Difference between firstOrCreate and create

As the name says, firstOrCreate() only creates an item if it doesn't already exist. create() always creates one.

The docs aren't clear on this?

The firstOrCreate method will attempt to locate a database record using the given column / value pairs. If the model can not be found in the database, a record will be inserted with the attributes from the first parameter, along with those in the optional second parameter.

// Retrieve flight by name, or create it if it doesn't exist...
$flight = App\Flight::firstOrCreate(['name' => 'Flight 10']);

// Retrieve flight by name, or create it with the name and delayed attributes...
$flight = App\Flight::firstOrCreate(
    ['name' => 'Flight 10'], ['delayed' => 1]
);

https://laravel.com/docs/5.7/eloquent#other-creation-methods