Is there a way to instantiate a NSManagedObject without inserting it?

For what it’s worth, Marcus Zarra seems to be promoting the nil context approach, claiming that it’s expensive to create a new context. For more details, see this answer to a similar question.

Update

I’m currently using the nil context approach and have encountered something that might be of interest to others. To create a managed object without a context, you use the initWithEntity:insertIntoManagedObjectContext: method of NSManagedObject. According to Apple’s documentation for this method:

If context is not nil, this method
invokes [context insertObject:self]
(which causes awakeFromInsert to be
invoked).

The implication here is important. Using a nil context when creating a managed object will prevent insertObject: from being called and therefore prevent awakeFromInsert from being called. Consequently, any object initialization or setting of default property values done in awakeFromInsert will not happen automatically when using a nil context.

Bottom line: When using a managed object without a context, awakeFromInsert will not be called automatically and you may need extra code to compensate.