Create vs Apply in Kubernetes

kubectl create is so called Imperative Management. This approach will tell Kubernetes API what you want to create, replace or delete, not how you want your Kubernetes cluster world to look like.

kubectl apply is part of Declarative Management approach, where changes that you may have applied to a live object (i.e. through scale) are maintained even if you apply other changes to the object.

Both approaches are valid ways to work in production.