Comparison of EclipseLink with PostgreSQL server 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
	EclipseLink PostgreSQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink PostgreSQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink PostgreSQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	7.3	32.6	4.2	13.1	5.8	22.9
Element Collection Test	3.1	15.1	1.9	8.2	2.5	11.7
Inheritance Test	6.9	25.5	5.0	13.6	5.9	19.5
Indexing Test	10.0	29.6	6.8	18.8	8.4	24.2
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	3.5	13.8	3.3	15.6	3.4	14.7
Multithreading Test	31.8	37.4	14.5	13.0	23.1	25.2
All Tests	10.4	25.6	6.0	13.7	8.2	19.7

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is more efficient than EclipseLink with PostgreSQL server in persisting JPA entity objects to the database. Comparing the normalized speed of EclipseLink with PostgreSQL database server (8.2) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (19.7) reveals that in these tests, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 2.4 times faster than EclipseLink with PostgreSQL server.

A large performance gap has been detected when using JPA element collections with small transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of EclipseLink with PostgreSQL database server (3.1) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (15.1) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 4.9 times faster than EclipseLink with PostgreSQL server.

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

Retrieval Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	EclipseLink PostgreSQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink PostgreSQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink PostgreSQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	6.8	24.8	17.2	16.4	12.0	20.6
Element Collection Test	0.026	11.3	0.020	10.8	0.023	11.0
Inheritance Test	6.0	21.7	19.7	21.0	12.9	21.3
Indexing Test	5.6	11.9	19.5	21.5	12.6	16.7
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.47	3.6	0.61	4.7	0.54	4.1
Multithreading Test	13.5	19.8	27.8	21.5	20.6	20.6
All Tests	5.4	15.5	14.1	16.0	9.8	15.7

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is more efficient than EclipseLink with PostgreSQL server in retrieving JPA entity objects from the database.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using JPA element collections with large retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of EclipseLink with PostgreSQL database server (0.020) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (10.8) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 540 times faster than EclipseLink with PostgreSQL server.

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

Retrieval Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	EclipseLink PostgreSQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink PostgreSQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink PostgreSQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	55.5	3.6	7.8	0.88	31.6	2.2
Element Collection Test	15.4	3.4	0.028	1.7	7.7	2.6
Inheritance Test	54.9	2.9	11.5	1.0	33.2	1.9
Indexing Test	0.077	9.9	10.0	21.7	5.1	15.8
Multithreading Test	55.3	1.1	12.0	0.58	33.7	0.82
All Tests	36.2	4.2	8.3	5.2	22.3	4.7

The results above show that in general EclipseLink with PostgreSQL server is much more efficient than Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded in executing the tested JPA queries. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (4.7) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with PostgreSQL database server (22.3) reveals that in these tests, EclipseLink with PostgreSQL server is 4.7 times faster than Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using multithreading with small retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (1.1) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with PostgreSQL database server (55.3) reveals that in that case, EclipseLink with PostgreSQL server is 50.3 times faster than Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded.

On the other hand, EclipseLink with PostgreSQL server is slower, for instance, when using database indexes with small retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of EclipseLink with PostgreSQL database server (0.077) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (9.9) reveals that in that case, EclipseLink with PostgreSQL server is 129 times slower than Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded.

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

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	EclipseLink PostgreSQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink PostgreSQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink PostgreSQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	6.2	14.2	4.1	5.0	5.1	9.6
Element Collection Test	0.080	10.1	0.028	5.6	0.054	7.8
Inheritance Test	6.4	13.4	6.1	7.5	6.2	10.5
Indexing Test	6.5	10.7	7.0	6.1	6.8	8.4
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.90	3.7	0.50	2.5	0.70	3.1
Multithreading Test	36.0	23.9	9.1	3.8	22.5	13.9
All Tests	9.3	12.7	4.5	5.1	6.9	8.9

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is slightly more efficient than EclipseLink with PostgreSQL server in updating JPA entity objects in the database.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using JPA element collections with large transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of EclipseLink with PostgreSQL database server (0.028) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (5.6) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 200 times faster than EclipseLink with PostgreSQL server.

On the other hand, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is slower, for instance, when using multithreading with large transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (3.8) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with PostgreSQL database server (9.1) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 2.4 times slower than EclipseLink with PostgreSQL server.

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

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	EclipseLink PostgreSQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink PostgreSQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink PostgreSQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	5.7	26.1	5.7	17.5	5.7	21.8
Element Collection Test	0.025	9.1	stopped	5.2	0.012	7.1
Inheritance Test	5.5	21.4	5.4	17.7	5.4	19.6
Indexing Test	10.4	33.0	10.0	16.3	10.2	24.7
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.016	5.4	0.013	8.2	0.015	6.8
Multithreading Test	26.3	38.5	16.8	28.6	21.6	33.5
All Tests	8.0	22.3	6.3	15.6	7.2	18.9

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is more efficient than EclipseLink with PostgreSQL server in deleting JPA entity objects from the database. Comparing the normalized speed of EclipseLink with PostgreSQL database server (7.2) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (18.9) reveals that in these tests, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 2.6 times faster than EclipseLink with PostgreSQL server.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using graphs of objects with large transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of EclipseLink with PostgreSQL database server (0.013) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (8.2) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 631 times faster than EclipseLink with PostgreSQL server.

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

Transaction/Retrieval Size	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	EclipseLink PostgreSQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink PostgreSQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink PostgreSQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	16.3	20.2	7.8	10.6	12.1	15.4
Element Collection Test	3.7	9.8	0.40	6.3	2.1	8.0
Inheritance Test	15.9	17.0	9.5	12.2	12.7	14.6
Indexing Test	6.5	19.0	10.7	16.9	8.6	18.0
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	1.2	6.6	1.1	7.8	1.2	7.2
Multithreading Test	32.6	24.1	16.0	13.5	24.3	18.8
All Tests	13.1	16.5	7.8	11.3	10.5	13.9

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

A huge performance gap has been detected when using JPA element collections with large transaction/retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of EclipseLink with PostgreSQL database server (0.40) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (6.3) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 15.7 times faster than EclipseLink with PostgreSQL server.

JPA Performance Benchmark (JPAB)