Stored Procedures

Your EF Core LINQ query for monthly sales reporting takes 45 seconds to execute. You rewrite it as a stored procedure and it runs in 3 seconds. But now your business logic is split between C# and SQL, and your team is wondering if they made the right choice.

The decision between EF Core LINQ and stored procedures isn’t black and white. Each approach has strengths that match different scenarios.

When EF Core LINQ Excels

EF Core handles most database operations beautifully with clean, maintainable code:

// Clean, readable, and performs well
var customerOrders = await context.Customers
    .Where(c => c.Country == "USA")
    .Include(c => c.Orders.Where(o => o.OrderDate >= DateTime.Now.AddMonths(-3)))
    .Select(c => new CustomerOrderSummary
    {
        CustomerId = c.Id,
        CustomerName = c.Name,
        RecentOrderCount = c.Orders.Count(),
        TotalAmount = c.Orders.Sum(o => o.Total)
    })
    .ToListAsync();

EF Core generates efficient SQL for this type of query:

SELECT [c].[Id], [c].[Name], 
       COUNT([o].[Id]) AS RecentOrderCount,
       COALESCE(SUM([o].[Total]), 0.0) AS TotalAmount
FROM [Customers] AS [c]
LEFT JOIN [Orders] AS [o] ON [c].[Id] = [o].[CustomerId] 
    AND [o].[OrderDate] >= @__AddMonths_0
WHERE [c].[Country] = N'USA'
GROUP BY [c].[Id], [c].[Name]

This performs well and keeps all logic in your application layer.

When to Consider Stored Procedures

Complex Business Logic with Multiple Steps

Some …