MySQL - LEFT JOIN and NOT IN - mysql

Question

I try to avoid subqueries due to the fact they usually have much lower performance than a proper join.
This is my current NOT working query:
SELECT
a.`email_list_id`, a.`category_id`, a.`name`
FROM
`email_lists`AS a
LEFT JOIN `email_autoresponders` AS b
ON ( a.`website_id` = b.`website_id` )
WHERE
a.`website_id` = [...]
AND a.`category_id` <> 0
AND a.`email_list_id` <> b.`email_list_id`
GROUP BY
a.`email_list_id`
ORDER BY a.`name`
This query works:
SELECT
`email_list_id`, `category_id`, `name`
FROM
`email_lists`
WHERE
`website_id` = [...]
AND `category_id` <> 0
AND `email_list_id` NOT IN (
SELECT
`email_list_id`
FROM
`email_autoresponders`
WHERE `website_id` = [...]
)
GROUP BY
`email_list_id`
ORDER BY
`name`
Is there any way to do this with a left join? I've tried a number of different options.

Answer 1

After rethinking it a bit, this might work i believe:
SELECT
a.`email_list_id`, a.`category_id`, a.`name`
FROM
`email_lists`AS a
LEFT JOIN `email_autoresponders` AS b
ON ( a.`website_id` = b.`website_id` and a.`email_list_id` = b.`email_list_id` )
WHERE
a.`website_id` = [...]
AND a.`category_id` <> 0
AND b.`email_list_id` is NULL
GROUP BY
a.`email_list_id`
ORDER BY a.`name`

Answer 2

For starters, add the inequality check on email_list_id to the join criteria, instead of having it in your WHERE clause:
LEFT JOIN `email_autoresponders` AS b
ON ( a.`website_id` = b.`website_id`
AND a.`email_list_id` <> b.`email_list_id` )
Though I'm not sure the scenario you mention calls for vast optimizations, this is a way to use a join rather than a subquery...