Comparison of Hibernate with H2 server vs OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server

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	OpenJPA PostgreSQL server	Hibernate H2 server	OpenJPA PostgreSQL server	Hibernate H2 server	OpenJPA PostgreSQL server
Basic Person Test	4.6	5.2	3.0	4.8	3.8	5.0
Element Collection Test	3.7	2.8	1.1	2.2	2.4	2.5
Inheritance Test	6.7	4.6	3.1	3.2	4.9	3.9
Indexing Test	8.2	7.4	4.2	6.9	6.2	7.1
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	3.4	0.98	3.9	0.81	3.7	0.89
Multithreading Test	6.8	23.4	5.0	9.1	5.9	16.2
All Tests	5.6	7.4	3.4	4.5	4.5	5.9

The results above show that in general OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is more efficient than Hibernate with H2 server in persisting JPA entity objects to the database.

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 OpenJPA with PostgreSQL database server (23.4) reveals that in that case, OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is 3.4 times faster than Hibernate with H2 server.

On the other hand, OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is slower, for instance, when using graphs of objects with large transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with PostgreSQL database server (0.81) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 database server (3.9) reveals that in that case, OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is 4.8 times slower 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	OpenJPA PostgreSQL server	Hibernate H2 server	OpenJPA PostgreSQL server	Hibernate H2 server	OpenJPA PostgreSQL server
Basic Person Test	3.1	5.8	6.0	16.1	4.6	10.9
Element Collection Test	1.0	0.013	1.1	8.7	1.0	4.4
Inheritance Test	2.9	5.2	7.6	17.6	5.2	11.4
Indexing Test	2.6	4.8	7.0	18.7	4.8	11.8
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.42	0.27	1.1	0.35	0.78	0.31
Multithreading Test	6.5	11.9	10.5	23.3	8.5	17.6
All Tests	2.8	4.7	5.6	14.1	4.2	9.4

The results above show that in general OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is more efficient than Hibernate with H2 server in retrieving JPA entity objects from the database. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 database server (4.2) to the normalized speed of OpenJPA with PostgreSQL database server (9.4) reveals that in these tests, OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is 2.2 times faster than Hibernate with H2 server.

A large performance gap has been detected when using JPA element collections with large retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 database server (1.1) to the normalized speed of OpenJPA with PostgreSQL database server (8.7) reveals that in that case, OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is 7.9 times faster than Hibernate with H2 server.

On the other hand, OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is slower, for instance, when using JPA element collections with small retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with PostgreSQL database server (0.013) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 database server (1.0) reveals that in that case, OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is 76.9 times slower 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	OpenJPA PostgreSQL server	Hibernate H2 server	OpenJPA PostgreSQL server	Hibernate H2 server	OpenJPA PostgreSQL server
Basic Person Test	3.7	failed	1.0	failed	2.3	failed
Element Collection Test	3.7	failed	0.63	failed	2.2	failed
Inheritance Test	3.2	failed	1.4	failed	2.3	failed
Indexing Test	1.7	failed	5.8	failed	3.8	failed
Multithreading Test	1.1	failed	0.88	failed	1.0	failed
All Tests	2.7	failed	1.9	failed	2.3	failed

OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server has failed in 10 tests (see exceptions).

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

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate H2 server	OpenJPA PostgreSQL server	Hibernate H2 server	OpenJPA PostgreSQL server	Hibernate H2 server	OpenJPA PostgreSQL server
Basic Person Test	2.9	4.9	1.8	3.9	2.4	4.4
Element Collection Test	2.6	0.033	1.1	4.6	1.9	2.3
Inheritance Test	3.2	4.8	2.5	4.9	2.9	4.9
Indexing Test	2.9	5.1	2.7	6.0	2.8	5.6
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	1.2	0.57	0.43	0.31	0.79	0.44
Multithreading Test	5.6	22.2	2.4	7.4	4.0	14.8
All Tests	3.1	6.3	1.8	4.5	2.5	5.4

The results above show that in general OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server 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 OpenJPA with PostgreSQL database server (5.4) reveals that in these tests, OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is 2.2 times faster than Hibernate with H2 server.

A large performance gap has been detected when using JPA element collections with large transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 database server (1.1) to the normalized speed of OpenJPA with PostgreSQL database server (4.6) reveals that in that case, OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is 4.2 times faster than Hibernate with H2 server.

On the other hand, OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is slower, for instance, when using JPA element collections with small transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with PostgreSQL database server (0.033) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 database server (2.6) reveals that in that case, OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is 78.8 times slower 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	OpenJPA PostgreSQL server	Hibernate H2 server	OpenJPA PostgreSQL server	Hibernate H2 server	OpenJPA PostgreSQL server
Basic Person Test	3.8	4.6	2.4	5.3	3.1	5.0
Element Collection Test	1.9	0.032	1.1	2.8	1.5	1.4
Inheritance Test	3.7	4.3	2.5	4.6	3.1	4.4
Indexing Test	7.6	8.0	3.1	7.1	5.3	7.5
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.99	0.53	0.91	0.55	0.95	0.54
Multithreading Test	6.1	17.4	7.3	9.1	6.7	13.3
All Tests	4.0	5.8	2.9	4.9	3.5	5.4

The results above show that in general OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is more efficient than Hibernate with H2 server in deleting JPA entity objects from the database.

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 OpenJPA with PostgreSQL database server (17.4) reveals that in that case, OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is 2.9 times faster than Hibernate with H2 server.

On the other hand, OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is slower, for instance, when using JPA element collections with small transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with PostgreSQL database server (0.032) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 database server (1.9) reveals that in that case, OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is 59.4 times slower 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	OpenJPA PostgreSQL server	Hibernate H2 server	OpenJPA PostgreSQL server	Hibernate H2 server	OpenJPA PostgreSQL server
Basic Person Test	3.6	5.1	2.8	7.5	3.2	6.3
Element Collection Test	2.6	0.72	1.0	4.6	1.8	2.6
Inheritance Test	4.0	4.7	3.4	7.6	3.7	6.2
Indexing Test	4.6	6.3	4.5	9.7	4.6	8.0
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	1.5	0.59	1.6	0.50	1.6	0.55
Multithreading Test	5.2	18.7	5.2	12.2	5.2	15.5
All Tests	3.7	6.0	3.2	7.0	3.4	6.5

The results above show that in general OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is more efficient than Hibernate with H2 server in performing JPA database operations.

A large performance gap has been detected when using JPA element collections with large transaction/retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 database server (1.0) to the normalized speed of OpenJPA with PostgreSQL database server (4.6) reveals that in that case, OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is 4.6 times faster than Hibernate with H2 server.

On the other hand, OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is slower, for instance, when using JPA element collections with small transaction/retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with PostgreSQL database server (0.72) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with H2 database server (2.6) reveals that in that case, OpenJPA with PostgreSQL server is 3.6 times slower than Hibernate with H2 server.

JPA Performance Benchmark (JPAB)