Performance comparison of different ruby serializer methods

answer.md

gem
Json oj	40.4 i/s
MessagePack	38.3 i/s	same
binary json	22.0 i/s	1.84x slower
Json yajl	19.0 i/s	2.13x slower
ruby json	15.6 i/s	2.59x slower
ruby marshal	13.9 i/s	2.90x slower
ruby yaml	0.4 i/s	111.99x slower
Yaml Psych	0.4 i/s	112.09x slower
ruby safe	0.4 i/s	113.66x slower

output.txt

-- primitives only
marshal -- true
"\x04\b{\tI\"\tname\x06:\x06ETI\"\x13Fredrick Smith\x06;\x00TI\"\rquantity\x06;\x00Ti\x03@B\x0FI\"\tdate\x06;\x00TI\"\x1E2017-08-11 11:17:00 -0400\x06;\x00FI\"\x0Eaddresses\x06;\x00T{\aI\"\raddress1\x06;\x00TI\"612 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand\x06;\x00TI\"\raddress2\x06;\x00TI\"/1 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand\x06;\x00T"
bson -- true
"\xD9\x00\x00\x00\x02name\x00\x0F\x00\x00\x00Fredrick Smith\x00\x10quantity\x00@B\x0F\x00\x02date\x00\x1A\x00\x00\x002017-08-11 11:17:00 -0400\x00\x03addresses\x00~\x00\x00\x00\x02address1\x002\x00\x00\x0012 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand\x00\x02address2\x00+\x00\x00\x001 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand\x00\x00\x00"
msgpack -- true
"\x84\xA4name\xAEFredrick Smith\xA8quantity\xCE\x00\x0FB@\xA4date\xB92017-08-11 11:17:00 -0400\xA9addresses\x82\xA8address1\xD9112 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand\xA8address2\xD9*1 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand"
json -- true
"{\"name\":\"Fredrick Smith\",\"quantity\":1000000,\"date\":\"2017-08-11 11:17:00 -0400\",\"addresses\":{\"address1\":\"12 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand\",\"address2\":\"1 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand\"}}"
yajl -- true
"{\"name\":\"Fredrick Smith\",\"quantity\":1000000,\"date\":\"2017-08-11 11:17:00 -0400\",\"addresses\":{\"address1\":\"12 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand\",\"address2\":\"1 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand\"}}"
oj -- true
"{\"name\":\"Fredrick Smith\",\"quantity\":1000000,\"date\":\"2017-08-11 11:17:00 -0400\",\"addresses\":{\"address1\":\"12 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand\",\"address2\":\"1 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand\"}}"
yaml -- true
"---\nname: Fredrick Smith\nquantity: 1000000\ndate: '2017-08-11 11:17:00 -0400'\naddresses:\n  address1: 12 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand\n  address2: 1 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand\n"
psych -- true
"---\nname: Fredrick Smith\nquantity: 1000000\ndate: '2017-08-11 11:17:00 -0400'\naddresses:\n  address1: 12 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand\n  address2: 1 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand\n"
safe -- true
"---\nname: Fredrick Smith\nquantity: 1000000\ndate: '2017-08-11 11:17:00 -0400'\naddresses:\n  address1: 12 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand\n  address2: 1 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand\n"

-----

- symbol and date thrown in there
marshal -- true
"\x04\b{\t:\tnameI\"\x13Fredrick Smith\x06:\x06ET:\rquantityi\x03@B\x0F:\tdateIu:\tTime\ro]\x1D\x80\xF5\x00$U\a:\voffseti\xFE\xC0\xC7:\tzoneI\"\bEDT\x06;\x06F:\x0Eaddresses{\a:\raddress1I\"612 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand\x06;\x06T:\raddress2I\"/1 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand\x06;\x06T"
bson -- false
"\xC3\x00\x00\x00\x02name\x00\x0F\x00\x00\x00Fredrick Smith\x00\x10quantity\x00@B\x0F\x00\tdate\x00\xB6\xA6\xE2\xD1]\x01\x00\x00\x03addresses\x00~\x00\x00\x00\x02address1\x002\x00\x00\x0012 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand\x00\x02address2\x00+\x00\x00\x001 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand\x00\x00\x00"
msgpack -- ERROR
json -- false
"{\"name\":\"Fredrick Smith\",\"quantity\":1000000,\"date\":\"2017-08-11 11:21:18 -0400\",\"addresses\":{\"address1\":\"12 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand\",\"address2\":\"1 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand\"}}"
yajl -- false
"{\"name\":\"Fredrick Smith\",\"quantity\":1000000,\"date\":\"2017-08-11 11:21:18 -0400\",\"addresses\":{\"address1\":\"12 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand\",\"address2\":\"1 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand\"}}"
oj -- true
"{\":name\":\"Fredrick Smith\",\":quantity\":1000000,\":date\":{\"^t\":1502464878.262389000},\":addresses\":{\":address1\":\"12 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand\",\":address2\":\"1 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand\"}}"
yaml -- true
"---\n:name: Fredrick Smith\n:quantity: 1000000\n:date: 2017-08-11 11:21:18.262389000 -04:00\n:addresses:\n  :address1: 12 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand\n  :address2: 1 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand\n"
psych -- true
"---\n:name: Fredrick Smith\n:quantity: 1000000\n:date: 2017-08-11 11:21:18.262389000 -04:00\n:addresses:\n  :address1: 12 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand\n  :address2: 1 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand\n"
safe -- ERROR

serializer_benchmarks.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

# gem install bson
# gem install bson_ext
# gem install yajl-ruby
# gem install json
# gem install msgpack
# gem install oj
# gem install psych
# gem install benchmark-ips

require 'benchmark/ips'
require 'rubygems'
require 'benchmark'
require 'yaml'    # ruby yaml         -- handles dates
require 'bson'    # binary json
require 'json'    # ruby json
require 'yajl'    # json
require 'msgpack' # binary serializer
require 'oj'      # json              -- handles dates
require 'psych'   # yaml              -- handles dates
require 'optparse'

binary = false
mode = :bmbm

OptionParser.new do |opt|
  opt.on('-b', '--binary', "binary data") { |v| binary = v}
  opt.on('-i', '--ips',    "ips")         { mode = :ips }
  opt.parse!(ARGV)
end

METHODS = {
  :marshal => { :verbose => "ruby marshal", :encoder => -> (msg) { Marshal.dump(msg) },         :decoder => -> (str) { Marshal.load(str) } },
  :bson    => { :verbose => "binary json",  :encoder => -> (msg) { msg.to_bson },               :decoder => -> (str) { Hash.from_bson(str) } },
  :msgpack => { :verbose => "MessagePack",  :encoder => -> (msg) { MessagePack.pack(msg) },     :decoder => -> (str) { MessagePack.unpack(str) } },
  :yaml    => { :verbose => "ruby yaml",    :encoder => -> (msg) { msg.to_yaml},                :decoder => -> (str) { YAML.load(str) } },
  :safe    => { :verbose => "ruby safe",    :encoder => -> (msg) { msg.to_yaml},                :decoder => -> (str) { YAML.safe_load(str) } },
  :psych   => { :verbose => "Yaml Psych",   :encoder => -> (msg) { Psych.dump(msg) },           :decoder => -> (str) { Psych.load(str) } },
  :json    => { :verbose => "ruby json",    :encoder => -> (msg) { JSON.generate(msg) },        :decoder => -> (str) { JSON.parse(str) } },
  :yajl    => { :verbose => "Json yajl",    :encoder => -> (msg) { Yajl::Encoder.encode(msg) }, :decoder => -> (str) { Yajl::Parser.parse(str) } },
  :oj      => { :verbose => "Json oj",      :encoder => -> (msg) { Oj.dump(msg) },              :decoder => -> (str) { Oj.load(str) } },
}

SAMPLES = 5_000

obj = if binary
        {
          :name => "Fredrick Smith",
          :quantity => 1_000_000,
          :date => Time.now,
          :addresses => {
            :address1 => "12 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand",
            :address2 => "1 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand"
          }
        }
      else
        {
          "name" => "Fredrick Smith",
          "quantity" => 1_000_000,
          "date" => Time.now.to_s,
          "addresses" => {
            "address1" => "12 Heather Street, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand",
            "address2" => "1 Queen Street, CBD, Auckland, New Zealand"
          }
        }
      end

Benchmark.send(mode) do |r|
  METHODS.each do |method, options|
    begin
      encoder = options[:encoder]
      decoder = options[:decoder]
      same = (obj == decoder.call(encoder.call(obj)))
#      puts(encoder.call(obj).to_s.inspect)
      r.report("#{options[:verbose]} (#{same})") do
        SAMPLES.times do
          decoder.call(encoder.call(obj))
        end
      end
    rescue
      puts "#{method} -- ERROR"
    end
  end
  r.compare! if mode == :ips
end

# Results
# -------
#              user     system      total        real
# marshal   0.070000   0.000000   0.070000 (  0.068565)
# bson      0.050000   0.000000   0.050000 (  0.049747)
# msgpack   0.030000   0.000000   0.030000 (  0.023521)
# json      0.060000   0.000000   0.060000 (  0.061108)
# yajl      0.050000   0.000000   0.050000 (  0.051075)
# oj        0.020000   0.000000   0.020000 (  0.022084)
# yaml      2.660000   0.030000   2.690000 (  2.691348)
# psych     2.640000   0.030000   2.670000 (  2.665381)
# safe      2.680000   0.030000   2.710000 (  2.715144)

my results against ruby 2.3.3, from fastest -> slowest

Rehearsal -------------------------------------------------------
Json oj (true)        0.030000   0.000000   0.030000 (  0.033081)
MessagePack (true)    0.030000   0.010000   0.040000 (  0.046553)
binary json (true)    0.060000   0.000000   0.060000 (  0.055872)
ruby json (true)      0.060000   0.000000   0.060000 (  0.065484)
Json yajl (true)      0.070000   0.010000   0.080000 (  0.086215)
ruby marshal (true)   0.080000   0.000000   0.080000 (  0.088573)
ruby safe (true)      2.590000   0.040000   2.630000 (  2.624692)
Yaml Psych (true)     2.590000   0.040000   2.630000 (  2.636381)
ruby yaml (true)      2.610000   0.040000   2.650000 (  2.671206)
---------------------------------------------- total: 8.260000sec

                          user     system      total        real
Json oj (true)        0.040000   0.000000   0.040000 (  0.034682)
MessagePack (true)    0.030000   0.000000   0.030000 (  0.044521)
binary json (true)    0.050000   0.000000   0.050000 (  0.054218)
Json yajl (true)      0.060000   0.010000   0.070000 (  0.076914)
ruby json (true)      0.080000   0.000000   0.080000 (  0.086154)
ruby marshal (true)   0.090000   0.000000   0.090000 (  0.092348)
Yaml Psych (true)     2.660000   0.020000   2.680000 (  2.701861)
ruby safe (true)      2.690000   0.030000   2.720000 (  2.732333)
ruby yaml (true)      2.690000   0.030000   2.720000 (  2.746539)