Comparison of Hibernate with PostgreSQL server vs EclipseLink 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 PostgreSQL server	EclipseLink HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate PostgreSQL server	EclipseLink HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate PostgreSQL server	EclipseLink HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	7.1	27.1	3.4	17.2	5.2	22.2
Element Collection Test	2.9	17.2	1.7	8.2	2.3	12.7
Inheritance Test	7.0	26.7	3.6	11.9	5.3	19.3
Indexing Test	9.3	30.6	6.1	18.6	7.7	24.6
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	3.0	20.0	2.9	15.9	2.9	18.0
Multithreading Test	31.7	32.5	13.9	11.4	22.8	22.0
All Tests	10.2	25.7	5.3	13.9	7.7	19.8

The results above show that in general EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded is more efficient than Hibernate with PostgreSQL server in persisting JPA entity objects to the database. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with PostgreSQL database server (7.7) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded database (19.8) reveals that in these tests, EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded is 2.6 times faster than Hibernate with PostgreSQL server.

A large performance gap has been detected when using graphs of objects with small transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with PostgreSQL database server (3.0) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded database (20.0) reveals that in that case, EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded is 6.7 times faster than Hibernate with PostgreSQL server.

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

Retrieval Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate PostgreSQL server	EclipseLink HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate PostgreSQL server	EclipseLink HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate PostgreSQL server	EclipseLink HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	5.5	24.4	11.5	36.0	8.5	30.2
Element Collection Test	0.025	14.9	0.017	19.1	0.021	17.0
Inheritance Test	5.2	22.8	14.0	40.0	9.6	31.4
Indexing Test	4.6	20.7	13.3	38.7	8.9	29.7
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.61	8.7	0.78	14.2	0.70	11.4
Multithreading Test	11.3	24.2	17.0	28.0	14.2	26.1
All Tests	4.5	19.3	9.4	29.3	7.0	24.3

The results above show that in general EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded is much more efficient than Hibernate with PostgreSQL server in retrieving JPA entity objects from the database. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with PostgreSQL database server (7.0) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded database (24.3) reveals that in these tests, EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded is 3.5 times faster than Hibernate with PostgreSQL server.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using JPA element collections with large retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with PostgreSQL database server (0.017) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded database (19.1) reveals that in that case, EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded is 1,124 times faster than Hibernate with PostgreSQL server.

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

Retrieval Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate PostgreSQL server	EclipseLink HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate PostgreSQL server	EclipseLink HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate PostgreSQL server	EclipseLink HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	55.5	2.9	6.1	0.88	30.8	1.9
Element Collection Test	11.0	3.2	0.016	1.4	5.5	2.3
Inheritance Test	52.3	2.6	8.7	1.1	30.5	1.9
Indexing Test	0.050	21.5	8.8	33.3	4.4	27.4
Multithreading Test	55.2	1.1	9.2	0.52	32.2	0.82
All Tests	34.8	6.3	6.6	7.4	20.7	6.9

The results above show that in general Hibernate with PostgreSQL server is more efficient than EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded in executing the tested JPA queries. Comparing the normalized speed of EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded database (6.9) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with PostgreSQL database server (20.7) reveals that in these tests, Hibernate with PostgreSQL server is 3.0 times faster than EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using multithreading with small retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded database (1.1) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with PostgreSQL database server (55.2) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with PostgreSQL server is 50.2 times faster than EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded.

On the other hand, Hibernate with PostgreSQL server is slower, for instance, when using database indexes with small retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with PostgreSQL database server (0.050) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded database (21.5) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with PostgreSQL server is 430 times slower than EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded.

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

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate PostgreSQL server	EclipseLink HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate PostgreSQL server	EclipseLink HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate PostgreSQL server	EclipseLink HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	5.3	17.9	2.7	7.0	4.0	12.5
Element Collection Test	0.067	14.6	0.026	8.3	0.046	11.4
Inheritance Test	5.4	16.2	3.8	9.7	4.6	13.0
Indexing Test	5.4	12.0	4.3	6.8	4.8	9.4
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	1.1	4.7	0.58	3.4	0.82	4.0
Multithreading Test	29.6	24.4	6.3	4.4	18.0	14.4
All Tests	7.8	15.0	2.9	6.6	5.4	10.8

The results above show that in general EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded is more efficient than Hibernate with PostgreSQL server in updating JPA entity objects in the database. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with PostgreSQL database server (5.4) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded database (10.8) reveals that in these tests, EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded is 2.0 times faster than Hibernate with PostgreSQL server.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using JPA element collections with large transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with PostgreSQL database server (0.026) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded database (8.3) reveals that in that case, EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded is 319 times faster than Hibernate with PostgreSQL server.

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

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate PostgreSQL server	EclipseLink HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate PostgreSQL server	EclipseLink HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate PostgreSQL server	EclipseLink HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	5.3	32.3	4.2	20.3	4.8	26.3
Element Collection Test	0.020	14.3	stopped	6.0	0.0098	10.2
Inheritance Test	5.1	29.2	4.2	23.9	4.6	26.6
Indexing Test	9.5	55.3	6.3	27.1	7.9	41.2
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.012	6.8	0.012	14.1	0.012	10.4
Multithreading Test	23.3	52.9	21.8	28.4	22.5	40.6
All Tests	7.2	31.8	6.1	20.0	6.6	25.9

The results above show that in general EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded is much more efficient than Hibernate with PostgreSQL server in deleting JPA entity objects from the database. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with PostgreSQL database server (6.6) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded database (25.9) reveals that in these tests, EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded is 3.9 times faster than Hibernate with PostgreSQL server.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using graphs of objects with large transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with PostgreSQL database server (0.012) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded database (14.1) reveals that in that case, EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded is 1,175 times faster than Hibernate with PostgreSQL server.

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

Transaction/Retrieval Size	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate PostgreSQL server	EclipseLink HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate PostgreSQL server	EclipseLink HSQLDB embedded	Hibernate PostgreSQL server	EclipseLink HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	15.7	20.9	5.6	16.3	10.7	18.6
Element Collection Test	2.8	12.8	0.35	8.6	1.6	10.7
Inheritance Test	15.0	19.5	6.9	17.3	10.9	18.4
Indexing Test	5.8	28.0	7.8	24.9	6.8	26.5
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	1.2	10.0	1.1	11.9	1.1	11.0
Multithreading Test	30.2	27.0	13.6	14.6	21.9	20.8
All Tests	12.1	20.1	6.0	15.7	9.1	17.9

The results above show that in general EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded is more efficient than Hibernate 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 Hibernate with PostgreSQL database server (0.35) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded database (8.6) reveals that in that case, EclipseLink with HSQLDB embedded is 24.6 times faster than Hibernate with PostgreSQL server.

JPA Performance Benchmark (JPAB)