Inner join vs Where
Inner join and WHERE clauses are used to filter rows from multiple tables in a SQL query, but they work slightly differently. An INNER JOIN combines rows from two or more tables based on a related column. It returns only the rows that have matching values in both tables. The syntax for an INNER JOIN is:

SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table1
JOIN table2
ON table1.column = table2.column;

For example, the following query returns all employees and their department names:

SELECT first_name, last_name, department_name
FROM employees
JOIN departments
ON employees.department_id = departments.department_id;

A WHERE clause, on the other hand, is used to filter rows based on one or more conditions. The syntax for a WHERE clause is:

SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table
WHERE condition;

For example, the following query returns all employees that work in the 'IT' department:

SELECT first_name, last_name
FROM employees
WHERE department_name = 'IT';

In general, INNER JOIN is used to filter rows based on a relationship between two tables, while the WHERE clause is used to filter rows based on a condition within a single table. However, you can use INNER JOIN with a WHERE clause to filter rows based on a combination of conditions and relationships.

SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table1
JOIN table2
ON table1.column = table2.column
WHERE condition;

It's also worth noting that you can use other types of joins like LEFT JOIN, RIGHT JOIN, FULL OUTER JOIN or CROSS JOIN. Also, you can use "INNER JOIN" and "WHERE" to filter rows based on a combination of conditions and relationships.