When do you use optimistic versus pessimistic locking in JPA?

Chooses version-based conflict detection or database locks from contention, transaction duration, and invariant needs.

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TL;DR

Optimistic locking normally uses a @Version field. An update includes the expected version and fails if another transaction changed the row first. It works well when conflicts are uncommon and avoids holding a database lock while a user or process thinks. Pessimistic locking requests a database lock while the transaction is active, such as a write lock on a selected row, and can be appropriate when contention is high and the operation must serialize access immediately.

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Version columns, lock modes, conflict handling, lock duration, deadlocks, retries, and workload tradeoffs.

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Optimistic locking detects that another writer won; pessimistic locking reserves access before the change.
Optimistic locking normally uses a @Version field. An update includes the expected version and fails if another transaction changed the row first. It works well when conflicts are uncommon and avoids holding a database lock while a user or process thinks. Pessimistic locking requests a database lock while the transaction is active, such as a write lock on a selected row, and can be appropriate when contention is high and the operation must serialize access immediately.
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Optimistic conflict is a normal outcome that needs reload, merge, reject, or carefully bounded retry behavior; blindly retrying a user edit can overwrite intent. Pessimistic locks consume database resources, increase waiting, and can deadlock when rows are acquired in inconsistent order. They must live in short transactions with a lock timeout. Neither approach automatically protects a multi-row or aggregate invariant unless every relevant write follows the same protocol.

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Retrying every optimistic conflict automatically.
Holding a pessimistic lock across remote work.
Assuming a row version protects unrelated rows.

When do you use optimistic versus pessimistic locking in JPA?

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