Very simple performance comparison - arrays vs objects (PHP 5.3.6)

gistfile1.sh

# php -v
PHP 5.3.6 (cli) (built: Mar 17 2011 20:58:15)
Copyright (c) 1997-2011 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.3.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2011 Zend Technologies

# echo '<?php $s = array(); for($x=0;$x<1000;$x++){ $s[] = array("name"=>"Adam","age"=>35); }; echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
655040

# echo '<?php $s = array(); for($x=0;$x<1000;$x++){ $o = new ArrayObject; $o->name = "Adam";  $o->age = 35;  $s[] = $o;} echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
887984

# time echo '<?php $s = array(); for($x=0;$x<100000;$x++){ $o = new ArrayObject; $o->name = "Adam";  $o->age = 35;  $s[] = $o;} echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
61010784
real    0m1.448s
user    0m1.208s
sys     0m0.231s

# time echo '<?php $s = array(); for($x=0;$x<100000;$x++){ $s[] = array("name"=>"Adam","age"=>35); }; echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
33647944
real    0m0.525s
user    0m0.429s
sys     0m0.092s

Objects are up to twice slower at init and take up to double memory. It gets worse, as the above example is without autoloading and only using SPL ArrayObject which is somewhat lightweight (compiled-in).

Thanks! I need this test to find out which approach is better for my codes: array or stdobject.

In php > 5.4, this is completely different. See https://gist.github.com/nikic/5015323

From PHP 5.6.12

# php -v
PHP 5.6.12 (cli) (built: Aug  6 2015 17:14:56) 
Copyright (c) 1997-2015 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.6.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2015 Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v7.0.6-dev, Copyright (c) 1999-2015, by Zend Technologies

### PHP Array memory usage ###
# echo '<?php $s = array(); for($x=0;$x<1000;$x++){ $s[] = array("name"=>"Adam","age"=>35); }; echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
807336

### PHP ArrayObject() memory usage (no properties defined) ###
# echo '<?php $s = array(); for($x=0;$x<1000;$x++){ $o = new ArrayObject; $o->name = "Adam";  $o->age = 35;  $s[] = $o;} echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
1144440

### PHP MyArrayObject() memory usage (properties defined) ###
# echo '<?php $s = array(); class MyArrayObject{ public $name, $age; public function __construct( $name, $age ) { $this->name = $name; $this->age = $age; } } for( $x=0;$x<1000;$x++){ $o = new MyArrayObject( 'Adam', 35 );  $s[] = $o;} echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
583600


### PHP Array memory usage + time (no properties defined) ###
# time echo '<?php $s = array(); for($x=0;$x<100000;$x++){ $s[] = array("name"=>"Adam","age"=>35); }; echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
58871792
real    0m0.193s
user    0m0.087s
sys 0m0.107s

### PHP ArrayObject() memory usage + time (no properties defined) ###
# time echo '<?php $s = array(); for($x=0;$x<100000;$x++){ $o = new ArrayObject; $o->name = "Adam";  $o->age = 35;  $s[] = $o;} echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
100801296
real    0m0.320s
user    0m0.153s
sys 0m0.163s

### PHP MyArrayObject() memory usage + time (properties defined) ###
# time echo '<?php $s = array(); class MyArrayObject{ public $name, $age; public function __construct( $name, $age ) { $this->name = $name; $this->age = $age; } } for( $x=0;$x<100000;$x++){ $o = new MyArrayObject( 'Adam', 35 );  $s[] = $o;} echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
44004544
real    0m2.209s
user    0m1.007s
sys 0m1.190s

We can conclude the following at least in PHP 5.6:

• Winner for Speed: Arrays are faster than objects (with undefined or defined properties)
• Winner for Memory: Objects with defined properties use less memory, 50%+ less than objects with undefined properties, only slightly less than Arrays

Ordered Fastest to Slowest in Speed for 100,000 items:

• 0.107s - Arrays
• 0.163s - Objects with undefined properties
• 1.190s - Objects with defined properties

Ordered Least to Most Memory Usage for 1,000 items:

• ~583kb - Objects with defined properties
• ~807kb - Arrays
• ~1.1mb - Objects with undefined properties

I ran these from Mac OSX terminal with local PHP, so the speeds aren't going to be the same as on a real server with ongoing load.

You can sometimes create your own symbol tables for arrays as well.

PHP 5.6

php -v
PHP 5.6.14-0+deb8u1 (cli) (built: Oct 4 2015 16:13:10)
Copyright (c) 1997-2015 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.6.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2015 Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v7.0.6-dev, Copyright (c) 1999-2015, by Zend Technologies

echo '<?php $s = array(); for($x=0;$x<1000;$x++){ $s[] = array("name"=>"Adam","age"=>35); }; echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
804616

echo '<?php $s = array(); for($x=0;$x<1000;$x++){ $o = new ArrayObject; $o->name = "Adam"; $o->age = 35; $s[] = $o;} echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
1141704

echo '<?php $s = array(); class MyArrayObject{ public $name, $age; public function __construct( $name, $age ) { $this->name = $name; $this->age = $age; } } for( $x=0;$x<1000;$x++){ $o = new MyArrayObject("Adam", 35 ); $s[] = $o;} echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
545176

time echo '<?php $s = array(); for($x=0;$x<100000;$x++){ $s[] = array("name"=>"Adam","age"=>35); } echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
58869048

Timing	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5
real	0m0.385s	0m0.383s	0m0.384s	0m0.383s	0m0.385s
user	0m0.272s	0m0.276s	0m0.288s	0m0.312s	0m0.304s
sys	0m0.112s	0m0.104s	0m0.092s	0m0.072s	0m0.080s

time echo '<?php $s = array(); for($x=0;$x<100000;$x++){ $o = new ArrayObject; $o->name = "Adam"; $o->age = 35; $s[] = $o;} echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
100798560

Timing	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5
real	0m0.672s	0m0.666s	0m0.658s	0m0.662s	0m0.683s
user	0m0.524s	0m0.540s	0m0.544s	0m0.548s	0m0.540s
sys	0m0.144s	0m0.124s	0m0.116s	0m0.112s	0m0.140s

$ time echo '<?php $s = array(); class MyArrayObject{ public $name, $age; public function __construct( $name, $age ) { $this->name = $name; $this->age = $age; } } for( $x=0;$x<100000;$x++){ $o = new MyArrayObject("Adam", 35 ); $s[] = $o;} echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
40797616

Timing	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5
real	0m0.451s	0m0.464s	0m0.453s	0m0.471s	0m0.461s
user	0m0.368s	0m0.404s	0m0.396s	0m0.416s	0m0.388s
sys	0m0.084s	0m0.060s	0m0.056s	0m0.052s	0m0.072s

PHP 7.0

php -v
PHP 7.0.2-1~dotdeb+8.1 (cli) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) 1997-2015 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.0.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2015 Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v7.0.6-dev, Copyright (c) 1999-2015, by Zend Technologies

echo '<?php $s = array(); for($x=0;$x<1000;$x++){ $s[] = array("name"=>"Adam","age"=>35); }; echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
760288

echo '<?php $s = array(); for($x=0;$x<1000;$x++){ $o = new ArrayObject; $o->name = "Adam"; $o->age = 35; $s[] = $o;} echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
944248

echo '<?php $s = array(); class MyArrayObject{ public $name, $age; public function __construct( $name, $age ) { $this->name = $name; $this->age = $age; } } for( $x=0;$x<1000;$x++){ $o = new MyArrayObject("Adam", 35 ); $s[] = $o;} echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
465440

time echo '<?php $s = array(); for($x=0;$x<100000;$x++){ $s[] = array("name"=>"Adam","age"=>35); } echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
42145848

Timing	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5
real	0m0.203s	0m0.193s	0m0.201s	0m0.200s	0m0.193s
user	0m0.136s	0m0.144s	0m0.148s	0m0.164s	0m0.140s
sys	0m0.068s	0m0.052s	0m0.056s	0m0.040s	0m0.064s

time echo '<?php $s = array(); for($x=0;$x<100000;$x++){ $o = new ArrayObject; $o->name = "Adam"; $o->age = 35; $s[] = $o;} echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
61586192

Timing	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5
real	0m0.306s	0m0.288s	0m0.297s	0m0.309s	0m0.315s
user	0m0.236s	0m0.236s	0m0.256s	0m0.268s	0m0.244s
sys	0m0.072s	0m0.056s	0m0.044s	0m0.044s	0m0.072s

time echo '<?php $s = array(); class MyArrayObject{ public $name, $age; public function __construct( $name, $age ) { $this->name = $name; $this->age = $age; } } for( $x=0;$x<100000;$x++){ $o = new MyArrayObject("Adam", 35 ); $s[] = $o;} echo memory_get_peak_usage(); ' | php
13587384

Timing	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5
real	0m0.212s	0m0.221s	0m0.237s	0m0.238s	0m0.217s
user	0m0.180s	0m0.172s	0m0.192s	0m0.180s	0m0.188s
sys	0m0.032s	0m0.044s	0m0.052s	0m0.056s	0m0.028s

https://3v4l.org/30jdF/perf#tabs
https://3v4l.org/Qvl4W/perf#tabs
https://3v4l.org/DQ5jG/perf#tabs

For information, you will get very different results if each Array/Object is different :
Array("name"=>"Adam$x","age"=>$x)
MyArrayObject("Adam$x", $x)

A quick test for PHP 7.2 https://gist.github.com/charrondev/be56ef53e0408b959eff6d2d911e8c1e

Type	Memory Usage	Real execution Time
Arrays	46,191,568	0m0.137s
Classes	20,537,808	0m0.129s