Comparison of Hibernate with H2 embedded vs DataNucleus 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
	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	18.1	14.2	9.0	4.8	13.5	9.5
Element Collection Test	13.0	6.6	6.8	2.1	9.9	4.3
Inheritance Test	21.0	13.6	9.4	4.6	15.2	9.1
Indexing Test	29.9	24.6	18.4	11.1	24.1	17.8
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	17.2	6.8	20.1	4.5	18.7	5.7
Multithreading Test	36.9	38.5	11.5	8.5	24.2	23.5
All Tests	22.6	17.4	12.5	5.9	17.6	11.7

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

A large performance gap has been detected when using graphs of objects with large transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded database (4.5) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 embedded database (20.1) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with H2 embedded is 4.5 times faster than DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded.

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

Retrieval Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	16.6	6.6	13.3	10.2	15.0	8.4
Element Collection Test	4.3	3.6	4.0	8.1	4.1	5.8
Inheritance Test	10.4	5.7	17.5	8.8	13.9	7.2
Indexing Test	10.8	5.1	15.2	9.5	13.0	7.3
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	2.5	7.2	4.0	9.3	3.3	8.3
Multithreading Test	16.2	8.1	15.7	9.5	15.9	8.8
All Tests	10.1	6.0	11.6	9.2	10.9	7.6

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

A large performance gap has been detected when using simple basic entities with small retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded database (6.6) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 embedded database (16.6) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with H2 embedded is 2.5 times faster than DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded.

On the other hand, Hibernate with H2 embedded is slower, for instance, when using graphs of objects with small retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 embedded database (2.5) to the normalized speed of DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded database (7.2) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with H2 embedded is 2.9 times slower than DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded.

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

Retrieval Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	4.5	1.4	1.2	0.48	2.8	0.95
Element Collection Test	4.4	1.3	1.4	0.67	2.9	1.0
Inheritance Test	3.1	1.6	1.5	0.61	2.3	1.1
Indexing Test	6.6	0.0016	10.5	0.63	8.6	0.32
Multithreading Test	1.2	0.40	0.59	failed	0.89	0.40
All Tests	4.0	0.96	3.0	0.60	3.5	0.80

DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded has failed in 1 tests (see exceptions).

The results above show that in general Hibernate with H2 embedded is much more efficient than DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded in executing the tested JPA queries. Comparing the normalized speed of DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded database (0.80) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 embedded database (3.5) reveals that in these tests, Hibernate with H2 embedded is 4.4 times faster than DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using database indexes with small retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded database (0.0016) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 embedded database (6.6) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with H2 embedded is 4,125 times faster than DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded.

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

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	12.1	11.5	6.5	2.7	9.3	7.1
Element Collection Test	7.4	6.9	5.3	2.7	6.3	4.8
Inheritance Test	10.8	10.3	8.5	3.6	9.6	6.9
Indexing Test	10.0	11.4	7.5	4.4	8.8	7.9
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	4.4	3.5	2.3	1.5	3.4	2.5
Multithreading Test	16.2	failed	4.0	failed	10.1	failed
All Tests	10.1	8.7	5.7	3.0	7.9	5.8

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

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

A large performance gap has been detected when using simple basic entities with large transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded database (2.7) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 embedded database (6.5) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with H2 embedded is 2.4 times faster than DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded.

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

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	19.7	4.2	11.4	1.3	15.5	2.8
Element Collection Test	6.9	4.9	4.5	1.6	5.7	3.2
Inheritance Test	15.6	4.0	12.9	1.3	14.2	2.7
Indexing Test	23.2	7.5	12.4	1.9	17.8	4.7
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	4.0	2.9	4.2	2.0	4.1	2.5
Multithreading Test	27.4	40.1	22.7	13.7	25.0	26.9
All Tests	16.1	10.6	11.4	3.7	13.7	7.1

The results above show that in general Hibernate with H2 embedded is more efficient than DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded in deleting JPA entity objects from 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 HSQLDB embedded database (1.3) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 embedded database (12.9) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with H2 embedded is 9.9 times faster than DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded.

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

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	27.0	41.4	27.0	41.4	27.0	41.4
Element Collection Test	30.6	23.4	30.6	23.4	30.6	23.4
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	28.5	12.5	21.4	9.4	25.0	10.9
Multithreading Test	33.9	51.9	9.2	10.3	21.5	31.1
All Tests	29.8	36.5	24.6	29.2	27.2	32.9

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

On the other hand, DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded is slower, for instance, when using graphs of objects with small transaction size. Comparing the normalized score of DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded database (12.5) to the normalized score of Hibernate with H2 embedded database (28.5) reveals that in that case, DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded is 2.3 times less efficient than Hibernate with H2 embedded.

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

Transaction/Retrieval Size	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 embedded	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	14.2	7.6	8.3	3.9	11.2	5.7
Element Collection Test	7.2	4.7	4.4	3.0	5.8	3.8
Inheritance Test	12.2	7.1	9.9	3.8	11.0	5.4
Indexing Test	16.1	9.7	12.8	5.5	14.5	7.6
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	7.0	5.1	7.7	4.3	7.3	4.7
Multithreading Test	19.6	21.8	10.9	10.6	15.2	17.0
All Tests	12.9	9.0	9.0	4.8	11.0	7.0

The results above show that in general Hibernate with H2 embedded is more efficient than DataNucleus with HSQLDB 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 HSQLDB embedded database (3.8) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 embedded database (9.9) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with H2 embedded is 2.6 times faster than DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded.

JPA Performance Benchmark (JPAB)