When to Use MyBatis-Plus: Pros, Cons, and Best Practices

Preface

MyBatis-Plus (MP) has been controversial since its release, with both supporters and critics.

Advantages

Simplified Operations

MP allows CRUD operations without writing XML, e.g.:

nodeMapper.selectById(1);
nodeMapper.deleteById(2);
nodeMapper.updateById(new Node());
nodeMapper.insert(new Node());

However, default methods select all columns, which is poor practice; using QueryWrapper or LambdaQueryWrapper lets you specify fields.

nodeMapper.selectOne(new QueryWrapper<Node>().eq("id",1).select("id"));

LambdaQueryWrapper improves type safety and avoids magic strings:

Node node = nodeMapper.selectOne(new LambdaQueryWrapper<Node>()
    .eq(Node::getId, 1)
    .select(Node::getId));

When a column name changes, MP may not raise an error, leading to silent failures:

Using LambdaQueryWrapper solves the problem by tying the query to the entity’s getter methods:

Node node = nodeMapper.selectOne(new LambdaQueryWrapper<Node>()
    .eq(Node::getId, 1)
    .select(Node::getId));

Pagination is straightforward:

LambdaQueryWrapper<UserInfo> queryWrapper = new LambdaQueryWrapper<>();
queryWrapper.eq(UserInfo::getAge, 20);
Page<UserInfo> queryPage = new Page<>(page, limit);
IPage<UserInfo> iPage = userInfoMapper.selectPage(queryPage, queryWrapper);
Long total = iPage.getTotal();
List<UserInfo> list = iPage.getRecords();

Disadvantages

Complex SQL, multi‑table joins, and custom queries are cumbersome with MP. For example, using @Select with ${ew.customSqlSegment} leads to unreadable code, and MP’s built‑in methods like selectById are not suitable for production.

Simple Summary

MP is convenient for simple single‑table queries but should be avoided for complex SQL. Organize MP queries in a dedicated package, prefer LambdaQueryWrapper for maintainability, use built‑in pagination, and avoid selectById and other generic methods for production code.

Conclusion

Do not rely on MP for complex statements; use it only for straightforward CRUD and pagination.