Benchmarked Modules

• JSON (built-in)
• protocol-buffers
• protobuf
• node-protobuf
• ProtoBuf.js

Test Platform

iMac Late 2012, OS X 10.9.4

• CPU: 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5
• RAM: 8G 1600 MHz DDR3

sample proto

package packet;

message Error {
    enum Category {
        OK                  = 200;
        GameError           = 205;
        VersionError        = 302;
        BadRequest          = 400;
        AuthError           = 401;
        InvalidProtocol     = 402;
        ServerError         = 500;
        MaintenanceError    = 503;
    }
    required Category category = 1;
    optional string message = 2;
    optional int32 code = 3;
    optional string reserved = 4;
}

message LoginResponse {
    required uint32 id = 1;
    optional Error error = 2;
    optional Account account = 3;
    optional string accessToken = 4;
    repeated Item items = 5;
}

message Account {
    required uint64 id = 1;
    required string userID = 2;
}

message Item {
    required uint64 id = 1;
    required string category = 2;
    optional uint32 count = 3;
}

sample JSON

var items = [];
for(var i = 0 ; i < itemCount ; i++) {
    items.push({
        id: i + 1,
        category: 'weapon',
        count: i + 1,
    });
}

var json = {
    id: 123456789,
    error: {
        category: 500,
        message: "invalid protocol buffer",
        code: -100
    },
    account: {
        id: 123456789,
        userID: 'who@gmail.com',
    },
    accessToken: "12345678901234567890",
    items: items,
};

0 items

JSON: 189 bytes protobuf: 90 bytes

• JSON x 237,516 ops/sec ±0.30% (100 runs sampled)
• protocol-buffers x 155,906 ops/sec ±0.50% (94 runs sampled)
• protobuf x 44,407 ops/sec ±1.36% (96 runs sampled)
• node-protobuf x 25,380 ops/sec ±0.86% (93 runs sampled)
• ProtoBuf.js x 14,862 ops/sec ±1.61% (94 runs sampled)

100 items

JSON: 4272 bytes protobuf: 1490 bytes

• JSON x 9,098 ops/sec ±0.68% (102 runs sampled)
• protocol-buffers x 6,599 ops/sec ±0.13% (100 runs sampled)
• protobuf x 1,866 ops/sec ±0.52% (98 runs sampled)
• node-protobuf x 1,293 ops/sec ±0.41% (99 runs sampled)
• ProtoBuf.js x 530 ops/sec ±2.05% (89 runs sampled)

200 items

JSON: 8572 bytes protobuf: 3036 bytes

• JSON x 4,673 ops/sec ±0.53% (101 runs sampled)
• protocol-buffers x 3,335 ops/sec ±0.26% (101 runs sampled)
• protobuf x 959 ops/sec ±0.43% (98 runs sampled)
• node-protobuf x 676 ops/sec ±0.32% (98 runs sampled)
• ProtoBuf.js x 274 ops/sec ±1.79% (87 runs sampled)

300 items

JSON: 12872 bytes protobuf: 4636 bytes

• JSON x 2,867 ops/sec ±0.49% (99 runs sampled)
• protocol-buffers x 1,876 ops/sec ±0.13% (101 runs sampled)
• protobuf x 655 ops/sec ±0.51% (98 runs sampled)
• node-protobuf x 453 ops/sec ±0.28% (97 runs sampled)
• ProtoBuf.js x 186 ops/sec ±1.73% (82 runs sampled)

400 items

JSON: 17172 bytes protobuf: 6236 bytes

• JSON x 2,353 ops/sec ±0.26% (98 runs sampled)
• protocol-buffers x 1,778 ops/sec ±0.35% (101 runs sampled)
• protobuf x 489 ops/sec ±0.52% (95 runs sampled)
• node-protobuf x 342 ops/sec ±0.38% (94 runs sampled)
• ProtoBuf.js x 124 ops/sec ±5.45% (72 runs sampled)

500 items

JSON: 21472 bytes protobuf: 7836 bytes

• JSON x 1,861 ops/sec ±0.58% (101 runs sampled)
• protocol-buffers x 1,269 ops/sec ±0.21% (99 runs sampled)
• protobuf x 395 ops/sec ±0.49% (93 runs sampled)
• node-protobuf x 275 ops/sec ±0.43% (96 runs sampled)
• ProtoBuf.js x 113 ops/sec ±1.88% (74 runs sampled)

600 items

JSON: 25772 bytes protobuf: 9436 bytes

• JSON x 1,503 ops/sec ±0.38% (99 runs sampled)
• protocol-buffers x 1,157 ops/sec ±0.44% (98 runs sampled)
• protobuf x 333 ops/sec ±0.43% (94 runs sampled)
• node-protobuf x 229 ops/sec ±0.48% (92 runs sampled)
• ProtoBuf.js x 94.07 ops/sec ±2.03% (71 runs sampled)

700 items

JSON: 30072 bytes protobuf: 11036 bytes

• JSON x 1,252 ops/sec ±0.62% (97 runs sampled)
• protocol-buffers x 903 ops/sec ±0.36% (100 runs sampled)
• protobuf x 288 ops/sec ±0.42% (94 runs sampled)
• node-protobuf x 196 ops/sec ±0.35% (93 runs sampled)
• ProtoBuf.js x 79.55 ops/sec ±1.94% (70 runs sampled)

800 items

JSON: 34372 bytes protobuf: 12636 bytes

• JSON x 1,186 ops/sec ±0.68% (99 runs sampled)
• protocol-buffers x 847 ops/sec ±0.15% (100 runs sampled)
• protobuf x 249 ops/sec ±0.45% (93 runs sampled)
• node-protobuf x 171 ops/sec ±0.46% (89 runs sampled)
• ProtoBuf.js x 68.51 ops/sec ±2.09% (73 runs sampled)

900 items

JSON: 38672 bytes protobuf: 14236 bytes

• JSON x 930 ops/sec ±0.77% (97 runs sampled)
• protocol-buffers x 769 ops/sec ±0.39% (98 runs sampled)
• protobuf x 221 ops/sec ±0.57% (89 runs sampled)
• node-protobuf x 152 ops/sec ±0.32% (89 runs sampled)
• ProtoBuf.js x 61.01 ops/sec ±1.98% (65 runs sampled)

1000 items

JSON: 42974 bytes protobuf: 15836 bytes

• JSON x 842 ops/sec ±0.52% (100 runs sampled)
• protocol-buffers x 630 ops/sec ±0.38% (95 runs sampled)
• protobuf x 200 ops/sec ±0.33% (87 runs sampled)
• node-protobuf x 137 ops/sec ±0.42% (80 runs sampled)
• ProtoBuf.js x 55.59 ops/sec ±2.04% (60 runs sampled)