Benchmarking php classes using public methods and getters/setters, as read on https://developers.google.com/speed/articles/optimizing-php

bench_gs.php

<?php
#################################################
#   My machine results (1.000.000 iterations)   #
#################################################
#  Run   | Getters/Setters  |      Public       #
#-----------------------------------------------#
# First  | 0.31555795669556 | 0.079293012619019 #
# Second | 0.30993223190308 | 0.072643995285034 #
# Third  | 0.32820105552673 | 0.073053121566772 #
#################################################

$iterations = 100000;


class GS
{
    protected $property;

    public function getProperty()
    {
        return $this->property;
    }

    public function setProperty($property)
    {
        $this->property = $property;
    }
}

class P {
    public $property;
}

$startTime = microtime(true);

for ($i = 0; $i < $iterations; $i++) {
    $gs = new GS();
    $gs->setProperty('foo');
    $gs->getProperty();
}

$totalTime = microtime(true) - $startTime;
echo "Time for getters/setters: {$totalTime} seconds" . PHP_EOL;



$startTime = microtime(true);

for ($i = 0; $i < $iterations; $i++) {
    $gs = new P();
    $gs->property = 'foo';
    $gs->property;
}

$totalTime = microtime(true) - $startTime;
echo "Time for public: {$totalTime} seconds" . PHP_EOL;