Speed test of common serializers on python 2.7.2 (pickle, cPickle, ujson, cjson, simplejson, json, yajl, msgpack)

enc_dec_test.py

"""
Dependencies:
    pip install tabulate simplejson ujson yajl msgpack
"""

from timeit import timeit
from tabulate import tabulate

setup = '''d = {
    'words': """
        Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing 
        elit. Mauris adipiscing adipiscing placerat. 
        Vestibulum augue augue, 
        pellentesque quis sollicitudin id, adipiscing.
        """,
    'list': list(range(100)),
    'dict': dict((str(i),'a') for i in range(100)),
    'int': 100,
    'float': 100.123456
}'''

setup_pickle    = '%s ; import pickle ; src = pickle.dumps(d)' % setup
setup_pickle2   = '%s ; import pickle ; src = pickle.dumps(d, 2)' % setup
setup_pickle3   = '%s ; import pickle ; src = pickle.dumps(d, 3)' % setup
setup_pickle4   = '%s ; import pickle ; src = pickle.dumps(d, 4)' % setup
setup_json      = '%s ; import json; src = json.dumps(d)' % setup
setup_msgpack   = '%s ; src = msgpack.dumps(d)' % setup

tests = [
    # (title, setup, enc_test, dec_test)
    ('pickle (ascii)', 'import pickle; %s' % setup_pickle, 'pickle.dumps(d, 0)', 'pickle.loads(src)'),
    ('pickle (binary-2)', 'import pickle; %s' % setup_pickle2, 'pickle.dumps(d, 2)', 'pickle.loads(src)'),
    ('pickle (binary-3)', 'import pickle; %s' % setup_pickle3, 'pickle.dumps(d, 3)', 'pickle.loads(src)'),
    ('pickle (binary-4)', 'import pickle; %s' % setup_pickle4, 'pickle.dumps(d, 4)', 'pickle.loads(src)'),
    ('json', 'import json; %s' % setup_json, 'json.dumps(d)', 'json.loads(src)'),
    ('simplejson-3.17.0', 'import simplejson; %s' % setup_json, 'simplejson.dumps(d)', 'simplejson.loads(src)'),
    ('ujson-1.35', 'import ujson; %s' % setup_json, 'ujson.dumps(d)', 'ujson.loads(src)'),
    ('yajl 0.3.5', 'import yajl; %s' % setup_json, 'yajl.dumps(d)', 'yajl.loads(src)'),
    ('msgpack-0.6.2', 'import msgpack; %s' % setup_msgpack, 'msgpack.dumps(d)', 'msgpack.loads(src)'),
]

loops = 15000
enc_table = []
dec_table = []

print("Running tests (%d loops each)" % loops)

for title, mod, enc, dec in tests:
    print(title)

    print("  [Encode]", enc)
    result = timeit(enc, mod, number=loops)
    enc_table.append([title, result])

    print("  [Decode]", dec)
    result = timeit(dec, mod, number=loops)
    dec_table.append([title, result])

enc_table.sort(key=lambda x: x[1])
enc_table.insert(0, ['Package', 'Seconds'])

dec_table.sort(key=lambda x: x[1])
dec_table.insert(0, ['Package', 'Seconds'])

print("\nEncoding Test (%d loops)" % loops)
print(tabulate(enc_table, headers="firstrow"))

print("\nDecoding Test (%d loops)" % loops)
print(tabulate(dec_table, headers="firstrow"))

"""
Running tests (15000 loops each)
pickle (ascii)
  [Encode] pickle.dumps(d, 0)
  [Decode] pickle.loads(src)
pickle (binary-2)
  [Encode] pickle.dumps(d, 2)
  [Decode] pickle.loads(src)
pickle (binary-3)
  [Encode] pickle.dumps(d, 3)
  [Decode] pickle.loads(src)
pickle (binary-4)
  [Encode] pickle.dumps(d, 4)
  [Decode] pickle.loads(src)
json
  [Encode] json.dumps(d)
  [Decode] json.loads(src)
simplejson-3.17.0
  [Encode] simplejson.dumps(d)
  [Decode] simplejson.loads(src)
ujson-1.35
  [Encode] ujson.dumps(d)
  [Decode] ujson.loads(src)
yajl 0.3.5
  [Encode] yajl.dumps(d)
  [Decode] yajl.loads(src)
msgpack-0.6.2
  [Encode] msgpack.dumps(d)
  [Decode] msgpack.loads(src)

Encoding Test (15000 loops)
Package              Seconds
-----------------  ---------
pickle (binary-2)   0.141743
pickle (binary-3)   0.149022
pickle (binary-4)   0.151039
msgpack-0.6.2       0.155419
ujson-1.35          0.180287
yajl 0.3.5          0.388522
json                0.440383
simplejson-3.17.0   0.484677
pickle (ascii)      0.661336

Decoding Test (15000 loops)
Package              Seconds
-----------------  ---------
msgpack-0.6.2       0.136735
pickle (binary-4)   0.172758
pickle (ascii)      0.173402
pickle (binary-3)   0.175427
pickle (binary-2)   0.178137
ujson-1.35          0.206923
json                0.328846
yajl 0.3.5          0.438112
simplejson-3.17.0   0.475276
"""