Comparison of Hibernate with H2 server 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 server	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 server	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 server	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	4.6	14.2	3.0	4.8	3.8	9.5
Element Collection Test	3.7	6.6	1.1	2.1	2.4	4.3
Inheritance Test	6.7	13.6	3.1	4.6	4.9	9.1
Indexing Test	8.2	24.6	4.2	11.1	6.2	17.8
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	3.4	6.8	3.9	4.5	3.7	5.7
Multithreading Test	6.8	38.5	5.0	8.5	5.9	23.5
All Tests	5.6	17.4	3.4	5.9	4.5	11.7

The results above show that in general DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded is more efficient than Hibernate with H2 server in persisting JPA entity objects to the database. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 database server (4.5) to the normalized speed of DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded database (11.7) reveals that in these tests, DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded is 2.6 times faster than Hibernate with H2 server.

A large performance gap has been detected when using multithreading with small transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 database server (6.8) to the normalized speed of DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded database (38.5) reveals that in that case, DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded is 5.7 times faster than Hibernate with H2 server.

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

Retrieval Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate H2 server	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 server	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 server	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	3.1	6.6	6.0	10.2	4.6	8.4
Element Collection Test	1.0	3.6	1.1	8.1	1.0	5.8
Inheritance Test	2.9	5.7	7.6	8.8	5.2	7.2
Indexing Test	2.6	5.1	7.0	9.5	4.8	7.3
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.42	7.2	1.1	9.3	0.78	8.3
Multithreading Test	6.5	8.1	10.5	9.5	8.5	8.8
All Tests	2.8	6.0	5.6	9.2	4.2	7.6

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

A huge performance gap has been detected when using graphs of objects with small retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 database server (0.42) to the normalized speed of DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded database (7.2) reveals that in that case, DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded is 17.1 times faster than Hibernate with H2 server.

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

Retrieval Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate H2 server	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 server	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 server	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	3.7	1.4	1.0	0.48	2.3	0.95
Element Collection Test	3.7	1.3	0.63	0.67	2.2	1.0
Inheritance Test	3.2	1.6	1.4	0.61	2.3	1.1
Indexing Test	1.7	0.0016	5.8	0.63	3.8	0.32
Multithreading Test	1.1	0.40	0.88	failed	1.0	0.40
All Tests	2.7	0.96	1.9	0.60	2.3	0.80

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

The results above show that in general Hibernate with H2 server is 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 database server (2.3) reveals that in these tests, Hibernate with H2 server is 2.9 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 database server (1.7) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with H2 server is 1,062 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 server	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 server	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 server	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	2.9	11.5	1.8	2.7	2.4	7.1
Element Collection Test	2.6	6.9	1.1	2.7	1.9	4.8
Inheritance Test	3.2	10.3	2.5	3.6	2.9	6.9
Indexing Test	2.9	11.4	2.7	4.4	2.8	7.9
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	1.2	3.5	0.43	1.5	0.79	2.5
Multithreading Test	5.6	failed	2.4	failed	4.0	failed
All Tests	3.1	8.7	1.8	3.0	2.5	5.8

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

The results above show that in general DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded is more efficient than Hibernate with H2 server in updating JPA entity objects in the database. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 database server (2.5) to the normalized speed of DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded database (5.8) reveals that in these tests, DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded is 2.3 times faster than Hibernate with H2 server.

A large performance gap has been detected when using simple basic entities with small transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 database server (2.9) to the normalized speed of DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded database (11.5) reveals that in that case, DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded is 4.0 times faster than Hibernate with H2 server.

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

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate H2 server	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 server	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 server	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	3.8	4.2	2.4	1.3	3.1	2.8
Element Collection Test	1.9	4.9	1.1	1.6	1.5	3.2
Inheritance Test	3.7	4.0	2.5	1.3	3.1	2.7
Indexing Test	7.6	7.5	3.1	1.9	5.3	4.7
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.99	2.9	0.91	2.0	0.95	2.5
Multithreading Test	6.1	40.1	7.3	13.7	6.7	26.9
All Tests	4.0	10.6	2.9	3.7	3.5	7.1

The results above show that in general DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded is more efficient than Hibernate with H2 server in deleting JPA entity objects from the database. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 database server (3.5) to the normalized speed of DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded database (7.1) reveals that in these tests, DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded is 2.0 times faster than Hibernate with H2 server.

A large performance gap has been detected when using multithreading with small transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 database server (6.1) to the normalized speed of DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded database (40.1) reveals that in that case, DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded is 6.6 times faster than Hibernate with H2 server.

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

Transaction/Retrieval Size	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate H2 server	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 server	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate H2 server	DataNucleus HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	3.6	7.6	2.8	3.9	3.2	5.7
Element Collection Test	2.6	4.7	1.0	3.0	1.8	3.8
Inheritance Test	4.0	7.1	3.4	3.8	3.7	5.4
Indexing Test	4.6	9.7	4.5	5.5	4.6	7.6
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	1.5	5.1	1.6	4.3	1.6	4.7
Multithreading Test	5.2	21.8	5.2	10.6	5.2	17.0
All Tests	3.7	9.0	3.2	4.8	3.4	7.0

The results above show that in general DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded is more efficient than Hibernate with H2 server in performing JPA database operations. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 database server (3.4) to the normalized speed of DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded database (7.0) reveals that in these tests, DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded is 2.1 times faster than Hibernate with H2 server.

A large performance gap has been detected when using multithreading with small transaction/retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 database server (5.2) to the normalized speed of DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded database (21.8) reveals that in that case, DataNucleus with HSQLDB embedded is 4.2 times faster than Hibernate with H2 server.

JPA Performance Benchmark (JPAB)