There is a huge difference between these two. SQLLite is a database itself like we have MS SQL Server. But CoreData is an ORM (Object Relational Model) which creates a layer between the database and the UI. It speeds-up the process of interaction as we dont have to write queries, just work with the ORM and let ORM handles the backend. For save or retrieval of large data, I recommend to use Core Data because of its abilities to handle the less processing speed of IPhone.