testing serialize vs. json_encode vs. var_export vs. msgpack_pack

serializetest

PHP Version 5.4.30

--------------------------------------------------
Testing 10 item array over 1,000 iterations:

serialize           2.1979808807373 ms
json_encode         1.3420581817627 ms
var_export          1.9409656524658 ms
msgpack_pack        1.5850067138672 ms
--------------------------------------------------
Testing 100 item array over 1,000 iterations:

serialize           15.254020690918 ms
json_encode         3.3650398254395 ms
var_export          9.0441703796387 ms
msgpack_pack        3.3900737762451 ms
--------------------------------------------------
Testing 1,000 item array over 1,000 iterations:

serialize           106.03904724121 ms
json_encode         23.813962936401 ms
var_export          79.192876815796 ms
msgpack_pack        21.929979324341 ms
--------------------------------------------------
Testing 10,000 item array over 1,000 iterations:

serialize           1282.6027870178 ms
json_encode         245.68605422974 ms
var_export          825.11210441589 ms
msgpack_pack        219.96188163757 ms
--------------------------------------------------
Testing 50,000 item array over 1,000 iterations:

serialize           7461.64894104 ms
json_encode         1245.4879283905 ms
var_export          5308.2621097565 ms
msgpack_pack        1060.5230331421 ms
--------------------------------------------------
Testing 100,000 item array over 1,000 iterations:

serialize           18343.793153763 ms
json_encode         2593.523979187 ms
var_export          9992.4139976501 ms
msgpack_pack        2282.3920249939 ms

-------------------------------------------------------
               average (ms)        total (ms)
-------------------------------------------------------
serialize      4535.2559884389     27211.535930634
json_encode    685.53650379181     4113.2190227509
var_export     2702.6610374451     16215.96622467
msgpack_pack   598.29699993134     3589.781999588

serializetest.php

<?php

$iterations = 1000;

$sizes = [10, 100, 1000, 10000, 50000, 100000];

$totals = [
    'serialize'    => 0,
    'json_encode'  => 0,
    'var_export'   => 0,
    'msgpack_pack' => 0,
];


echo "PHP Version ".phpversion()."\n\n";

foreach ($sizes as $size) {
    $source = array_fill(0, $size, true);

    echo str_repeat('-', 50)."\n";

    echo "Testing ".number_format($size)." item array over ".number_format($iterations)." iterations:\n\n";

    // -- serialize -----------------------------------------------------------

    $start = microtime(true);

    for ($i = 0; $i < $iterations; $i++) {
        $out = serialize($source);
    }

    $end = microtime(true);

    $duration = ($end - $start) * 1000;

    $totals['serialize'] += $duration;

    echo str_pad("serialize", 20)."{$duration} ms\n";

    // -- json_encode ---------------------------------------------------------

    $start = microtime(true);

    for ($i = 0; $i < $iterations; $i++) {
        $out = json_encode($source);
    }

    $end = microtime(true);

    $duration = ($end - $start) * 1000;

    $totals['json_encode'] += $duration;

    echo str_pad("json_encode", 20)."{$duration} ms\n";

    // -- var_export ---------------------------------------------------------

    $start = microtime(true);

    for ($i = 0; $i < $iterations; $i++) {
        $out = var_export($source, true);
    }

    $end = microtime(true);

    $duration = ($end - $start) * 1000;

    $totals['var_export'] += $duration;

    echo str_pad("var_export", 20)."{$duration} ms\n";

    // -- msgpack_pack --------------------------------------------------------

    $start = microtime(true);

    for ($i = 0; $i < $iterations; $i++) {
        $out = msgpack_pack($source);
    }

    $end = microtime(true);

    $duration = ($end - $start) * 1000;

    $totals['msgpack_pack'] += $duration;    

    echo str_pad("msgpack_pack", 20)."{$duration} ms\n";
}

echo "\n".str_repeat('-', 55)."\n";
echo str_pad('', 15);
echo str_pad('average (ms)', 20);
echo str_pad('total (ms)', 20)."\n";
echo str_repeat('-', 55)."\n";

foreach ($totals as $name => $total) {
    echo str_pad($name, 15);
    echo str_pad($total/count($sizes), 20);
    echo str_pad($total, 20)."\n";
}

echo "\n";