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)
• google.golang.org/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

2022-09-01 Results with Go 1.16.5 linux/amd64 on an Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM

benchmark	iter	time/iter	bytes/op	allocs/op	tt.sec	tt.kb	ns/alloc
Benchmark_Gotiny_Marshal-8	999067	1143 ns/op	48	168	1.14	4795	6.80
Benchmark_Gotiny_Unmarshal-8	1754476	681 ns/op	48	112	1.20	8421	6.08
Benchmark_GotinyNoTime_Marshal-8	1000000	1156 ns/op	47	168	1.16	4799	6.88
Benchmark_GotinyNoTime_Unmarshal-8	1874764	637 ns/op	48	96	1.19	8998	6.64
Benchmark_Msgp_Marshal-8	2603031	446 ns/op	97	128	1.16	25249	3.49
Benchmark_Msgp_Unmarshal-8	1363006	859 ns/op	97	112	1.17	13221	7.67
Benchmark_VmihailencoMsgpack_Marshal-8	381148	3151 ns/op	100	392	1.20	3811	8.04
Benchmark_VmihailencoMsgpack_Unmarshal-8	236878	4660 ns/op	100	408	1.10	2368	11.42
Benchmark_Json_Marshal-8	189709	6090 ns/op	151	208	1.16	2875	29.28
Benchmark_Json_Unmarshal-8	92833	12751 ns/op	151	383	1.18	1408	33.29
Benchmark_JsonIter_Marshal-8	183445	6367 ns/op	141	248	1.17	2592	25.67
Benchmark_JsonIter_Unmarshal-8	223440	5280 ns/op	141	264	1.18	3157	20.00
Benchmark_EasyJson_Marshal-8	269104	4160 ns/op	151	896	1.12	4079	4.64
Benchmark_EasyJson_Unmarshal-8	279536	4280 ns/op	151	160	1.20	4240	26.75
Benchmark_Bson_Marshal-8	402206	3858 ns/op	110	376	1.55	4424	10.26
Benchmark_Bson_Unmarshal-8	229580	4927 ns/op	110	224	1.13	2525	22.00
Benchmark_MongoBson_Marshal-8	216753	5081 ns/op	110	384	1.10	2384	13.23
Benchmark_MongoBson_Unmarshal-8	181677	5901 ns/op	110	408	1.07	1998	14.46
Benchmark_Gob_Marshal-8	71692	16463 ns/op	163	1616	1.18	1172	10.19
Benchmark_Gob_Unmarshal-8	14772	84385 ns/op	163	7688	1.25	241	10.98
Benchmark_XDR_Marshal-8	243609	4925 ns/op	92	440	1.20	2241	11.19
Benchmark_XDR_Unmarshal-8	266436	4470 ns/op	92	232	1.19	2451	19.27
Benchmark_UgorjiCodecMsgpack_Marshal-8	382062	3097 ns/op	91	1304	1.18	3476	2.38
Benchmark_UgorjiCodecMsgpack_Unmarshal-8	326094	3561 ns/op	91	496	1.16	2967	7.18
Benchmark_UgorjiCodecBinc_Marshal-8	365337	3294 ns/op	95	1320	1.20	3470	2.50
Benchmark_UgorjiCodecBinc_Unmarshal-8	261735	4269 ns/op	95	656	1.12	2486	6.51
Benchmark_Sereal_Marshal-8	147440	7773 ns/op	132	832	1.15	1946	9.34
Benchmark_Sereal_Unmarshal-8	123325	9199 ns/op	132	976	1.13	1627	9.43
Benchmark_Binary_Marshal-8	325810	3790 ns/op	61	312	1.23	1987	12.15
Benchmark_Binary_Unmarshal-8	279754	4099 ns/op	61	320	1.15	1706	12.81
Benchmark_FlatBuffers_Marshal-8	576027	2064 ns/op	95	376	1.19	5481	5.49
Benchmark_FlatBuffers_Unmarshal-8	1704805	700 ns/op	95	112	1.19	16250	6.26
Benchmark_CapNProto_Marshal-8	266458	4089 ns/op	96	4488	1.09	2557	0.91
Benchmark_CapNProto_Unmarshal-8	1000000	1181 ns/op	96	192	1.18	9600	6.15
Benchmark_CapNProto2_Marshal-8	426711	2802 ns/op	96	1452	1.20	4096	1.93
Benchmark_CapNProto2_Unmarshal-8	953179	1220 ns/op	96	272	1.16	9150	4.49
Benchmark_Hprose_Marshal-8	479809	2577 ns/op	85	460	1.24	4089	5.60
Benchmark_Hprose_Unmarshal-8	358312	3077 ns/op	85	304	1.10	3054	10.12
Benchmark_Hprose2_Marshal-8	792824	1491 ns/op	85	0	1.18	6761	0.00
Benchmark_Hprose2_Unmarshal-8	816315	1510 ns/op	85	136	1.23	6961	11.10
Benchmark_Protobuf_Marshal-8	580714	2094 ns/op	52	144	1.22	3019	14.54
Benchmark_Protobuf_Unmarshal-8	601705	2030 ns/op	52	184	1.22	3128	11.03
Benchmark_Goprotobuf_Marshal-8	1405010	854 ns/op	53	64	1.20	7446	13.36
Benchmark_Goprotobuf_Unmarshal-8	973688	1255 ns/op	53	168	1.22	5160	7.47
Benchmark_Gogoprotobuf_Marshal-8	3359550	354 ns/op	53	64	1.19	17805	5.54
Benchmark_Gogoprotobuf_Unmarshal-8	1908633	619 ns/op	53	96	1.18	10115	6.45
Benchmark_Gogojsonpb_Marshal-8	33103	35743 ns/op	125	3107	1.18	414	11.50
Benchmark_Gogojsonpb_Unmarshal-8	24392	48703 ns/op	126	3616	1.19	307	13.47
Benchmark_Colfer_Marshal-8	3614686	334 ns/op	51	64	1.21	18471	5.22
Benchmark_Colfer_Unmarshal-8	2338790	513 ns/op	52	112	1.20	12161	4.58
Benchmark_Gencode_Marshal-8	2716658	440 ns/op	53	80	1.20	14398	5.50
Benchmark_Gencode_Unmarshal-8	2340530	507 ns/op	53	112	1.19	12404	4.53
Benchmark_GencodeUnsafe_Marshal-8	4467661	267 ns/op	46	48	1.20	20551	5.58
Benchmark_GencodeUnsafe_Unmarshal-8	2887224	414 ns/op	46	96	1.20	13281	4.32
Benchmark_XDR2_Marshal-8	2695273	431 ns/op	60	64	1.16	16171	6.74
Benchmark_XDR2_Unmarshal-8	3271778	364 ns/op	60	32	1.19	19630	11.38
Benchmark_GoAvro_Marshal-8	156092	7235 ns/op	47	872	1.13	733	8.30
Benchmark_GoAvro_Unmarshal-8	66531	17734 ns/op	47	3024	1.18	312	5.86
Benchmark_GoAvro2Text_Marshal-8	151585	7631 ns/op	133	1320	1.16	2028	5.78
Benchmark_GoAvro2Text_Unmarshal-8	148945	7776 ns/op	133	784	1.16	1992	9.92
Benchmark_GoAvro2Binary_Marshal-8	499084	2442 ns/op	47	464	1.22	2345	5.26
Benchmark_GoAvro2Binary_Unmarshal-8	435390	2776 ns/op	47	544	1.21	2046	5.10
Benchmark_Ikea_Marshal-8	396324	3075 ns/op	55	184	1.22	2179	16.71
Benchmark_Ikea_Unmarshal-8	530564	2299 ns/op	55	160	1.22	2918	14.37
Benchmark_ShamatonMapMsgpack_Marshal-8	581019	2073 ns/op	92	192	1.20	5345	10.80
Benchmark_ShamatonMapMsgpack_Unmarshal-8	606480	2007 ns/op	92	136	1.22	5579	14.76
Benchmark_ShamatonArrayMsgpack_Marshal-8	654516	1876 ns/op	50	160	1.23	3272	11.72
Benchmark_ShamatonArrayMsgpack_Unmarshal-8	864189	1395 ns/op	50	136	1.21	4320	10.26
Benchmark_ShamatonMapMsgpackgen_Marshal-8	2120286	561 ns/op	92	96	1.19	19506	5.85
Benchmark_ShamatonMapMsgpackgen_Unmarshal-8	1858796	632 ns/op	92	80	1.18	17100	7.91
Benchmark_ShamatonArrayMsgpackgen_Marshal-8	2739808	433 ns/op	50	64	1.19	13699	6.78
Benchmark_ShamatonArrayMsgpackgen_Unmarshal-8	2829740	426 ns/op	50	80	1.21	14148	5.33
Benchmark_SSZNoTimeNoStringNoFloatA_Marshal-8	90843	13073 ns/op	55	440	1.19	499	29.71
Benchmark_SSZNoTimeNoStringNoFloatA_Unmarshal-8	55366	21635 ns/op	55	1184	1.20	304	18.27
Benchmark_Mum_Marshal-8	4099479	291 ns/op	48	0	1.19	19677	0.00
Benchmark_Mum_Unmarshal-8	2137136	563 ns/op	48	80	1.20	10258	7.04
Benchmark_Bebop_Marshal-8	3452628	342 ns/op	55	64	1.18	18989	5.35
Benchmark_Bebop_Unmarshal-8	4152378	286 ns/op	55	32	1.19	22838	8.95
Benchmark_FastJson_Marshal-8	712838	1667 ns/op	133	504	1.19	9530	3.31
Benchmark_FastJson_Unmarshal-8	230169	4994 ns/op	133	1704	1.15	3077	2.93
Benchmark_Musgo_Marshal-8	4294477	280 ns/op	46	48	1.21	19754	5.85
Benchmark_Musgo_Unmarshal-8	2498404	480 ns/op	46	96	1.20	11492	5.00
Benchmark_MusgoUnsafe_Marshal-8	4565900	261 ns/op	46	48	1.19	21003	5.44
Benchmark_MusgoUnsafe_Unmarshal-8	4103084	286 ns/op	46	64	1.17	18874	4.47

Totals:

benchmark	iter	time/iter	bytes/op	allocs/op	tt.sec	tt.kb	ns/alloc
Benchmark_MusgoUnsafe_-8	8668984	547 ns/op	92	112	4.74	79754	4.89
Benchmark_Bebop_-8	7605006	628 ns/op	110	96	4.78	83655	6.55
Benchmark_GencodeUnsafe_-8	7354885	682 ns/op	92	144	5.02	67664	4.74
Benchmark_Musgo_-8	6792881	760 ns/op	92	144	5.17	62494	5.28
Benchmark_XDR2_-8	5967051	795 ns/op	120	96	4.75	71604	8.28
Benchmark_Colfer_-8	5953476	847 ns/op	103	176	5.04	61380	4.81
Benchmark_Mum_-8	6236615	854 ns/op	96	80	5.33	59871	10.68
Benchmark_ShamatonArrayMsgpackgen_-8	5569548	859 ns/op	100	144	4.79	55695	5.97
Benchmark_Gencode_-8	5057188	947 ns/op	106	192	4.79	53606	4.93
Benchmark_Gogoprotobuf_-8	5268183	974 ns/op	106	160	5.13	55842	6.09
Benchmark_ShamatonMapMsgpackgen_-8	3979082	1194 ns/op	184	176	4.75	73215	6.79
Benchmark_Msgp_-8	3966037	1305 ns/op	194	240	5.18	76941	5.44
Benchmark_GotinyNoTime_-8	2874764	1793 ns/op	95	264	5.16	27594	6.79
Benchmark_Gotiny_-8	2753543	1824 ns/op	96	280	5.02	26434	6.52
Benchmark_Goprotobuf_-8	2378698	2109 ns/op	106	232	5.02	25214	9.09
Benchmark_FlatBuffers_-8	2280832	2764 ns/op	190	488	6.31	43445	5.67
Benchmark_Hprose2_-8	1609139	3001 ns/op	170	136	4.83	27447	22.07
Benchmark_ShamatonArrayMsgpack_-8	1518705	3271 ns/op	100	296	4.97	15187	11.05
Benchmark_CapNProto2_-8	1379890	4022 ns/op	192	1724	5.55	26493	2.33
Benchmark_ShamatonMapMsgpack_-8	1187499	4080 ns/op	184	328	4.84	21849	12.44
Benchmark_Protobuf_-8	1182419	4124 ns/op	104	328	4.88	12297	12.57
Benchmark_GoAvro2Binary_-8	934474	5218 ns/op	94	1008	4.88	8784	5.18
Benchmark_CapNProto_-8	1266458	5270 ns/op	192	4680	6.67	24315	1.13
Benchmark_Ikea_-8	926888	5374 ns/op	110	344	4.98	10195	15.62
Benchmark_Hprose_-8	838121	5654 ns/op	170	764	4.74	14289	7.40
Benchmark_UgorjiCodecMsgpack_-8	708156	6658 ns/op	182	1800	4.71	12888	3.70
Benchmark_FastJson_-8	943007	6661 ns/op	267	2208	6.28	25216	3.02
Benchmark_UgorjiCodecBinc_-8	627072	7563 ns/op	190	1976	4.74	11914	3.83
Benchmark_VmihailencoMsgpack_-8	618026	7811 ns/op	200	800	4.83	12360	9.76
Benchmark_Binary_-8	605564	7889 ns/op	122	632	4.78	7387	12.48
Benchmark_EasyJson_-8	548640	8440 ns/op	303	1056	4.63	16640	7.99
Benchmark_Bson_-8	631786	8785 ns/op	220	600	5.55	13899	14.64
Benchmark_XDR_-8	510045	9395 ns/op	184	672	4.79	9384	13.98
Benchmark_MongoBson_-8	398430	10982 ns/op	220	792	4.38	8765	13.87
Benchmark_JsonIter_-8	406885	11647 ns/op	282	512	4.74	11498	22.75
Benchmark_GoAvro2Text_-8	300530	15407 ns/op	267	2104	4.63	8042	7.32
Benchmark_Sereal_-8	270765	16972 ns/op	264	1808	4.60	7148	9.39
Benchmark_Json_-8	282542	18841 ns/op	303	591	5.32	8569	31.88
Benchmark_GoAvro_-8	222623	24969 ns/op	94	3896	5.56	2092	6.41
Benchmark_SSZNoTimeNoStringNoFloatA_-8	146209	34708 ns/op	110	1624	5.07	1608	21.37
Benchmark_Gogojsonpb_-8	57495	84446 ns/op	251	6723	4.86	1444	12.56
Benchmark_Gob_-8	86464	100848 ns/op	327	9304	8.72	2829	10.84

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.