Comparison of OpenJPA with Derby 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
	OpenJPA Derby server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA Derby server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA Derby server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	3.1	32.6	2.7	13.1	2.9	22.9
Element Collection Test	2.0	15.1	1.7	8.2	1.8	11.7
Inheritance Test	3.0	25.5	2.3	13.6	2.6	19.5
Indexing Test	4.7	29.6	4.1	18.8	4.4	24.2
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.71	13.8	0.64	15.6	0.67	14.7
Multithreading Test	6.0	37.4	3.8	13.0	4.9	25.2
All Tests	3.3	25.6	2.5	13.7	2.9	19.7

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is much more efficient than OpenJPA with Derby server in persisting JPA entity objects to the database. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with Derby database server (2.9) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (19.7) reveals that in these tests, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 6.8 times faster than OpenJPA with Derby server.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using graphs of objects with large transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with Derby database server (0.64) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (15.6) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 24.4 times faster than OpenJPA with Derby server.

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

Retrieval Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	OpenJPA Derby server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA Derby server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA Derby server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	0.78	24.8	11.6	16.4	6.2	20.6
Element Collection Test	0.0024	11.3	1.1	10.8	0.54	11.0
Inheritance Test	0.014	21.7	5.0	21.0	2.5	21.3
Indexing Test	0.62	11.9	13.0	21.5	6.8	16.7
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.065	3.6	0.39	4.7	0.23	4.1
Multithreading Test	1.6	19.8	19.0	21.5	10.3	20.6
All Tests	0.51	15.5	8.4	16.0	4.4	15.7

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is much more efficient than OpenJPA with Derby server in retrieving JPA entity objects from the database. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with Derby database server (4.4) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (15.7) reveals that in these tests, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 3.6 times faster than OpenJPA with Derby server.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using JPA element collections with small retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with Derby database server (0.0024) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (11.3) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 4,708 times faster than OpenJPA with Derby server.

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

Retrieval Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	OpenJPA Derby server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA Derby server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA Derby server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	29.2	3.6	5.5	0.88	17.3	2.2
Element Collection Test	2.2	3.4	1.4	1.7	1.8	2.6
Inheritance Test	2.2	2.9	1.0	1.0	1.6	1.9
Indexing Test	2.2	9.9	11.7	21.7	7.0	15.8
Multithreading Test	35.5	1.1	8.3	0.58	21.9	0.82
All Tests	14.3	4.2	5.6	5.2	9.9	4.7

The results above show that in general OpenJPA with Derby server is 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 OpenJPA with Derby database server (9.9) reveals that in these tests, OpenJPA with Derby server is 2.1 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 OpenJPA with Derby database server (35.5) reveals that in that case, OpenJPA with Derby server is 32.3 times faster than Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded.

On the other hand, OpenJPA with Derby server is slower, for instance, when using database indexes with small retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with Derby database server (2.2) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (9.9) reveals that in that case, OpenJPA with Derby server is 4.5 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
	OpenJPA Derby server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA Derby server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA Derby server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	1.5	14.2	4.0	5.0	2.8	9.6
Element Collection Test	0.0081	10.1	1.9	5.6	0.94	7.8
Inheritance Test	0.043	13.4	3.8	7.5	1.9	10.5
Indexing Test	1.8	10.7	6.8	6.1	4.3	8.4
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.16	3.7	0.27	2.5	0.22	3.1
Multithreading Test	6.9	23.9	5.0	3.8	5.9	13.9
All Tests	1.7	12.7	3.6	5.1	2.7	8.9

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is much more efficient than OpenJPA with Derby server in updating JPA entity objects in the database. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with Derby database server (2.7) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (8.9) reveals that in these tests, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 3.3 times faster than OpenJPA with Derby server.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using JPA element collections with small transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with Derby database server (0.0081) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (10.1) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 1,247 times faster than OpenJPA with Derby server.

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

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	OpenJPA Derby server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA Derby server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA Derby server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	1.4	26.1	3.7	17.5	2.5	21.8
Element Collection Test	0.0082	9.1	1.4	5.2	0.71	7.1
Inheritance Test	0.035	21.4	2.5	17.7	1.3	19.6
Indexing Test	2.3	33.0	3.5	16.3	2.9	24.7
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.13	5.4	0.35	8.2	0.24	6.8
Multithreading Test	3.6	38.5	4.0	28.6	3.8	33.5
All Tests	1.3	22.3	2.6	15.6	1.9	18.9

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is much more efficient than OpenJPA with Derby server in deleting JPA entity objects from the database. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with Derby database server (1.9) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (18.9) reveals that in these tests, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 9.9 times faster than OpenJPA with Derby server.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using JPA element collections with small transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with Derby database server (0.0082) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (9.1) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 1,110 times faster than OpenJPA with Derby server.

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

Transaction/Retrieval Size	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	OpenJPA Derby server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA Derby server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA Derby server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	7.2	20.2	5.5	10.6	6.4	15.4
Element Collection Test	0.84	9.8	1.5	6.3	1.2	8.0
Inheritance Test	1.1	17.0	2.9	12.2	2.0	14.6
Indexing Test	2.3	19.0	7.8	16.9	5.1	18.0
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.27	6.6	0.41	7.8	0.34	7.2
Multithreading Test	10.7	24.1	8.0	13.5	9.4	18.8
All Tests	3.9	16.5	4.5	11.3	4.2	13.9

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is much more efficient than OpenJPA with Derby server in performing JPA database operations. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with Derby database server (4.2) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (13.9) reveals that in these tests, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 3.3 times faster than OpenJPA with Derby server.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using graphs of objects with small transaction/retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with Derby database server (0.27) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (6.6) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 24.4 times faster than OpenJPA with Derby server.

JPA Performance Benchmark (JPAB)