft has really injected very good features in EF4 it can give good competition to NHibernate as it has Visual Studio integration, easier to work with and preference is always given to MS products in most shops.

Answer

John Rayner picture John Rayner · Oct 29, 2009

EF4 has an out-the-box answer with regard to n-tier development, in "self-tracking entities". Nobody has released comparable code for NHib.

NHib has many features that have not been mentioned as being part of EF4. These include the second-level cache integration. It also has greater flexibility in inheritance mapping, better integration with stored procs / database functions / custom SQL / triggers, support for formula properties and so on. IMO it's basically just more mature as an ORM.

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