whereDate()
When you use whereDate() on a datetime field, the query casts the column to date before performing the comparison. This operation prevents the use of indexes defined on the created_at column, which results in a full table scan and degrades performance, especially on large tables.
Here is an example query:
Post::whereDate('created_at', '2026-01-01');
Code language: PHP (php)The result (PostgreSQL):
select * from "posts" where "created_at"::date = '2026-01-01'
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)whereBetween()
Unlike whereDate(), the whereBetween() method does not transform the column during comparison. This allows the database engine to take advantage of indexes on the datetime field, which significantly improves performance.
To filter over an entire day, it is better to define a range between the start and end of the day.
// Using Carbon, you can easily get the start and end of a day with startOfDay() and endOfDay()
$dateStart = now()->startOfDay();
$dateEnd = now()->endOfDay();
Post::whereBetween('created_at', [ '2026-01-01 00:00:00', '2026-01-01 23:59:59' ]);
Code language: PHP (php)The generated query (PostgreSQL) will be:
select * from "posts" where "created_at" between '2026-01-01 00:00:00' and '2026-01-01 23:59:59'
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)This query does not apply any transformation to the created_at column. The index can therefore be used efficiently by the database engine.
In a high-volume data context, this difference can have a significant impact on response times.
