When to use prepared statements?

[sidsel]

I'm aware that prepared statements are the ability to set up a statement once, and then execute it many times with different parameters, but are there any benefit of using it if you only use the query once per php-script?

Ie. I have a viewcounter that updates everytime a page is loaded: "update table set views=views+1 WHERE id = ?"

[laserlight]

but are there any benefit of using it if you only use the query once per php-script?

Yes, as an escaping mechanism that is potentially safer (and certainly no worse) than the likes of mysqli_real_escape_string().