java-vs-node-react-rendering-microbenchmark

Server-side rendering of a simple react component - Java 8's nashorn vs node.js microbenchmark

Compiling and Running

Compiling ReactMicroBenchmark

$ javac ReactMicroBenchmark.java

Running ReactMicroBenchmark

$ java ReactMicroBenchmark

Running ReactMicroBenchmark with specific number of executions, e.g.

$ java ReactMicroBenchmark 100

Running ReactMicroBenchmark with specific number of executions and number of comments in react comment box, e.g.

$ java ReactMicroBenchmark 100 10

Perfomance Results

Performance comparing Nashorn with node.js. Nashorn takes a little longer to warm-up but after 10000 iterations it matches node.js performance.

Java 8 - Nashorn

$ export JAVA_HOME="`/usr/libexec/java_home -v '1.8.0_31'`"
$ java -version
java version "1.8.0_31"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_31-b13)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.31-b07, mixed mode)

$ java ReactMicroBenchmark
Run #1: 215.378031 ms
...
Run #10: 34.502135 ms
...
Run #20: 27.313378 ms
...
Run #40: 19.903963 ms
...
Run #80: 14.924068 ms
...
Run #100: 12.951395 ms
...
Run #200: 4.961752 ms
...
Run #500: 3.96276 ms
...
Run #1000: 0.890468 ms
...
Run #10000: 0.507431 ms

Node.js - V8

$ node --version
v0.12.7

$ node ReactMicroBenchmark.js
Run #1: 9.884367000000054 ms
...
Run #10: 0.8311479999999847 ms
...
Run #20: 0.6488820000000146 ms
...
Run #40: 0.5726009999999633 ms
...
Run #80: 0.536360000000002 ms
...
Run #100: 0.507251999999994 ms
...
Run #1000: 0.4652369999999948 ms
...
Run #10000: 0.4628829999999766 ms

Machine Info

These tests were run using a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) with 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 processor and 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 of memory.

Note: newer versions of Java 8

With version 1.8.0_31 react rendering time is below 1ms after 1000 iterations. With versions 1.8.0_40 and later the Java HotSpot Performance Engine is not able to optimize beyond ~20 ms rendering time. I've also done the same comparison using (jhm) tool: nashorn-react-jmh-microbenchmark.

Java team is fixing the react.js performance regression: https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8134403

Running with Java 1.8.0_40

$ export JAVA_HOME="`/usr/libexec/java_home -v '1.8.0_40'`"
$ java -version
java version "1.8.0_40"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_40-b27)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.40-b25, mixed mode)

$ java ReactMicroBenchmark
Run #1: 365.992715 ms
...
Run #10: 21.430693 ms
...
Run #20: 22.498651 ms
...
Run #40: 31.285618 ms
...
Run #80: 20.096194 ms
...
Run #100: 23.383296 ms
...
Run #200: 29.102352 ms
...
Run #500: 21.667297 ms
...
Run #1000: 23.337641 ms
...
Run #10000: 25.088656 ms

Running with Java 1.8.0_60

$ export JAVA_HOME="`/usr/libexec/java_home -v '1.8.0_60'`"
$ java -version
java version "1.8.0_60"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_60-b27)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.60-b23, mixed mode)

$ java ReactMicroBenchmark
Run #1: 337.751617 ms
...
Run #10: 33.046045 ms
...
Run #40: 24.244118 ms
...
Run #81: 23.548716 ms
...
Run #100: 21.439647 ms
...
Run #200: 21.322487 ms
...
Run #500: 22.643768 ms
...
Run #1000: 25.085296 ms
...
Run #10000: 25.757224 ms