Comparison of DataNucleus with H2 embedded vs Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded

Each of the following tables focuses on a specific database operation, where the last table presents average results comparison.

Speed comparison of JPA database persistence operations (normalized score, higher is better)

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	19.2	32.6	8.0	13.1	13.6	22.9
Element Collection Test	6.6	15.1	2.8	8.2	4.7	11.7
Inheritance Test	15.6	25.5	4.4	13.6	10.0	19.5
Indexing Test	24.4	29.6	11.8	18.8	18.1	24.2
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	9.2	13.8	6.2	15.6	7.7	14.7
Multithreading Test	34.9	37.4	7.1	13.0	21.0	25.2
All Tests	18.3	25.6	6.7	13.7	12.5	19.7

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is more efficient than DataNucleus with H2 embedded in persisting JPA entity objects to the database.

A large performance gap has been detected when using class inheritance in the object model with large transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of DataNucleus with H2 embedded database (4.4) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (13.6) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 3.1 times faster than DataNucleus with H2 embedded.

Speed comparison of JPA database retrieval operations (normalized score, higher is better)

Retrieval Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	13.2	24.8	13.5	16.4	13.3	20.6
Element Collection Test	6.4	11.3	8.9	10.8	7.7	11.0
Inheritance Test	12.2	21.7	12.7	21.0	12.4	21.3
Indexing Test	8.1	11.9	16.5	21.5	12.3	16.7
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	10.6	3.6	20.9	4.7	15.8	4.1
Multithreading Test	13.3	19.8	9.9	21.5	11.6	20.6
All Tests	10.6	15.5	13.7	16.0	12.2	15.7

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is slightly more efficient than DataNucleus with H2 embedded in retrieving JPA entity objects from the database.

A large performance gap has been detected when using multithreading with large retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of DataNucleus with H2 embedded database (9.9) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (21.5) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 2.2 times faster than DataNucleus with H2 embedded.

On the other hand, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is slower, for instance, when using graphs of objects with large retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (4.7) to the normalized speed of DataNucleus with H2 embedded database (20.9) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 4.4 times slower than DataNucleus with H2 embedded.

Speed comparison of JPA database query operations (normalized score, higher is better)

Retrieval Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	4.7	3.6	1.4	0.88	3.1	2.2
Element Collection Test	5.0	3.4	2.4	1.7	3.7	2.6
Inheritance Test	3.8	2.9	1.6	1.0	2.7	1.9
Indexing Test	0.0041	9.9	1.8	21.7	0.91	15.8
Multithreading Test	1.2	1.1	0.79	0.58	1.0	0.82
All Tests	3.0	4.2	1.6	5.2	2.3	4.7

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is more efficient than DataNucleus with H2 embedded in executing the tested JPA queries. Comparing the normalized speed of DataNucleus with H2 embedded database (2.3) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (4.7) reveals that in these tests, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 2.0 times faster than DataNucleus with H2 embedded.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using database indexes with small retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of DataNucleus with H2 embedded database (0.0041) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (9.9) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 2,415 times faster than DataNucleus with H2 embedded.

Speed comparison of JPA database update operations (normalized score, higher is better)

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	10.0	14.2	3.9	5.0	6.9	9.6
Element Collection Test	7.6	10.1	3.9	5.6	5.8	7.8
Inheritance Test	9.4	13.4	4.4	7.5	6.9	10.5
Indexing Test	10.6	10.7	5.9	6.1	8.2	8.4
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	5.9	3.7	3.7	2.5	4.8	3.1
Multithreading Test	failed	23.9	failed	3.8	failed	13.9
All Tests	8.7	12.7	4.4	5.1	6.5	8.9

DataNucleus with H2 embedded has failed in 2 tests (see exceptions).

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is more efficient than DataNucleus with H2 embedded in updating JPA entity objects in the database.

Speed comparison of JPA database removal operations (normalized score, higher is better)

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	4.2	26.1	1.3	17.5	2.8	21.8
Element Collection Test	4.9	9.1	1.6	5.2	3.2	7.1
Inheritance Test	4.0	21.4	1.3	17.7	2.7	19.6
Indexing Test	7.5	33.0	1.9	16.3	4.7	24.7
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	5.6	5.4	4.1	8.2	4.8	6.8
Multithreading Test	failed	38.5	failed	28.6	failed	33.5
All Tests	5.2	22.3	2.0	15.6	3.6	18.9

DataNucleus with H2 embedded has failed in 2 tests (see exceptions).

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is much more efficient than DataNucleus with H2 embedded in deleting JPA entity objects from the database. Comparing the normalized speed of DataNucleus with H2 embedded database (3.6) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (18.9) reveals that in these tests, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 5.2 times faster than DataNucleus with H2 embedded.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using class inheritance in the object model with large transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of DataNucleus with H2 embedded database (1.3) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (17.7) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 13.6 times faster than DataNucleus with H2 embedded.

Comparison of database storage efficiency (normalized score, higher is better)

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	27.0	41.4	27.0	41.4	27.0	41.4
Element Collection Test	22.4	46.9	22.4	46.9	22.4	46.9
Inheritance Test	27.0	41.4	27.0	41.4	27.0	41.4
Indexing Test	31.6	48.4	32.1	49.2	31.9	48.8
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	20.0	28.5	15.0	21.4	17.5	25.0
Multithreading Test	33.9	51.9	9.2	10.3	21.5	31.1
All Tests	27.0	43.1	22.1	35.1	24.6	39.1

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is more efficient than DataNucleus with H2 embedded in using disk space.

A large gap has been detected when using JPA element collections with small transaction size. Comparing the normalized score of DataNucleus with H2 embedded database (22.4) to the normalized score of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (46.9) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 2.1 times more efficient than DataNucleus with H2 embedded.

Comparison of JPA/Database speed - the averages (normalized score, higher is better)

Transaction/Retrieval Size	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	DataNucleus H2 embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	10.3	20.2	5.6	10.6	7.9	15.4
Element Collection Test	6.1	9.8	3.9	6.3	5.0	8.0
Inheritance Test	9.0	17.0	4.9	12.2	6.9	14.6
Indexing Test	10.1	19.0	7.6	16.9	8.9	18.0
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	7.8	6.6	8.7	7.8	8.3	7.2
Multithreading Test	16.5	24.1	5.9	13.5	11.2	18.8
All Tests	9.6	16.5	6.0	11.3	7.8	13.9

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is more efficient than DataNucleus with H2 embedded in performing JPA database operations.

A large performance gap has been detected when using class inheritance in the object model with large transaction/retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of DataNucleus with H2 embedded database (4.9) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (12.2) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 2.5 times faster than DataNucleus with H2 embedded.

JPA Performance Benchmark (JPAB)