How much does $wpdb->prepare(), then $wpdb->query() VS straight $wpdb->query(), can slow down the load time of whole page

$wpdb->prepare shouldn’t make any significant difference. As you can see here (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wpdb/prepare/#source), it doesn’t do much. It’s just taking care of proper escaping and formatting variables, so the final query is safe to run.

So if you’re asking if there is a big difference between $wpdb->query( $wpdb->prepare( ... ) ) and $wpdb->query( <SAFE_SQL> ), then no – there is no such difference, because you’ll have to prepare the <SAFE_SQL> query by yourself, so you will make something very similar to prepare function.

And as for your points:

  1. I don’t really think it’s harder to read. For me it’s even easier, because I clearly see what type of variables go to the query, and what values are passed in there. Of course formatting, naming, and so on are very important to make the code readable.

  2. No, running prepare shouldn’t make a noticeable difference. But… If you have 500 queries, then you should take a look at them, because it’s really a lot of queries.

  3. Why isn’t it suitable for dynamic queries? There are a lot of dynamic queries in WP and all of them are constructed with prepare method. Just take a look at WP_Query::get_posts method – it’s called almost everywhere in WP and it constructs highly dynamic query, based on many parameters and additional filters…

  4. Yes, there is. Validation is one thing. Escaping is another thing. And sanitization is another one. Every one of these steps is important for your site safety.

Related Posts:

  1. Return only Count from a wp_query request?
  2. How to make an activities stream mixing posts and comments?
  3. How To Get Some Data From WordPress Database Using WordPress $wpdb Query?
  4. How to correctly pass values to wpdb->prepare()?
  5. Custom Query num_rows returns wrong amount
  6. Iterating through $wpdb query without using get_results for large query results
  7. WordPress query posts with multiple post_meta data
  8. Disable (or limit) queries when certain content (or data) is not needed (or showed)
  9. Any way to use FETCH_KEY_PAIR with $wpdb?
  10. Doing $wpdb->get_results returns NULL, doing the same query in my DB returns correct value
  11. wpdb get_results() returns only 2 rows
  12. how to use transient method?
  13. WP_Query: query posts by ids from array?
  14. Changing the meta_query of the main query based on custom query_vars and using pre_get_posts
  15. How to uniquely identify queries?
  16. pre_get_posts with get_posts
  17. Is it true $wpdb->get_results is faster than WP_Query in most cases?
  18. author.php with ACF and CPTs
  19. Query Custom Meta Value with Increment
  20. Use WP_Query with a custom SQL query
  21. Identify which loop you are hooking into; primary or secondary?
  22. How to query for a week using key => value WP_Query argument notation?
  23. SQL query equivalent to WP User Query
  24. Finding the next 5 posts
  25. view queries made?
  26. How to detect custom query inside `posts_where` hook?
  27. Pass the same object to multiple widgets in a template with one query
  28. Is temporarily overwriting $wp_query a bad idea?
  29. How to output different posts per page?
  30. What is considered a default query for the request filter?
  31. $wpdb insert is not work
  32. Pass array of taxonomy terms to wp_query
  33. How to find exact match for search term in WP_Query? What is the additional string added in LIKE query in WP_Query?
  34. How to reduce the number of queries?
  35. How to query a custom post type with a taxonomy filter but display post type archive page?
  36. List of the years with posts presented
  37. Query custom post type by custom taxonomy (category slug)
  38. Change query_posts to WP_Query in page but does not work
  39. Optional Meta Query
  40. Set conditional on template based on referring page slug
  41. Getting post revision and printing them on the post content site
  42. Editing the default wordpress search
  43. Slow page loads due to WordPress Core Query
  44. Filter posts in category archive page by year using a dropdown
  45. Set global $wp_query/$post variable for dynamic page generation
  46. Include data from custom table in WP_Query
  47. Meta Query relation “AND” then set array accordingly
  48. How to get a query variable?
  49. How to query custom post types with mixed AND & OR statements for custom fields
  50. date_query seems to be ignored by wp_query
  51. Query most popular terms by taxonomy over 2 week period
  52. Better wordpress attachment query than this
  53. Is_single() conditional tag returns null in query
  54. Is it possible to query from external database? [duplicate]
  55. Can’t sort custom post type by random
  56. Make a SQL query with wpdb in WordPress
  57. Query posts that contain video?
  58. List of ways to access WordPress database?
  59. Show a 404 error page if Public query variable’s value doesn’t exist?
  60. Specify strict ‘order by’ in WordPress query
  61. How to set up hierarchical relationships without using plugins / meta query
  62. Set front_page programatically after user login via query, while leaving site option alone
  63. Does WordPress have something like Drupal’s DB API?
  64. Notice thrown when creating numeric pagination on custom query
  65. wordpress udpate query not equal to
  66. What’s wrong with this wpdb query?
  67. meta_query where the meta value is not the post title
  68. Multi-layered WP_Query
  69. `offset` WP_Query argument dont work via `pre_get_posts`
  70. Pagination of custom page with custom fields query
  71. Save queried result into database
  72. setting offset to category number in archive page
  73. Woocommerce Get Orders By Meta Value
  74. Move some posts to end of sort order, even if there is a sort in the wp_Query already
  75. Query Posts | Combining multiple form inputs into query arguments to generate one filter result
  76. Is my code correct?
  77. Slow wp_posts and wp_postmeta query using Advance Custom Fields
  78. Meta query doesn’t remove placeholder escape before query
  79. How to show post title in content editor in backend?
  80. What is the best way to reset a search on a meta_key / meta_value?
  81. How can I modify standard search query to include also ACF custom fields values?
  82. Bring a post to the top of the query if it’s in a certain category?
  83. Using URL variables on a custom WP_Query
  84. How to get query results for the next page
  85. Using WP_Query to re-query and sort results using a date?
  86. Pagination is not working on custom query inside a custom home page template
  87. Loop through multiple custom fields with increasing number
  88. How to organize a WP_Query’s list of posts by category and display category title?
  89. Need help setting up a search form for wordpress [duplicate]
  90. WordPress Query showing multiple titles
  91. custom query to get posts
  92. confirm my booking with phone number
  93. Get WP_Query query after execution?
  94. shortcode using multiple WP_Query’s with multiple category names not fully functional
  95. Different sql queries count indicator on the main page [closed]
  96. WordPress query very slow on +/- 300k DB entries and 7 INNER JOIN
  97. A Depth Like Parameter For “get_posts”
  98. Search query alteration not working for meta values
  99. Search results stuck on page 1
  100. Use value from meta key array for use in WP_Query