🚀 Boost Your EF Core Performance with AsNoTracking()

If you're working with Entity Framework Core and wondering why your read-heavy operations feel sluggish, you might be paying a hidden performance cost: change tracking overhead.

The Problem

By default, EF Core tracks every entity it retrieves from the database. This tracking mechanism monitors changes to entities so that when you call SaveChanges(), EF Core knows exactly what to update. While powerful for CRUD operations, this comes with memory and CPU overhead—especially problematic when you're just reading data.

The Solution: AsNoTracking()

The AsNoTracking() method tells EF Core: "I'm only reading this data, don't track changes." This eliminates tracking overhead and can significantly improve performance for read-only scenarios.

Code Examples

1️⃣ Basic Query with AsNoTracking()

2️⃣ Comparing Tracking vs No-Tracking Behavior

3️⃣ Performance Use-Case: API Endpoints & Dashboards

4️⃣ When NOT to Use AsNoTracking()

5️⃣ AsNoTrackingWithIdentityResolution()

Key Benefits
✅ Performance: 10-30% faster queries in read-heavy scenarios
✅ Memory: Reduced memory footprint—no tracking metadata stored
✅ Scalability: Better throughput for high-volume read operations
✅ Simplicity: One method call for immediate gains

Best Practices
🔹 Use AsNoTracking() for:

Read-only API endpoints
Reports and dashboards
Data export operations
Search and filtering queries

🔹 Avoid AsNoTracking() when:

You need to update entities afterward
Working with complex object graphs where identity matters
The performance gain is negligible (very small result sets)

🔹 Global Configuration:

🔹 Use AsNoTrackingWithIdentityResolution() when you need proper entity identity without tracking overhead (EF Core 5.0+)

The Bottom Line

If you're querying data without modifying it, you're probably paying for tracking you don't need. Add .AsNoTracking() to your read queries and watch your application's performance improve.