Difference Between insert(), insertOne(), and insertMany() in Pymongo

In PyMongo, inserting documents into a MongoDB collection can be done using different methods. Earlier versions used the insert() method, but it is now deprecated.

The recommended and modern approach is to use:

• insert_one(): to insert a single document
• insert_many(): to insert multiple documents

These methods provide better control, error handling and clarity.

insert() method

insert() method was originally used in older versions of PyMongo to insert both single and multiple documents into a collection. It automatically handled either a single dictionary or a list of dictionaries.

Syntax:

collection.insert(document)
collection.insert([document1, document2, ...])

Parameter: document representing dictionary or list of dictionaries.

Example: 

from pymongo import MongoClient  
  
myclient = MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017/") 

db = myclient["GFG"] 
  
collection = db["College"] 
  
mylist = [ 
  { "_id": 1, "name": "Vishwash", "Roll No": "1001", "Branch":"CSE"}, 
  { "_id": 2, "name": "Vishesh", "Roll No": "1002", "Branch":"IT"}, 
  { "_id": 3, "name": "Shivam", "Roll No": "1003", "Branch":"ME"}, 
  { "_id": 4, "name": "Yash", "Roll No": "1004", "Branch":"ECE"}, 
] 

collection.insert(mylist) 

Output

insert_one() method

insert_one() method is used to insert a single document (i.e., one record) into a collection. Automatically adds a unique _id field if not provided.

Syntax:

collection.insert_one(document)

Parameter: single dictionary representing the document to be inserted into the collection.

Example:

from pymongo import MongoClient 

myclient = MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017/") 

db = myclient["GFG"]

collection = db["Student"]

record = { "_id": 5,
          "name": "Raju",
          "Roll No": "1005",
          "Branch": "CSE"}

rec_id1 = collection.insert_one(record)

Output

insert_many() method

insert_many() method is used to insert multiple documents into a collection at once. Instead of calling insert_one() repeatedly for each document, insert_many() allows inserting a list of documents efficiently in a single operation.

Syntax:

collection.insert_many([doc1, doc2, doc3,....])

Parameter: [doc1, doc2, doc3,....] represents a list of dictionary to be inserted into the collection.

Example:

from pymongo import MongoClient  
  
myclient = MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017/") 
  
db = myclient["GFG"] 
  
collection = db["College"] 

mylist = [ 
  { "_id": 6, "name": "Deepanshu", "Roll No": "1006", "Branch":"CSE"}, 
  { "_id": 7, "name": "Anshul", "Roll No": "1007", "Branch":"IT"}
] 

collection.insert_many(mylist) 

Output

Difference between insert(), insert_one() and insert_many()

Related Article:

• insert_one()
• insert_many()