LINQ To SQL Vs Entity Framework

Entity Framework is ORM(Object Relational Mapping) introduced by Microsoft. It proves very useful for new developers for it’s simplicity to query against conceptual schema and also has rich feature set. Many time the question has been asked in the interview to explain differences between Entity Framework and LINQ To SQL to the developers who has work experience in Entity Framework. I have made table of differences between these two technologies.

Parameter	LINQ To SQL	Entity Framework
DB Server	LINQ To SQL supports only Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and later version and even SQL Server 2000 has some limitations.	With Entity Framework you can plug any DB Server i.e. IBM DB2, Sybase SqlAnyWhere, Oracle, SQL Azure, and lot more.
Inheritance	In LINQ To SQL inheritance is difficult to apply. It supports Table Per Class Hierarchy(TPH).	In Entity Framework inheritance is simple to apply. It supports Table Per Class Hierarchy(TPH) and Table Per Type(TPT). It also provides limited support of Table Per Concrete Class(TPC).
Complex Type(Non scalar property of an entity type that does not have a key property) Support	LINQ To SQL does not support the creation of complex types.	Entity Framework support the creation of complex types.
Complexity	LINQ To SQL is easier to use.	Entity Framework is more complex compared to LINQ To SQL.
Model	LINQ To SQL provides one-to-one mapping of tables to classes.	Entity Framework enable decoupling DB Server(Database Schema) and Entity Representaion in terms of Model(Conceptual Schema). You can map one table to multiple entities or multiple table to one entity.
Development Time	LINQ To SQL is simple to learn and implement for Rapid Application Development, but it will not work in complex applications.	Entity Framework has more features which will take time to learn and implement, but it will work in complex applications.
Mapping Type	In LINQ To SQL each table is mapped to single class. Join table must be represented as a class. Also, complex types cannot be easily represented without creating separate table.	In Entity Framework a class can map to multiple tables.
File Type	It uses Database Markup Language(DBML) file that contains XML mappings of entities to tables.	Entity Framework uses four files EDMX, CSDL, SSDL and MSL. The later three are generated at runtime.
Query Capability	LINQ To SQL has DataContext object through which we can query the database.	With the Entity Framework, we can query database using LINQ To Entities through the ObjectContext object and ESQL(provides SQL like query language). In addition, Entity Framework has ObjectQuery class(used with Object Services for dynamically constructing queries at runtime) and EntityClient provider(runs query against conceptual model).
Performance	LINQ To SQL is slow for the first time run. After first run provides acceptable performance.	Entity Framework is also slow for the first run, but after first run provides slightly better performance compared to LINQ To SQL.
Future Enhancement	Microsoft intended to obsolete LINQ To SQL after the Entity Framework releases. So it will not receive any future enhancements.	Entity Framework has future enhacements.
Generate Database from Model	It has no capability to generate database from Model.	Entity Framework supports generation of database from Model.

Source: http://jinaldesai.net/linq-to-sql-vs-entity-framework/