DB Extensions
Compared to
DbExtensions does not replace Dapper, and it does not pretend SqlBulkCopy is slow. It covers the write operations Dapper never added — on more than SQL Server.
Dapper
Use Dapper for queries. Use DbExtensions when the next step is writing many rows.
using var connection = new SqlConnection(connectionString);
var customers = connection
.Query<Customer>("SELECT * FROM Customer WHERE Active = 1")
.ToList();
connection.BulkUpdate(customers);A foreach + Execute is fine for a handful of rows. At thousands of rows it is the
slow path we measured: one round-trip each. DbExtensions keeps your POCOs and the same connection.
SqlBulkCopy
On SQL Server, BulkInsert uses SqlBulkCopy. If you only ever insert into SQL Server and you already maintain DataTable + column mappings, SqlBulkCopy stays a valid choice — and in our benchmark it was a few milliseconds faster than BulkInsert because there is no object mapping.
Reach for DbExtensions when you also need:
- Update, delete, or merge (SqlBulkCopy is insert-only)
- POCOs instead of
DataTable - PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, Db2, SQLite, … with the same method names
Dapper Plus
Dapper Plus is a commercial bulk library aimed at Dapper users. The problem it solves is the same: Dapper has no bulk writes.
DbExtensions is the ETLBox answer to that gap:
| Dapper Plus | ETLBox.DbExtensions | |
|---|---|---|
| Host | Extension methods on the connection | Extension methods on IDbConnection |
| Operations | Bulk insert / update / delete / merge | Bulk insert / update / delete / merge |
| Engine | Dapper Plus | ETLBox bulk connectors |
| Databases | Multiple ADO.NET providers | ETLBox providers (SQL Server, Postgres, MySQL, Oracle, Db2, SQLite, Snowflake, HANA, …) |
| Fits if | You want that vendor’s API | You already use ETLBox, or want the same bulk engine as EFBox / ETLBox data flows |
We do not publish a head-to-head speed contest against Dapper Plus. Different machines and scripts are not comparable. Run both against your tables if that decision matters.