Ruby-based Benchmark of MessagePack vs. JSON vs. Yajl vs. Protobuffers vs. MultiJson vs. Marshal vs. YAML vs. BSON

decode.rb

# encoding: utf-8

require 'rubygems'
require 'bundler'
require 'bench_press'
require 'multi_json'
require 'json'
require 'yajl'
require 'msgpack'
require './repository.pb'
require 'yaml'
require 'bson'
require 'oj'

extend BenchPress
reps 10_000

data = {
  "repository" => {
    "watchers" => 173,
    "has_wiki" => true,
    "url" => "https://github.com/flori/json",
    "open_issues" => 21,
    "homepage" => "http://flori.github.com/json",
    "has_issues" => true,
    "forks" => 35,
    "fork" => false,
    "language" => "Ruby",
    "integrate_branch" => "master",
    "created_at" => "2009/08/24 15:21:39 -0700",
    "master_branch" => "master",
    "size" => 572,
    "private" => false,
    "name" => "json",
    "owner" => "flori",
    "has_downloads" => true,
    "pushed_at" => "2011/07/08 07:34:34 -0700",
    "description" => "JSON implementation for Ruby"
  }
}

json = Yajl::Encoder.encode(data)
msgpack = MessagePack.pack(data)
protobuffer = Repository.new(data['repository'])
yaml = YAML.dump(data)
marshal = Marshal.dump(data)
bson = data.to_bson

MultiJson.engine = :json_gem
measure "MultiJson.decode (json_gem)" do
  MultiJson.decode(json)
end

MultiJson.engine = :json_pure
measure "MultiJson.decode (json_pure)" do
  MultiJson.decode(json)
end

MultiJson.engine = :ok_json
measure "MultiJson.decode (ok_json)" do
  MultiJson.decode(json)
end

MultiJson.engine = :yajl
measure "MultiJson.decode (yajl)" do
  MultiJson.decode(json)
end

MultiJson.engine = :oj
measure "MultiJson.decode (oj)" do
  MultiJson.decode(json)
end

measure "JSON.parse" do
  JSON.parse(json)
end

measure "Yajl::Parser.parse" do
  Yajl::Parser.parse(json)
end

measure "Oj.load" do
  Oj.load(json)
end

measure "MessagePack.unpack" do
  MessagePack.unpack(msgpack)
end

measure "Protobuffer.parse" do
  Repository.parse(protobuffer.to_s)
end

measure "YAML.load" do
 YAML.load(yaml)
end

measure "Marshal.load" do
  Marshal.load(marshal)
end

measure "BSON.from_bson" do
  Hash.from_bson(bson)
  bson.rewind!
end

decode_result.txt

Decode
======
Date: June 03, 2020

System Information
------------------
    Operating System:    macOS 10.15.1 (19B88)
    CPU:                 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6920HQ CPU @ 2.90GHz
    Processor Count:     4
    Memory:              16.00 GiB
    ruby 2.5.1p57 (2018-03-29 revision 63029) [x86_64-darwin17]

"MessagePack.unpack" is up to 96% faster over 10,000 repetitions
----------------------------------------------------------------

    MessagePack.unpack              0.09227399993687868 secs    Fastest
    Oj.load                         0.10587099986150861 secs    12% Slower
    BSON.from_bson                  0.10636000009253621 secs    13% Slower
    Marshal.load                    0.1287609999999404  secs    28% Slower
    MultiJson.decode (yajl)         0.13616500003263354 secs    32% Slower
    MultiJson.decode (oj)           0.13731199991889298 secs    32% Slower
    MultiJson.decode (ok_json)      0.13797500007785857 secs    33% Slower
    MultiJson.decode (json_gem)     0.14256000006571412 secs    35% Slower
    MultiJson.decode (json_pure)    0.14269199990667403 secs    35% Slower
    Yajl::Parser.parse              0.16816399991512299 secs    45% Slower
    JSON.parse                      0.9026649999432266  secs    89% Slower
    Protobuffer.parse               1.3191080000251532  secs    93% Slower
    YAML.load                       2.7210160000249743  secs    96% Slower

encode.rb

# encoding: utf-8

require 'rubygems'
require 'bundler'
require 'bench_press'
require 'multi_json'
require 'json'
require 'yajl'
require 'msgpack'
require './repository.pb'
require 'yaml'
require 'bson'
require 'oj'

extend BenchPress
reps 10_000

data = {
  "repository" => {
    "watchers" => 173,
    "has_wiki" => true,
    "url" => "https://github.com/flori/json",
    "open_issues" => 21,
    "homepage" => "http://flori.github.com/json",
    "has_issues" => true,
    "forks" => 35,
    "fork" => false,
    "language" => "Ruby",
    "integrate_branch" => "master",
    "created_at" => "2009/08/24 15:21:39 -0700",
    "master_branch" => "master",
    "size" => 572,
    "private" => false,
    "name" => "json",
    "owner" => "flori",
    "has_downloads" => true,
    "pushed_at" => "2011/07/08 07:34:34 -0700",
    "description" => "JSON implementation for Ruby"
  }
}

# MultiJson json_gem

MultiJson.engine = :json_gem

measure "MultiJson.encode (json_gem)" do
  MultiJson.encode(data)
end

# MultiJson json_pure

MultiJson.engine = :json_pure

measure "MultiJson.encode (json_pure)" do
  MultiJson.encode(data)
end

# MultiJson ok_json

MultiJson.engine = :ok_json

measure "MultiJson.encode (ok_json)" do
  MultiJson.encode(data)
end

# MultiJson yajl

MultiJson.engine = :yajl

measure "MultiJson.encode (yajl)" do
  MultiJson.encode(data)
end

# MultiJson Oj

MultiJson.engine = :oj

measure "MultiJson.encode (oj)" do
  MultiJson.encode(data)
end

# JSON

measure "JSON.generate" do
  JSON.generate(data)
end

# Yajl

measure "Yajl::Encoder.encode" do
  Yajl::Encoder.encode(data)
end

# Oj

measure "Oj.dump" do
  Oj.dump(data)
end

# MessagePack

measure "MessagePack.pack" do
  MessagePack.pack(data)
end

# ProtocolBuffers

measure "Protobuffer.new" do
  Repository.new(data['repository'])
end

# YAML

measure "YAML.dump" do
 YAML.dump(data)
end

# Marshal

measure "Marshal.dump" do
  Marshal.dump(data)
end

measure "BSON.serialize" do
  data.to_bson
end

encode_result.txt

Encode
======
Date: June 03, 2020

System Information
------------------
    Operating System:    macOS 10.15.1 (19B88)
    CPU:                 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6920HQ CPU @ 2.90GHz
    Processor Count:     4
    Memory:              16.00 GiB
    ruby 2.5.1p57 (2018-03-29 revision 63029) [x86_64-darwin17]

"MessagePack.pack" is up to 99% faster over 10,000 repetitions
--------------------------------------------------------------

    MessagePack.pack                0.019831999903544784 secs    Fastest
    Oj.dump                         0.027868999866768718 secs    28% Slower
    MultiJson.encode (json_gem)     0.05251700012013316  secs    62% Slower
    MultiJson.encode (yajl)         0.053930999943986535 secs    63% Slower
    MultiJson.encode (json_pure)    0.05439399997703731  secs    63% Slower
    MultiJson.encode (oj)           0.05448000016622245  secs    63% Slower
    MultiJson.encode (ok_json)      0.056490999879315495 secs    64% Slower
    BSON.serialize                  0.072169000050053    secs    72% Slower
    Marshal.dump                    0.1444699999410659   secs    86% Slower
    Yajl::Encoder.encode            0.1449460000731051   secs    86% Slower
    Protobuffer.new                 0.2053960000630468   secs    90% Slower
    JSON.generate                   0.576314999954775    secs    96% Slower
    YAML.dump                       4.590747999958694    secs    99% Slower

Gemfile

source :rubygems

gem 'bench_press'
gem 'multi_json'
gem 'json'
gem 'yajl-ruby'
gem 'msgpack'
gem 'ruby-protocol-buffers'
gem 'bson'
gem 'bson_ext'
gem 'oj'

Gemfile.lock

GEM
  remote: http://rubygems.org/
  specs:
    activesupport (6.0.3.1)
      concurrent-ruby (~> 1.0, >= 1.0.2)
      i18n (>= 0.7, < 2)
      minitest (~> 5.1)
      tzinfo (~> 1.1)
      zeitwerk (~> 2.2, >= 2.2.2)
    addressable (2.7.0)
      public_suffix (>= 2.0.2, < 5.0)
    bench_press (0.3.1)
      activesupport (>= 2.3.5)
      facter (>= 1.5.7)
      httparty (>= 0.6.1)
      jeweler (>= 1.4.0)
    bson (4.9.0)
    bson_ext (1.5.1)
    builder (3.2.4)
    concurrent-ruby (1.1.6)
    descendants_tracker (0.0.4)
      thread_safe (~> 0.3, >= 0.3.1)
    facter (4.0.25)
      hocon (~> 1.3)
      thor (>= 1.0.1, < 2.0)
    faraday (0.9.2)
      multipart-post (>= 1.2, < 3)
    git (1.7.0)
      rchardet (~> 1.8)
    github_api (0.11.3)
      addressable (~> 2.3)
      descendants_tracker (~> 0.0.1)
      faraday (~> 0.8, < 0.10)
      hashie (>= 1.2)
      multi_json (>= 1.7.5, < 2.0)
      nokogiri (~> 1.6.0)
      oauth2
    hashie (4.1.0)
    highline (2.0.3)
    hocon (1.3.1)
    httparty (0.18.0)
      mime-types (~> 3.0)
      multi_xml (>= 0.5.2)
    i18n (1.8.2)
      concurrent-ruby (~> 1.0)
    jeweler (2.3.5)
      builder
      bundler (>= 1.0)
      git (>= 1.2.5)
      github_api (~> 0.11.0)
      highline (>= 1.6.15)
      nokogiri (>= 1.5.10)
      psych (~> 2.2)
      rake
      rdoc
      semver2
    json (2.3.0)
    jwt (2.2.1)
    mime-types (3.3.1)
      mime-types-data (~> 3.2015)
    mime-types-data (3.2020.0512)
    mini_portile2 (2.1.0)
    minitest (5.14.1)
    msgpack (1.3.3)
    multi_json (1.14.1)
    multi_xml (0.6.0)
    multipart-post (2.1.1)
    nokogiri (1.6.8.1)
      mini_portile2 (~> 2.1.0)
    oauth2 (1.4.4)
      faraday (>= 0.8, < 2.0)
      jwt (>= 1.0, < 3.0)
      multi_json (~> 1.3)
      multi_xml (~> 0.5)
      rack (>= 1.2, < 3)
    oj (3.10.6)
    psych (2.2.4)
    public_suffix (4.0.5)
    rack (2.2.2)
    rake (13.0.1)
    rchardet (1.8.0)
    rdoc (6.2.1)
    ruby-protocol-buffers (1.6.1)
    semver2 (3.4.2)
    thor (1.0.1)
    thread_safe (0.3.6)
    tzinfo (1.2.7)
      thread_safe (~> 0.1)
    yajl-ruby (1.4.1)
    zeitwerk (2.3.0)

PLATFORMS
  ruby

DEPENDENCIES
  bench_press
  bson
  bson_ext
  json
  msgpack
  multi_json
  oj
  ruby-protocol-buffers
  yajl-ruby

BUNDLED WITH
   1.16.3

repository.pb.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
# Generated by the protocol buffer compiler. DO NOT EDIT!

require 'protocol_buffers'

# forward declarations
class Repository < ::ProtocolBuffers::Message; end

class Repository < ::ProtocolBuffers::Message
  optional :uint32, :watchers, 1
  optional :bool, :has_wiki, 2
  optional :string, :url, 3
  optional :uint32, :open_issues, 4
  optional :string, :homepage, 5
  optional :bool, :has_issues, 6
  optional :uint32, :forks, 7
  optional :bool, :fork, 8
  optional :string, :language, 9
  optional :string, :integrate_branch, 10
  optional :string, :created_at, 11
  optional :string, :master_branch, 12
  optional :uint32, :size, 13
  optional :bool, :private, 14
  optional :string, :name, 15
  optional :string, :owner, 16
  optional :bool, :has_downloads, 17
  optional :string, :pushed_at, 18
  optional :string, :description, 19

  gen_methods! # new fields ignored after this point
end

repository.proto

message repository {
  optional uint32 watchers         = 1;
  optional bool   has_wiki         = 2;
  optional string url              = 3;
  optional uint32 open_issues      = 4;
  optional string homepage         = 5;
  optional bool   has_issues       = 6;
  optional uint32 forks            = 7;
  optional bool   fork             = 8;
  optional string language         = 9;
  optional string integrate_branch = 10;
  optional string created_at       = 11;
  optional string master_branch    = 12;
  optional uint32 size             = 13;
  optional bool   private          = 14;
  optional string name             = 15;
  optional string owner            = 16;
  optional bool   has_downloads    = 17;
  optional string pushed_at        = 18;
  optional string description      = 19;
}

sizes.rb

# encoding: utf-8

require 'rubygems'
require 'bundler'
require 'bench_press'
require 'multi_json'
require 'json'
require 'yajl'
require 'msgpack'
require './repository.pb'
require 'yaml'
require 'bson'

data = {
  "repository" => {
    "watchers" => 173,
    "has_wiki" => true,
    "url" => "https://github.com/flori/json",
    "open_issues" => 21,
    "homepage" => "http://flori.github.com/json",
    "has_issues" => true,
    "forks" => 35,
    "fork" => false,
    "language" => "Ruby",
    "integrate_branch" => "master",
    "created_at" => "2009/08/24 15:21:39 -0700",
    "master_branch" => "master",
    "size" => 572,
    "private" => false,
    "name" => "json",
    "owner" => "flori",
    "has_downloads" => true,
    "pushed_at" => "2011/07/08 07:34:34 -0700",
    "description" => "JSON implementation for Ruby"
  }
}

json = Yajl::Encoder.encode(data)
msgpack = MessagePack.pack(data)
protobuffer = Repository.new(data['repository'])
yaml = YAML.dump(data)
marshal = Marshal.dump(data)
bson = data.to_bson

puts 'Message Sizes:'
puts "JSON:        #{json.to_s.bytesize} bytes"
puts "msgpack:     #{msgpack.to_s.bytesize} bytes"
puts "protobuffer: #{protobuffer.to_s.bytesize} bytes"
puts "yaml:        #{yaml.to_s.bytesize} bytes"
puts "bson:        #{bson.to_s.bytesize} bytes"

sizes.txt

Message Sizes:
JSON:        461 bytes
msgpack:     373 bytes
protobuffer: 204 bytes
yaml:        460 bytes
bson:        448 bytes