

Most of the time, tables are joined on a common field. Example #1: Using an Aggregate Function as Part of a Join Clause Here are a couple of examples using the Sakila Sample Database for MySQL and the Navicat Premium database development and admin client. Sometimes you can't easily get at the data you want using a subquery.

There are also some cases where a subquery can replace complex joins and unions with only minimal performance degradation, if any. While joins are a necessary part of data retrieval from a normalized database, it is important that joins be written correctly, as improper joins can result in serious performance degradation and inaccurate query results. Having said that, as you add more joins to a query, the database server has to do more work, which translates to slower data retrieval times. This in turn makes better use of the database's ability to search through, filter, and sort records. The reason is that joins mitigate the processing burden on the database by replacing multiple queries with one join query. In fact, query retrieval time using joins will almost always outperform one that employs a subquery. I won't leave you in suspense, between Joins and Subqueries, joins tend to execute faster. Which one? Read on to find out! The Verdict If execution speed is paramount in your business, then you should favor one over the other. As such, they share many similarities as well as differences. Joins and subqueries are both used to combine data from different tables into a single result set. Joins versus Subqueries: Which Is Faster?
