Benchmarks of Go serialization methods

This is a test suite for benchmarking various Go serialization methods.

Tested serialization methods

• encoding/gob
• encoding/json
• github.com/json-iterator/go
• github.com/alecthomas/binary
• github.com/davecgh/go-xdr/xdr
• github.com/Sereal/Sereal/Go/sereal
• github.com/ugorji/go/codec
• github.com/vmihailenco/msgpack/v4
• labix.org/v2/mgo/bson
• github.com/tinylib/msgp (code generator for msgpack)
• github.com/golang/protobuf (generated code)
• github.com/gogo/protobuf (generated code, optimized version of goprotobuf)
• go.dedis.ch/protobuf (reflection based)
• github.com/google/flatbuffers
• github.com/hprose/hprose-go/io
• github.com/glycerine/go-capnproto
• zombiezen.com/go/capnproto2
• github.com/andyleap/gencode
• github.com/pascaldekloe/colfer
• github.com/linkedin/goavro
• github.com/ikkerens/ikeapack
• github.com/niubaoshu/gotiny
• github.com/prysmaticlabs/go-ssz
• github.com/200sc/bebop (generated code)
• github.com/shamaton/msgpackgen (generated code)
• github.com/ymz-ncnk/musgo (generated code)

Running the benchmarks

go get -u -t
go test -bench='.*' ./

To update the table in the README:

./stats.sh

Recommendation

If performance, correctness and interoperability are the most important factors, gogoprotobuf is currently the best choice. It does require a pre-processing step (eg. via Go 1.4's "go generate" command).

But as always, make your own choice based on your requirements.

Data

The data being serialized is the following structure with randomly generated values:

type A struct {
    Name     string
    BirthDay time.Time
    Phone    string
    Siblings int
    Spouse   bool
    Money    float64
}

Results

2022-03-19 Results with Go 1.17.8 Darwin/arm64 on an Apple M1 Max

benchmark	iter	time/iter	bytes/op	allocs/op	tt.sec	tt.kb	ns/alloc
Benchmark_Gotiny_Marshal-10	18392354	64 ns/op	48	0	1.18	88283	0.00
Benchmark_Gotiny_Unmarshal-10	10847191	110 ns/op	48	112	1.20	52066	0.98
Benchmark_GotinyNoTime_Marshal-10	18949262	62 ns/op	48	0	1.18	90956	0.00
Benchmark_GotinyNoTime_Unmarshal-10	11873511	100 ns/op	48	96	1.19	56992	1.05
Benchmark_Msgp_Marshal-10	11368960	106 ns/op	97	128	1.21	110278	0.83
Benchmark_Msgp_Unmarshal-10	7026082	170 ns/op	97	112	1.19	68152	1.52
Benchmark_VmihailencoMsgpack_Marshal-10	2125178	573 ns/op	100	392	1.22	21251	1.46
Benchmark_VmihailencoMsgpack_Unmarshal-10	1348686	890 ns/op	100	408	1.20	13486	2.18
Benchmark_Json_Marshal-10	1440837	822 ns/op	148	208	1.19	21425	3.96
Benchmark_Json_Unmarshal-10	653754	1817 ns/op	148	399	1.19	9721	4.55
Benchmark_JsonIter_Marshal-10	1370590	865 ns/op	138	248	1.19	18955	3.49
Benchmark_JsonIter_Unmarshal-10	1523732	799 ns/op	138	263	1.22	21073	3.04
Benchmark_EasyJson_Marshal-10	1613154	717 ns/op	148	896	1.16	23987	0.80
Benchmark_EasyJson_Unmarshal-10	2010156	584 ns/op	148	159	1.17	29891	3.67
Benchmark_Bson_Marshal-10	1917372	621 ns/op	110	376	1.19	21091	1.65
Benchmark_Bson_Unmarshal-10	1250320	956 ns/op	110	224	1.20	13753	4.27
Benchmark_MongoBson_Marshal-10	1263312	962 ns/op	110	384	1.22	13896	2.51
Benchmark_MongoBson_Unmarshal-10	1000000	1002 ns/op	110	408	1.00	11000	2.46
Benchmark_Gob_Marshal-10	2750721	440 ns/op	63	40	1.21	17494	11.01
Benchmark_Gob_Unmarshal-10	2918254	410 ns/op	63	112	1.20	18560	3.67
Benchmark_XDR_Marshal-10	1000000	1002 ns/op	88	376	1.00	8800	2.66
Benchmark_XDR_Unmarshal-10	1432599	841 ns/op	88	216	1.21	12606	3.90
Benchmark_UgorjiCodecMsgpack_Marshal-10	2054228	583 ns/op	91	1304	1.20	18693	0.45
Benchmark_UgorjiCodecMsgpack_Unmarshal-10	1562437	762 ns/op	91	496	1.19	14218	1.54
Benchmark_UgorjiCodecBinc_Marshal-10	1874546	638 ns/op	95	1320	1.20	17808	0.48
Benchmark_UgorjiCodecBinc_Unmarshal-10	1316881	908 ns/op	95	656	1.20	12510	1.38
Benchmark_Sereal_Marshal-10	896787	1322 ns/op	132	832	1.19	11837	1.59
Benchmark_Sereal_Unmarshal-10	703737	1909 ns/op	132	976	1.34	9289	1.96
Benchmark_Binary_Marshal-10	1487862	764 ns/op	61	312	1.14	9075	2.45
Benchmark_Binary_Unmarshal-10	1370228	859 ns/op	61	320	1.18	8358	2.69
Benchmark_FlatBuffers_Marshal-10	8232986	145 ns/op	95	0	1.20	78427	0.00
Benchmark_FlatBuffers_Unmarshal-10	8787554	136 ns/op	95	112	1.20	83490	1.22
Benchmark_CapNProto_Marshal-10	4019352	298 ns/op	96	56	1.20	38585	5.33
Benchmark_CapNProto_Unmarshal-10	4814245	247 ns/op	96	192	1.19	46216	1.29
Benchmark_CapNProto2_Marshal-10	3161616	368 ns/op	96	244	1.17	30351	1.51
Benchmark_CapNProto2_Unmarshal-10	2804642	428 ns/op	96	304	1.20	26924	1.41
Benchmark_Hprose_Marshal-10	2958571	404 ns/op	82	364	1.20	24337	1.11
Benchmark_Hprose_Unmarshal-10	1900216	619 ns/op	82	303	1.18	15634	2.04
Benchmark_Hprose2_Marshal-10	4231543	284 ns/op	82	0	1.20	34821	0.00
Benchmark_Hprose2_Unmarshal-10	4173704	287 ns/op	82	136	1.20	34332	2.12
Benchmark_Protobuf_Marshal-10	2852079	420 ns/op	52	144	1.20	14830	2.92
Benchmark_Protobuf_Unmarshal-10	3327733	366 ns/op	52	184	1.22	17304	1.99
Benchmark_Goprotobuf_Marshal-10	6831308	176 ns/op	53	64	1.20	36205	2.75
Benchmark_Goprotobuf_Unmarshal-10	5746256	210 ns/op	53	168	1.21	30455	1.25
Benchmark_Gogoprotobuf_Marshal-10	16528346	72 ns/op	53	64	1.20	87600	1.13
Benchmark_Gogoprotobuf_Unmarshal-10	12764978	94 ns/op	53	96	1.21	67654	0.99
Benchmark_Gogojsonpb_Marshal-10	203168	5914 ns/op	125	3165	1.20	2551	1.87
Benchmark_Gogojsonpb_Unmarshal-10	142018	8337 ns/op	126	3384	1.18	1790	2.46
Benchmark_Colfer_Marshal-10	17383452	68 ns/op	51	64	1.19	88864	1.07
Benchmark_Colfer_Unmarshal-10	13542744	87 ns/op	52	112	1.19	70422	0.79
Benchmark_Gencode_Marshal-10	14423618	83 ns/op	53	80	1.20	76445	1.04
Benchmark_Gencode_Unmarshal-10	13903652	86 ns/op	53	112	1.20	73689	0.77
Benchmark_GencodeUnsafe_Marshal-10	22381569	54 ns/op	46	48	1.21	102955	1.13
Benchmark_GencodeUnsafe_Unmarshal-10	17110041	68 ns/op	46	96	1.18	78706	0.72
Benchmark_XDR2_Marshal-10	12394992	95 ns/op	60	64	1.18	74369	1.49
Benchmark_XDR2_Unmarshal-10	17977414	66 ns/op	60	32	1.20	107864	2.09
Benchmark_GoAvro_Marshal-10	951213	1232 ns/op	47	728	1.17	4470	1.69
Benchmark_GoAvro_Unmarshal-10	436666	2736 ns/op	47	2544	1.19	2052	1.08
Benchmark_GoAvro2Text_Marshal-10	911409	1324 ns/op	133	1320	1.21	12194	1.00
Benchmark_GoAvro2Text_Unmarshal-10	913957	1324 ns/op	133	783	1.21	12228	1.69
Benchmark_GoAvro2Binary_Marshal-10	2920245	407 ns/op	47	464	1.19	13725	0.88
Benchmark_GoAvro2Binary_Unmarshal-10	2711745	442 ns/op	47	544	1.20	12745	0.81
Benchmark_Ikea_Marshal-10	3455250	346 ns/op	55	72	1.20	19003	4.81
Benchmark_Ikea_Unmarshal-10	2895451	414 ns/op	55	160	1.20	15924	2.59
Benchmark_ShamatonMapMsgpack_Marshal-10	2671519	451 ns/op	92	192	1.21	24577	2.35
Benchmark_ShamatonMapMsgpack_Unmarshal-10	3099800	386 ns/op	92	136	1.20	28518	2.84
Benchmark_ShamatonArrayMsgpack_Marshal-10	2917430	412 ns/op	50	160	1.20	14587	2.58
Benchmark_ShamatonArrayMsgpack_Unmarshal-10	4600650	260 ns/op	50	136	1.20	23003	1.92
Benchmark_ShamatonMapMsgpackgen_Marshal-10	8721518	131 ns/op	92	96	1.15	80237	1.37
Benchmark_ShamatonMapMsgpackgen_Unmarshal-10	7956811	143 ns/op	92	80	1.14	73202	1.80
Benchmark_ShamatonArrayMsgpackgen_Marshal-10	10916773	106 ns/op	50	64	1.16	54583	1.66
Benchmark_ShamatonArrayMsgpackgen_Unmarshal-10	13831982	86 ns/op	50	80	1.20	69159	1.08
Benchmark_SSZNoTimeNoStringNoFloatA_Marshal-10	385651	3180 ns/op	55	440	1.23	2121	7.23
Benchmark_SSZNoTimeNoStringNoFloatA_Unmarshal-10	262132	4557 ns/op	55	1184	1.19	1441	3.85
Benchmark_Mum_Marshal-10	18999441	63 ns/op	48	0	1.20	91197	0.00
Benchmark_Mum_Unmarshal-10	9653524	125 ns/op	48	80	1.21	46336	1.57
Benchmark_Bebop_Marshal-10	16134940	73 ns/op	55	64	1.19	88742	1.15
Benchmark_Bebop_Unmarshal-10	21126357	56 ns/op	55	32	1.20	116194	1.77
Benchmark_FastJson_Marshal-10	3520270	339 ns/op	133	504	1.20	47101	0.67
Benchmark_FastJson_Unmarshal-10	1443300	837 ns/op	133	1704	1.21	19311	0.49
Benchmark_MusgoUnsafe_Marshal-10	21967660	53 ns/op	48	0	1.17	106609	0.00
Benchmark_MusgoUnsafe_Unmarshal-10	17176309	70 ns/op	48	64	1.21	83236	1.10
Benchmark_Musgo_Marshal-10	22535546	53 ns/op	48	0	1.21	109319	0.00
Benchmark_Musgo_Unmarshal-10	12952696	90 ns/op	48	96	1.17	62820	0.94

Totals:

benchmark	iter	time/iter	bytes/op	allocs/op	tt.sec	tt.kb	ns/alloc
Benchmark_GencodeUnsafe_-10	39491610	122 ns/op	92	144	4.86	363322	0.85
Benchmark_MusgoUnsafe_-10	39143969	123 ns/op	96	64	4.84	379657	1.93
Benchmark_Bebop_-10	37261297	130 ns/op	110	96	4.86	409874	1.36
Benchmark_Musgo_-10	35488242	143 ns/op	97	96	5.11	344271	1.50
Benchmark_Colfer_-10	30926196	156 ns/op	103	176	4.84	318910	0.89
Benchmark_XDR2_-10	30372406	162 ns/op	120	96	4.93	364468	1.69
Benchmark_GotinyNoTime_-10	30822773	162 ns/op	96	96	5.02	295898	1.70
Benchmark_Gogoprotobuf_-10	29293324	167 ns/op	106	160	4.90	310509	1.04
Benchmark_Gencode_-10	28327270	169 ns/op	106	192	4.80	300269	0.88
Benchmark_Gotiny_-10	29239545	174 ns/op	96	112	5.10	280699	1.56
Benchmark_Mum_-10	28652965	188 ns/op	96	80	5.41	275068	2.36
Benchmark_ShamatonArrayMsgpackgen_-10	24748755	192 ns/op	100	144	4.77	247487	1.34
Benchmark_ShamatonMapMsgpackgen_-10	16678329	275 ns/op	184	176	4.60	306881	1.57
Benchmark_Msgp_-10	18395042	276 ns/op	194	240	5.08	356863	1.15
Benchmark_FlatBuffers_-10	17020540	281 ns/op	190	112	4.80	323849	2.52
Benchmark_Goprotobuf_-10	12577564	386 ns/op	106	232	4.86	133322	1.67
Benchmark_CapNProto_-10	8833597	545 ns/op	192	248	4.82	169605	2.20
Benchmark_Hprose2_-10	8405247	572 ns/op	164	136	4.81	138308	4.21
Benchmark_ShamatonArrayMsgpack_-10	7518080	672 ns/op	100	296	5.06	75180	2.27
Benchmark_Ikea_-10	6350701	761 ns/op	110	232	4.83	69857	3.28
Benchmark_Protobuf_-10	6179812	787 ns/op	104	328	4.87	64270	2.40
Benchmark_CapNProto2_-10	5966258	796 ns/op	192	548	4.75	114552	1.45
Benchmark_ShamatonMapMsgpack_-10	5771319	837 ns/op	184	328	4.83	106192	2.55
Benchmark_GoAvro2Binary_-10	5631990	850 ns/op	94	1008	4.79	52940	0.84
Benchmark_Gob_-10	5668975	851 ns/op	127	152	4.83	72109	5.60
Benchmark_Hprose_-10	4858787	1023 ns/op	164	667	4.97	79946	1.53
Benchmark_FastJson_-10	4963570	1177 ns/op	267	2208	5.84	132825	0.53
Benchmark_EasyJson_-10	3623310	1301 ns/op	297	1055	4.71	107757	1.23
Benchmark_UgorjiCodecMsgpack_-10	3616665	1346 ns/op	182	1800	4.87	65823	0.75
Benchmark_VmihailencoMsgpack_-10	3473864	1464 ns/op	200	800	5.09	69477	1.83
Benchmark_UgorjiCodecBinc_-10	3191427	1546 ns/op	190	1976	4.93	60637	0.78
Benchmark_Bson_-10	3167692	1578 ns/op	220	600	5.00	69689	2.63
Benchmark_Binary_-10	2858090	1623 ns/op	122	632	4.64	34868	2.57
Benchmark_JsonIter_-10	2894322	1665 ns/op	276	511	4.82	80056	3.26
Benchmark_XDR_-10	2432599	1843 ns/op	176	592	4.48	42813	3.11
Benchmark_MongoBson_-10	2263312	1964 ns/op	220	792	4.45	49792	2.48
Benchmark_Json_-10	2094591	2639 ns/op	297	607	5.53	62293	4.35
Benchmark_GoAvro2Text_-10	1825366	2648 ns/op	267	2103	4.83	48846	1.26
Benchmark_Sereal_-10	1600524	3231 ns/op	264	1808	5.17	42253	1.79
Benchmark_GoAvro_-10	1387879	3968 ns/op	94	3272	5.51	13046	1.21
Benchmark_SSZNoTimeNoStringNoFloatA_-10	647783	7737 ns/op	110	1624	5.01	7125	4.76
Benchmark_Gogojsonpb_-10	345186	14251 ns/op	251	6549	4.92	8688	2.18

Issues

The benchmarks can also be run with validation enabled.

VALIDATE=1 go test -bench='.*' ./

Unfortunately, several of the serializers exhibit issues:

1. (minor) BSON drops sub-microsecond precision from time.Time.
2. (minor) Ugorji Binc Codec drops the timezone name (eg. "EST" -> "-0500") from time.Time.

--- FAIL: BenchmarkBsonUnmarshal-8
    serialization_benchmarks_test.go:115: unmarshaled object differed:
        &{20b999e3621bd773 2016-01-19 14:05:02.469416459 -0800 PST f017c8e9de 4 true 0.20887343719329818}
        &{20b999e3621bd773 2016-01-19 14:05:02.469 -0800 PST f017c8e9de 4 true 0.20887343719329818}
--- FAIL: BenchmarkUgorjiCodecBincUnmarshal-8
    serialization_benchmarks_test.go:115: unmarshaled object differed:
        &{20a1757ced6b488e 2016-01-19 14:05:15.69474534 -0800 PST 71f3bf4233 0 false 0.8712180830484527}
        &{20a1757ced6b488e 2016-01-19 14:05:15.69474534 -0800 -0800 71f3bf4233 0 false 0.8712180830484527}

All other fields are correct however.

Additionally, while not a correctness issue, FlatBuffers, ProtoBuffers, Cap'N'Proto and ikeapack do not support time types directly. In the benchmarks an int64 value is used to hold a UnixNano timestamp.