Performance comparison of different ruby serializer methods

serializer_benchmarks.rb

# gem install bson
# gem install bson_ext
# gem install yajl-ruby
# gem install json
# gem install msgpack
# gem install oj

require 'rubygems'
require 'benchmark'
require 'yaml'
require 'bson'
require 'json'
require 'yajl'
require 'msgpack'
require 'oj'

def encode(msg, format)
  case format
  when :yaml
    str = msg.to_yaml
  when :binary
    str = Marshal.dump(msg)
  when :json
    str = JSON.generate(msg)
  when :yajl
    str = Yajl::Encoder.encode(msg)
  when :bson
    str = msg.to_bson.to_s
  when :msgpack
    str = MessagePack.pack(msg)
  when :oj
    str = Oj.dump(msg)
  end
  str
end

def decode(str, format)
  msg = nil
  case format
  when :yaml
    msg = YAML.load(str)
  when :binary
    msg = Marshal.load(str)
  when :json
    msg = JSON.parse(str)
  when :yajl
    msg = Yajl::Parser.parse(str)
  when :bson
    msg = Hash.from_bson(BSON::ByteBuffer.new(str))
  when :msgpack
    msg = MessagePack.unpack(str)
  when :oj
    msg = Oj.load(str)
  end
  msg
end

SAMPLES = 5_000
obj = {
  :name => "Fredrick Smith",
  :quantity => 1_000_000,
  :addresses => {
    :address1 => "12 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand",
    :address2 => "1 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand"
  }
}

Benchmark.bmbm do |r|
  r.report("Marshal") do
    SAMPLES.times do
      decode(encode(obj, :binary), :binary)
    end
  end

  r.report("JSON (built-in ruby 1.9.2)") do
    SAMPLES.times do
      decode(encode(obj, :json), :json)
    end
  end

  r.report("JSON (using Yajl)") do
    SAMPLES.times do
      decode(encode(obj, :yajl), :yajl)
    end
  end

  r.report("BSON") do
    SAMPLES.times do
      decode(encode(obj, :bson), :bson)
    end
  end

  r.report("YAML") do
    SAMPLES.times do
      decode(encode(obj, :yaml), :yaml)
    end
  end

  r.report("MessagePack") do
    SAMPLES.times do
      msg = decode(encode(obj, :msgpack), :msgpack)
    end
  end

  r.report("Oj") do
    SAMPLES.times do
      msg = decode(encode(obj, :oj), :oj)
    end
  end
end

# Results
# -------
#                                  user     system      total        real
# Marshal                      0.027234   0.000000   0.027234 (  0.027210)
# JSON (built-in ruby 2.6.5)   0.044245   0.000000   0.044245 (  0.044307)
# JSON (using Yajl)            0.031962   0.000000   0.031962 (  0.031960)
# BSON                         0.026627   0.000000   0.026627 (  0.026615)
# YAML                         0.795025   0.009725   0.804750 (  0.804792)
# MessagePack                  0.017875   0.000000   0.017875 (  0.017878)
# Oj                           0.015515   0.000000   0.015515 (  0.015516)