Which is faster — deleting data with the DELETE command or truncating the table?

The TRUNCATE command usually works faster than DELETE when you need to remove all data from a table. This is because TRUNCATE does not delete rows one by one but quickly clears the entire table, often resetting data pages and not recording individual delete operations in the transaction log.

Unlike DELETE, which deletes rows one by one and can trigger triggers, TRUNCATE does not trigger triggers and cannot be used with WHERE conditions — it deletes all data at once.

Example:

-- Delete all rows (slower)
DELETE FROM users;

-- Fast table clearing
TRUNCATE TABLE users;

Therefore, if you need to quickly clear an entire table, it is better to use TRUNCATE.