title: Performance of HtmlHelper vs Partial
body: <p>Is there a performance difference between using an HtmlHelper or a Partial for a given task?</p>
  
  <p>For example, I'm writing an HtmlHelper "control" to create a link in an editor with the following signature:</p>
  
  <pre><code>public static HtmlString RecordNameLink(
          this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, 
          string linkText, 
          string editActionName, 
          object editRouteValues, 
          string deleteActionName = null, 
          object deleteRouteValues = null)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In this case the edit button will always be displayed, and the delete button will only be displayed if it is included. Alternately, I could do this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>@Html.Partial("Controls/RecordNameLink", Model)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>(Or pass a partial-specific model)</p>
  
  <p>But is there a <em>reason</em> to choose one over the other, specifically does one have better performance than the other? (though I'm open to learning more about the differences in general)</p>
  
  <p>Thanks.</p>