benchmark.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
require 'rubygems'
gem 'hpricot', '>=0.6.170'
require 'open-uri'
require 'hpricot'

gem 'nokogiri', '>1.0.5'
require 'nokogiri'
require 'benchmark'

xml_content = open("http://railstips.org/assets/2008/8/9/timeline.xml").read
html_content = open("http://slashdot.org/").read

N = 500

hdoc_xml = Hpricot.XML(xml_content)
hdoc_xml2 = Hpricot.scan(xml_content)
hdoc_html = Hpricot(html_content)
hdoc_html2 = Hpricot.scan(html_content)

ndoc_compat = Nokogiri.Hpricot(xml_content)
ndoc_xml = Nokogiri::XML(xml_content)
ndoc_html = Nokogiri::HTML(html_content)


# XML Document Parsing
puts "XML Document parsing benchmark"
Benchmark.bm(25) do |x|
  x.report('hpricot:xml:doc') do
    N.times do
      Hpricot.XML(xml_content)
    end
  end

  x.report('hpricot2:xml:doc') do
    N.times do
      Hpricot.scan(xml_content)
    end
  end

  x.report('nokogiri:compat:doc') do
    N.times do
      Nokogiri.Hpricot(xml_content)
    end
  end

  x.report('nokogiri:xml:doc') do
    N.times do
      Nokogiri::XML(xml_content)
    end
  end
end

xpath1 = '//status/text'
xpath2 = '//user/name'
puts
puts "XML XPath benchmarks (#{xpath1}, #{xpath2})"
# XML XPath benchmarks
Benchmark.bm(25) do |x|
  x.report('hpricot:xml:xpath') do
    N.times do
      info = hdoc_xml.search(xpath1).first.inner_text
      url = hdoc_xml.search(xpath2).first.inner_text
    end
  end

  x.report('hpricot2:xml:xpath') do
    N.times do
      info = hdoc_xml2.search(xpath1).first.inner_text
      url = hdoc_xml2.search(xpath2).first.inner_text
    end
  end

  x.report('nokogiri:compat:xpath') do
    N.times do
      info = ndoc_compat.search(xpath1).first.inner_text
      url = ndoc_compat.search(xpath2).first.inner_text
    end
  end

  x.report('nokogiri:xml:xpath') do
    N.times do
      info = ndoc_xml.search(xpath1).first.inner_text
      url = ndoc_xml.search(xpath2).first.inner_text
    end
  end
end

# XML CSS benchmarks
css1 = 'status text'
css2 = 'user name'
puts
puts "XML CSS selector benchmarks (#{css1}, #{css2})"
Benchmark.bm(25) do |x|
  x.report('hpricot:xml:css') do
    N.times do
      info = hdoc_xml.search(css1).first.inner_text
      url = hdoc_xml.search(css2).first.inner_text
    end
  end

  x.report('hpricot2:xml:css') do
    N.times do
      info = hdoc_xml2.search(css1).first.inner_text
      url = hdoc_xml2.search(css2).first.inner_text
    end
  end

  x.report('nokogiri:compat:css') do
    N.times do
      info = ndoc_compat.search(css1).first.inner_text
      url = ndoc_compat.search(css2).first.inner_text
    end
  end

  x.report('nokogiri:xml:css') do
    N.times do
      info = ndoc_xml.search(css1).first.inner_text
      url = ndoc_xml.search(css2).first.inner_text
    end
  end
end

# HTML Document Parsing
puts
puts "HTML Document parsing benchmark (slashdot.org)"
Benchmark.bm(25) do |x|
  x.report('hpricot:html:doc') do
    N.times do
      Hpricot(html_content)
    end
  end

  x.report('hpricot2:html:doc') do
    N.times do
      Hpricot.scan(html_content)
    end
  end

  x.report('nokogiri:html:doc') do
    N.times do
      Nokogiri::HTML(html_content)
    end
  end
end

# HTML XPath benchmarks
html_xpath = '//h1/a'
puts
puts "HTML XPath benchmarks (#{html_xpath})"
Benchmark.bm(25) do |x|
  x.report('hpricot:html:xpath') do
    N.times do
      info = hdoc_html.search(html_xpath).first.inner_text
    end
  end

  # Fail
  #x.report('hpricot2:html:xpath') do
  #  N.times do
  #    info = hdoc_html2.search(html_xpath).first.inner_text
  #  end
  #end
  #
  x.report('nokogiri:html:xpath') do
    N.times do
      info = ndoc_html.search(html_xpath).first.inner_text
    end
  end
end

# EASY HTML CSS benchmarks
html_css = 'h1 > a'
puts
puts "Easy HTML CSS benchmarks (#{html_css})"
Benchmark.bm(25) do |x|
  x.report('hpricot:html:css') do
    N.times do
      info = hdoc_html.search(html_css).first.inner_text
    end
  end

  # Fail
  #x.report('hpricot2:html:css') do
  #  N.times do
  #    info = hdoc_html2.search(html_css).first.inner_text
  #  end
  #end

  x.report('nokogiri:html:css') do
    N.times do
      info = ndoc_html.search(html_css).first.inner_text
    end
  end
end

# HARD HTML CSS benchmarks
hard_html_css = 'div#logo > h1 > a'
puts
puts "Hard HTML CSS benchmarks (#{hard_html_css})"
Benchmark.bm(25) do |x|
  x.report('hpricot:html:css') do
    N.times do
      info = hdoc_html.search(hard_html_css).first.inner_text
    end
  end

  # Fail
  #x.report('hpricot2:html:css') do
  #  N.times do
  #    info = hdoc_html2.search(hard_html_css).first.inner_text
  #  end
  #end

  x.report('nokogiri:html:css') do
    N.times do
      info = ndoc_html.search(hard_html_css).first.inner_text
    end
  end
end

Result

XML Document parsing benchmark
                               user     system      total        real
hpricot:xml:doc           10.160000   0.950000  11.110000 ( 11.144462)
hpricot2:xml:doc           0.950000   0.000000   0.950000 (  0.953266)
nokogiri:compat:doc        0.220000   0.020000   0.240000 (  0.238401)
nokogiri:xml:doc           0.170000   0.030000   0.200000 (  0.200283)

XML XPath benchmarks (//status/text, //user/name)
                               user     system      total        real
hpricot:xml:xpath          7.580000   1.150000   8.730000 (  8.728314)
hpricot2:xml:xpath         3.980000   0.530000   4.510000 (  4.536297)
nokogiri:compat:xpath      0.100000   0.010000   0.110000 (  0.103876)
nokogiri:xml:xpath         0.060000   0.000000   0.060000 (  0.069590)

XML CSS selector benchmarks (status text, user name)
                               user     system      total        real
hpricot:xml:css            7.650000   1.360000   9.010000 (  9.035288)
hpricot2:xml:css           3.480000   0.660000   4.140000 (  4.143033)
nokogiri:compat:css        0.100000   0.010000   0.110000 (  0.106788)
nokogiri:xml:css           0.070000   0.000000   0.070000 (  0.076784)

HTML Document parsing benchmark (slashdot.org)
                               user     system      total        real
hpricot:html:doc          48.930000   3.640000  52.570000 ( 52.900035)
hpricot2:html:doc          4.500000   0.020000   4.520000 (  4.518984)
nokogiri:html:doc          3.640000   0.130000   3.770000 (  3.770642)

HTML XPath benchmarks (//h1/a)
                               user     system      total        real
hpricot:html:xpath         8.250000   1.130000   9.380000 (  9.468790)
nokogiri:html:xpath        0.060000   0.000000   0.060000 (  0.063775)

Easy HTML CSS benchmarks (h1 > a)
                               user     system      total        real
hpricot:html:css           6.780000   1.100000   7.880000 (  8.137288)
nokogiri:html:css          0.070000   0.010000   0.080000 (  0.135311)

Hard HTML CSS benchmarks (div#logo > h1 > a)
                               user     system      total        real
hpricot:html:css          10.440000   1.740000  12.180000 ( 12.326511)
nokogiri:html:css          0.290000   0.000000   0.290000 (  0.296762)

Summary

Use Nokogiri's XPath selectors for fastest speed - CSS-based search is faster than Hpricot but not as fast.

Also take note that this benchmark is only shows parsing of XML (not HTML).