Rust serialization benchmark

The goal of these benchmarks is to provide thorough and complete benchmarks for various rust serialization frameworks.

These benchmarks are a work in progress

These benchmarks are still being developed and pull requests to improve benchmarks are welcome.

You can use this horrible tiny webpage to turn a benchmark log into nicely-formatted markdown tables.

Format

All tests benchmark the following properties (time or size):

• Serialize: serialize data into a buffer
• Deserialize: deserializes a buffer into a normal rust object
• Size: the size of the buffer when serialized
• Zlib: the size of the buffer after zlib compression

Zero-copy deserialization libraries have an additional set of benchmarks:

• Access: accesses a buffer as structured data
• Read: runs through a buffer and reads fields out of it
• Update: updates a buffer as structured data

Some benchmark results may be italicized and followed by an asterisk. Mouse over these for more details on what situation was benchmarked. Other footnotes are located at the bottom.

Last updated: 2023-3-12

log

This data set is composed of HTTP request logs that are small and contain many strings.

Raw Data

For operations, time per iteration; for size, bytes. Lower is better.

Serialize / deserialize speed and size

Format / Lib	Serialize	Deserialize	Size	Zlib	Zstd
abomonation	272.75 µs	2.5038 ms*	1705800	502508	414446
bare	792.88 µs	3.2283 ms	765778	312739	264630
bincode	454.15 µs	3.2685 ms	1045784	374305	311761
borsh	490.44 µs	3.3022 ms	885780	363280	286514
bson	2.9165 ms	11.594 ms	1924682	537661	376270
capnp	756.87 µs	†	1443216	509618	428649
cbor	1.8518 ms	6.7333 ms	1407835	407372	324081
flatbuffers	2.0908 ms	†	1276368	469962	388832
nachricht	6.6919 ms	6.0471 ms	818669	334639	285514
postcard	408.56 µs	3.3318 ms	724953	303462	253747
prost	3.2077 ms* 606.96 µs*	3.8758 ms	764951	269811	227947
rkyv	349.26 µs	2.5895 ms* 3.5071 ms*	1011488	384478	333545
rmp	1.6215 ms	4.4073 ms	784997	326654	278219
ron	18.374 ms	22.232 ms	1607459	452648	349713
scale	582.97 µs	3.2767 ms	765778	312771	264518
serde_json	3.9122 ms	9.2056 ms	1827461	474358	361090
simd-json	4.3502 ms	6.5077 ms	1827461	474358	361090
speedy	314.90 µs	2.7904 ms	885780	363280	286514
alkahest	261.98 µs	†	1045784	454748	389424
dlhn	765.26 µs	3.7853 ms	724953	302512	253629

Zero-copy deserialization speed

Format / Lib	Access	Read	Update
abomonation	38.567 µs*	60.703 µs*	‡
capnp	105.99 ns*	378.57 µs*	‡
flatbuffers	3.2078 ns* 2.2613 ms*	100.85 µs* 2.3809 ms*	‡
rkyv	1.4874 ns* 1.0070 ms*	17.012 µs* 986.85 µs*	19.521 µs
alkahest	2.7356 ns*	52.580 µs*	‡

Comparison

Relative to best. Higher is better.

Serialize / deserialize speed and size

Format / Lib	Serialize	Deserialize	Size	Zlib	Zstd
abomonation	96.05%	100.00%*	42.50%	53.69%	55.00%
bare	33.04%	77.56%	94.67%	86.27%	86.14%
bincode	57.69%	76.60%	69.32%	72.08%	73.12%
borsh	53.42%	75.82%	81.84%	74.27%	79.56%
bson	8.98%	21.60%	37.67%	50.18%	60.58%
capnp	34.61%	†	50.23%	52.94%	53.18%
cbor	14.15%	37.19%	51.49%	66.23%	70.34%
flatbuffers	12.53%	†	56.80%	57.41%	58.62%
nachricht	3.91%	41.40%	88.55%	80.63%	79.84%
postcard	64.12%	75.15%	100.00%	88.91%	89.83%
prost	8.17%* 43.16%*	64.60%	94.77%	100.00%	100.00%
rkyv	75.01%	96.69%* 71.39%*	71.67%	70.18%	68.34%
rmp	16.16%	56.81%	92.35%	82.60%	81.93%
ron	1.43%	11.26%	45.10%	59.61%	65.18%
scale	44.94%	76.41%	94.67%	86.26%	86.17%
serde_json	6.70%	27.20%	39.67%	56.88%	63.13%
simd-json	6.02%	38.47%	39.67%	56.88%	63.13%
speedy	83.19%	89.73%	81.84%	74.27%	79.56%
alkahest	100.00%	†	69.32%	59.33%	58.53%
dlhn	34.23%	66.15%	100.00%	89.19%	89.87%

Zero-copy deserialization speed

Format / Lib	Access	Read	Update
abomonation	0.00%*	28.02%*	‡
capnp	1.40%*	4.49%*	‡
flatbuffers	46.37%* 0.00%*	16.87%* 0.71%*	‡
rkyv	100.00%* 0.00%*	100.00%* 1.72%*	100.00%
alkahest	54.37%*	32.35%*	‡

mesh

This data set is a single mesh. The mesh contains an array of triangles, each of which has three vertices and a normal vector.

Raw Data

For operations, time per iteration; for size, bytes. Lower is better.

Serialize / deserialize speed and size

Format / Lib	Serialize	Deserialize	Size	Zlib	Zstd
abomonation	511.18 µs	509.64 µs*	6000024	5380837	5345891
bare	5.9274 ms	5.7132 ms	6000003	5380817	5345900
bincode	4.4554 ms	5.6998 ms	6000008	5380823	5345890
borsh	5.3946 ms	5.7872 ms	6000004	5380818	5345889
bson	64.121 ms	127.34 ms	23013911	9211138	7497811
capnp	9.8149 ms	†	14000088	6729881	6051062
cbor	46.675 ms	55.805 ms	13122324	7527423	6759658
flatbuffers	879.31 µs	†	6000024	5380800	5345910
nachricht	153.89 ms	39.431 ms	8125037	6495174	6386940
postcard	746.25 µs	1.4454 ms	6000003	5380817	5345900
prost	9.5792 ms* 7.7317 ms*	17.622 ms	8750000	6683814	6421871
rkyv	600.76 µs	510.41 µs* 508.78 µs*	6000008	5380822	5345892
rmp	16.973 ms	20.036 ms	8125006	6496879	6391037
ron	224.89 ms	381.01 ms	22192885	9009575	8138755
scale	4.8492 ms	5.6044 ms	6000004	5380818	5345889
serde_json	101.10 ms	99.404 ms	26192883	9612105	8586741
simd-json	109.06 ms	160.04 ms	39152823	16587283	14549214
speedy	508.25 µs	508.84 µs	6000004	5380818	5345889
alkahest	508.35 µs	†	6000008	5380823	5345890
dlhn	5.8955 ms	8.0786 ms	6000003	5380817	5345900

Zero-copy deserialization speed

Format / Lib	Access	Read	Update
abomonation	2.5900 ns*	270.86 µs*	‡
capnp	175.03 ns*	5.3535 ms*	‡
flatbuffers	3.3138 ns* 46.180 ns*	85.427 µs* 87.514 µs*	‡
rkyv	1.5406 ns* 11.572 ns*	46.584 µs* 48.056 µs*	263.58 µs
alkahest	2.7369 ns*	162.11 µs*	‡

Comparison

Relative to best. Higher is better.

Serialize / deserialize speed and size

Format / Lib	Serialize	Deserialize	Size	Zlib	Zstd
abomonation	99.43%	99.83%*	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
bare	8.57%	8.91%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
bincode	11.41%	8.93%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
borsh	9.42%	8.79%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
bson	0.79%	0.40%	26.07%	58.42%	71.30%
capnp	5.18%	†	42.86%	79.95%	88.35%
cbor	1.09%	0.91%	45.72%	71.48%	79.09%
flatbuffers	57.80%	†	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
nachricht	0.33%	1.29%	73.85%	82.84%	83.70%
postcard	68.11%	35.20%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
prost	5.31%* 6.57%*	2.89%	68.57%	80.50%	83.25%
rkyv	84.60%	99.68%* 100.00%*	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
rmp	2.99%	2.54%	73.85%	82.82%	83.65%
ron	0.23%	0.13%	27.04%	59.72%	65.68%
scale	10.48%	9.08%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
serde_json	0.50%	0.51%	22.91%	55.98%	62.26%
simd-json	0.47%	0.32%	15.32%	32.44%	36.74%
speedy	100.00%	99.99%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
alkahest	99.98%	†	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
dlhn	8.62%	6.30%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%

Zero-copy deserialization speed

Format / Lib	Access	Read	Update
abomonation	59.48%*	17.20%*	‡
capnp	0.88%*	0.87%*	‡
flatbuffers	46.49%* 3.34%*	54.53%* 53.23%*	‡
rkyv	100.00%* 13.31%*	100.00%* 96.94%*	100.00%
alkahest	56.29%*	28.74%*	‡

minecraft_savedata

This data set is composed of Minecraft player saves that contain highly structured data.

Raw Data

For operations, time per iteration; for size, bytes. Lower is better.

Serialize / deserialize speed and size

Format / Lib	Serialize	Deserialize	Size	Zlib	Zstd
abomonation	255.70 µs	1.9249 ms*	1290592	397928	339063
bare	871.13 µs	3.1827 ms	356311	213270	198488
bincode	642.57 µs	2.5893 ms	569975	240897	232423
borsh	570.14 µs	2.7127 ms	446595	234395	210008
bson	4.3511 ms	12.290 ms	1619653	506953	328399
capnp	622.41 µs	†	803896	336655	280851
cbor	1.9276 ms	6.4994 ms	1109821	347812	274526
flatbuffers	3.2942 ms	†	844168	346957	294015
nachricht	6.6536 ms	5.1471 ms	449745	252743	231110
postcard	459.41 µs	2.6699 ms	367489	222144	207344
prost	3.8316 ms* 1.3238 ms*	4.5505 ms	596811	306728	269310
rkyv	413.02 µs	1.8094 ms* 2.6971 ms*	596952	254523	220366
rmp	1.7313 ms	3.9884 ms	424533	245594	226188
ron	9.8254 ms	22.654 ms	1465223	439761	343338
scale	688.02 µs	2.7914 ms	356311	213188	198524
serde_json	4.1702 ms	10.033 ms	1623191	472275	359623
simd-json	4.1968 ms	6.3116 ms	1663769	496401	383682
speedy	422.44 µs	2.2893 ms	449595	235136	210361
alkahest	298.30 µs	†	667570	325536	320452

Zero-copy deserialization speed

Format / Lib	Access	Read	Update
abomonation	60.515 µs*	61.636 µs*	‡
capnp	106.18 ns*	628.65 ns*	‡
flatbuffers	3.3440 ns* 2.3031 ms*	2.7482 µs* 2.2716 ms*	‡
rkyv	1.6073 ns* 835.87 µs*	194.36 ns* 799.16 µs*	1.5155 µs
alkahest	2.9192 ns*	20.155 µs*	‡

Comparison

Relative to best. Higher is better.

Serialize / deserialize speed and size

Format / Lib	Serialize	Deserialize	Size	Zlib	Zstd
abomonation	100.00%	94.00%*	27.61%	53.57%	58.54%
bare	29.35%	56.85%	100.00%	99.96%	100.00%
bincode	39.79%	69.88%	62.51%	88.50%	85.40%
borsh	44.85%	66.70%	79.78%	90.95%	94.51%
bson	5.88%	14.72%	22.00%	42.05%	60.44%
capnp	41.08%	†	44.32%	63.33%	70.67%
cbor	13.27%	27.84%	32.11%	61.29%	72.30%
flatbuffers	7.76%	†	42.21%	61.45%	67.51%
nachricht	3.84%	35.15%	79.23%	84.35%	85.88%
postcard	55.66%	67.77%	96.96%	95.97%	95.73%
prost	6.67%* 19.32%*	39.76%	59.70%	69.50%	73.70%
rkyv	61.91%	100.00%* 67.09%*	59.69%	83.76%	90.07%
rmp	14.77%	45.37%	83.93%	86.81%	87.75%
ron	2.60%	7.99%	24.32%	48.48%	57.81%
scale	37.16%	64.82%	100.00%	100.00%	99.98%
serde_json	6.13%	18.03%	21.95%	45.14%	55.19%
simd-json	6.09%	28.67%	21.42%	42.95%	51.73%
speedy	60.53%	79.04%	79.25%	90.67%	94.36%
alkahest	85.72%	†	53.37%	65.49%	61.94%

Zero-copy deserialization speed

Format / Lib	Access	Read	Update
abomonation	0.00%*	0.32%*	‡
capnp	1.51%*	30.92%*	‡
flatbuffers	48.07%* 0.00%*	7.07%* 0.01%*	‡
rkyv	100.00%* 0.00%*	100.00%* 0.02%*	100.00%
alkahest	55.06%*	0.96%*	‡

Footnotes:

* mouse over for situational details

† do not provide deserialization capabilities, but the user can write their own

‡ do not support buffer mutation (capnp and flatbuffers may but not for rust)