When is Core Data worthwhile?

Middle PRO

When Core Data (or SwiftData) is justified

• You have an object graph with relationships (user → orders → line items) that must be stored locally and queried by conditions.
• There's a lot of data: you need lazy loading, batching, indexes rather than "load everything into memory".
• The UI must react to data changes — NSFetchedResultsController, @FetchRequest, @Query.
• You need undo/redo, schema migrations, iCloud sync (NSPersistentCloudKitContainer).
• You don't want to write and maintain your own persistence layer — Core Data is mature, tested by Apple and free.