performance-now vs benchmark vs stats.js
JavaScript Performance Measurement Libraries Comparison
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performance-nowbenchmarkstats.js
What's JavaScript Performance Measurement Libraries?

These libraries are designed to help developers measure and analyze performance in JavaScript applications. They provide tools for benchmarking code execution times, measuring high-resolution timestamps, and tracking performance statistics over time. By utilizing these libraries, developers can identify bottlenecks, optimize code, and ensure that applications run efficiently, leading to improved user experiences.

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performance-now24,579,7780-28 years agoMIT
benchmark779,2535,488-528 years agoMIT
stats.js495,2018,901-229 years agoMIT
Feature Comparison: performance-now vs benchmark vs stats.js

Benchmarking Capabilities

  • performance-now:

    Performance Now does not offer benchmarking capabilities but focuses on providing high-resolution timestamps. It is not designed for running multiple tests or analyzing performance data, but rather for measuring the execution time of specific code segments with precision.

  • benchmark:

    Benchmark provides a robust framework for running performance tests on JavaScript functions. It allows you to define multiple test cases, run them in a controlled environment, and analyze the results statistically. You can also customize the number of iterations and the setup for each test, making it highly flexible for various benchmarking scenarios.

  • stats.js:

    Stats.js does not provide traditional benchmarking capabilities but offers real-time monitoring of performance metrics. It displays frame rates and memory usage, allowing developers to observe performance trends during application runtime.

Ease of Use

  • performance-now:

    Performance Now is extremely easy to use, with a simple function call to retrieve high-resolution timestamps. Its minimalistic design means there is little to learn, making it accessible for developers needing quick performance measurements.

  • benchmark:

    Benchmark is user-friendly with a straightforward API that allows developers to quickly set up performance tests. The documentation is comprehensive, making it easy to understand how to create and run benchmarks effectively.

  • stats.js:

    Stats.js is also easy to implement, requiring minimal setup to display performance metrics. Its visual representation of data is intuitive, allowing developers to quickly grasp performance trends without extensive configuration.

Performance Overhead

  • performance-now:

    Performance Now has negligible overhead, making it an excellent choice for measuring execution time without affecting the performance of the code being tested. It is designed for high precision and low impact on the execution flow.

  • benchmark:

    Benchmark introduces some overhead due to the nature of running multiple tests and collecting statistical data. However, it is optimized to minimize this impact, allowing for accurate performance comparisons without significantly affecting the results.

  • stats.js:

    Stats.js has a minimal performance overhead, as it primarily collects and displays metrics without interfering with the application's execution. This makes it suitable for real-time monitoring without significant performance degradation.

Use Cases

  • performance-now:

    Performance Now is best used in scenarios where precise timing is required, such as measuring the execution time of critical code paths or performance-sensitive operations in applications. It is particularly useful in profiling and optimization tasks.

  • benchmark:

    Benchmark is ideal for developers looking to optimize specific functions or algorithms. It is particularly useful in scenarios where performance is critical, such as in gaming or data processing applications where every millisecond counts.

  • stats.js:

    Stats.js is suited for applications that require continuous performance monitoring, such as games or interactive web applications. It provides developers with real-time feedback on performance, allowing for quick adjustments and optimizations.

Community and Support

  • performance-now:

    Performance Now is a lightweight library with a smaller community compared to Benchmark. However, it is well-documented and has sufficient resources for developers looking to implement high-resolution timing in their applications.

  • benchmark:

    Benchmark has a strong community and is widely used in the JavaScript ecosystem. It is well-maintained, with regular updates and a wealth of resources available for developers seeking assistance or examples.

  • stats.js:

    Stats.js has a dedicated user base, particularly among game developers and those focused on real-time performance monitoring. While it may not have as extensive a community as Benchmark, it is still well-supported and documented.

How to Choose: performance-now vs benchmark vs stats.js
  • performance-now:

    Choose Performance Now if you require high-resolution timestamps for performance measurements. This library is lightweight and provides a simple API for obtaining precise time measurements, making it ideal for scenarios where you need to measure execution time with minimal overhead.

  • benchmark:

    Choose Benchmark if you need a comprehensive benchmarking library that provides a rich set of features for measuring the performance of JavaScript functions. It allows you to run multiple tests, compare results, and offers detailed statistical analysis of the performance data.

  • stats.js:

    Choose Stats.js if you want a simple and visual way to monitor performance metrics in real-time. This library provides a lightweight interface to display frame rates and memory usage, making it suitable for applications where continuous performance monitoring is necessary.

Similar Npm Packages to benchmark

benchmark is a powerful library for benchmarking JavaScript code. It allows developers to measure the performance of their code snippets, providing detailed statistics and insights into execution time and variability. This can be particularly useful for optimizing performance-critical sections of an application. While benchmark offers robust features for performance testing, there are other libraries that also provide similar capabilities. Here are a couple of alternatives:

  • performance-now is a lightweight library that provides a high-resolution timer for measuring time intervals in JavaScript. It is particularly useful for performance measurements where precision is crucial. Unlike benchmark, which focuses on benchmarking code snippets, performance-now is more about providing accurate timestamps for measuring execution time. If you need a simple and precise way to measure time intervals in your JavaScript applications, performance-now is a great choice.
  • stats.js is a performance monitoring library that provides a simple way to visualize performance metrics in real-time. It is often used in conjunction with other libraries to track frame rates, memory usage, and other performance indicators during the execution of a web application. While stats.js is not a benchmarking tool per se, it is useful for monitoring performance and identifying bottlenecks in real-time. If you are looking for a way to visualize performance metrics while your application is running, stats.js can be a valuable addition to your toolkit.

To see how benchmark compares with performance-now and stats.js, check out the comparison: Comparing benchmark vs performance-now vs stats.js.

README for performance-now

performance-now Build Status Dependency Status

Implements a function similar to performance.now (based on process.hrtime).

Modern browsers have a window.performance object with - among others - a now method which gives time in milliseconds, but with sub-millisecond precision. This module offers the same function based on the Node.js native process.hrtime function.

Using process.hrtime means that the reported time will be monotonically increasing, and not subject to clock-drift.

According to the High Resolution Time specification, the number of milliseconds reported by performance.now should be relative to the value of performance.timing.navigationStart.

In the current version of the module (2.0) the reported time is relative to the time the current Node process has started (inferred from process.uptime()).

Version 1.0 reported a different time. The reported time was relative to the time the module was loaded (i.e. the time it was first required). If you need this functionality, version 1.0 is still available on NPM.

Example usage

var now = require("performance-now")
var start = now()
var end = now()
console.log(start.toFixed(3)) // the number of milliseconds the current node process is running
console.log((start-end).toFixed(3)) // ~ 0.002 on my system

Running the now function two times right after each other yields a time difference of a few microseconds. Given this overhead, I think it's best to assume that the precision of intervals computed with this method is not higher than 10 microseconds, if you don't know the exact overhead on your own system.

License

performance-now is released under the MIT License. Copyright (c) 2017 Braveg1rl

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