The fastest ORM available on .Net

What is AgileFx?

AgileFx is a LINQ-based ORM for the .Net Framework, with features comparable to Entity Framework and special attention given to performance.

AgileFx was started in late 2009 by AgileHead, when customers requested an ORM which is as fast as Linq to Sql, but having the more advanced features found in Entity Framework. Linq to Sql was great for performance; it usually produced highly optimized queries comparable to handwritten queries. Unfortunately, Linq to Sql lacked many important features (like Inheritance and Many-to-Many relationships) which made modeling real world applications impossible.

AgileFx extends the Linq to Sql provider with many of these missing features, while retaining its outstanding performance profile.

Is there designer support?

Yes.

How fast is it?

It should be as fast as Linq to Sql, which is one of the best performing ORMs out there. In addition, there are further improvements over Linq to Sql in areas of Lazy-loading, Caching, and parallel queries.

So, is it built on Linq to Sql?

Yes and no. :)

AgileFx has its own Query Provider, Object Tracking mechanism, and even Visual Studio Design Tools. However, it relies on a Backend Provider to handle SQL generation. In version 1, Linq To Sql is the default backend.

Architecturally, AgileFx is in no way coupled to Linq to Sql. Any Linq Query Provider which supports basic table operations can be used as a backend. There are already other backends being developed to work with AgileFx.

Could you explain this better?

AgileFx translates complex LINQ queries involving inheritance, many-to-many relationships and prefetch paths into an Intermediate Query, which can be run on providers like Linq to Sql which do not support such features.

To learn more, read the architecture guide.