I understand the confusion, but no; they are different methods that suit different needs.

In Laravel the result of a query is a collection. In other words: the query determines which record is included in the collection and which is not.

When you use first() or latest(), you are not influencing the query. You are asking for the full collection and then get information from that collection. If you were to echo out the latest(), you would still have the collection to perform any other operation on (like iteration).

When you use limit(), you are manipulating the query itself. You are asking the database to return a limited number of items. Combined with the correct 'orderBy' clause, the database will return to you just that one record that you are looking for. No iteration in php required and less memory consumption. But if there is anything else you need from the database, you would need another query.

Eloquent Subquery Additions