TLDR: use update_or_create / get_or_create when the likelihood of updating existing instances is high. Use create with an IntegrityError catch when the odds of inserting new instances is higher.

Anyone who has worked with Django for any period of time will inevitable run into the update_or_create / get_or_create methods. These are wonderful little methods that simplify the process of inserting or updating a model instance.

Let’s say your application tracked a runner’s best lap time with a RecordLap model…

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… and you wanted to either add an initial time or update their time with the newest record

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This is a clean, easy to read method. But is this the best approach? It turns out there’s another way of doing the same task:

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What’s going on here? We’re taking advantage of the unique=True property and the IntegrityError exception to catch scenarios where a runner already has a RecordLap instance. When this is the case, we get the runner’s RecordLap instance and update it with the new lap time.

For the sake of completion, let’s also take a look at a third option. Django provides us with a get_or_create method

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So, which is better? It turns out each has its strengths and weaknesses. I ran each variant through a series of benchmarks. In each case, I repeatedly ran each command over 500 data points. One benchmark tested a scenario where each call would insert a new instance, and a second benchmark tested a scenario where each call would update an existing instance. Tests were run with a PostgreSQL database backend.

It turns out the update_or_create / get_or_create approach is more useful when the likelihood of updating an existing instance is high. The create + IntegrityError combination seems to perform better when the odds of inserting new instances is higher.

Benchmark: updating 500 existing instances

• update_or_create: 11.4s average

• get_or_create: 11.3s average

• create: 12.1s average

Benchmark: insert 500 new instances

• update_or_create: 8.7s average

• get_or_create: 8.6s average

• create: 7.4s average

Of course, there’s a third option available to us. We can get clever by splitting up the update and insert commands into two sections and then grouping the inserts in one statement via the bulk_insert command. The bulk insert option is not always available, however.