Comparison of OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded vs EclipseLink with H2 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 HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded
Basic Person Test	13.3	25.1	6.9	8.9	10.1	17.0
Element Collection Test	8.6	20.4	5.3	8.0	7.0	14.2
Inheritance Test	12.2	28.7	5.8	8.7	9.0	18.7
Indexing Test	16.7	37.6	9.1	14.0	12.9	25.8
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	6.1	17.7	7.3	14.7	6.7	16.2
Multithreading Test	26.8	30.3	7.0	11.4	16.9	20.8
All Tests	13.9	26.6	6.9	10.9	10.4	18.8

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

A large performance gap has been detected when using graphs of objects with small transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded database (6.1) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with H2 embedded database (17.7) reveals that in that case, EclipseLink with H2 embedded is 2.9 times faster than OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded.

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

Retrieval Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded
Basic Person Test	21.8	30.4	30.1	29.1	25.9	29.7
Element Collection Test	0.0068	19.6	4.5	27.6	2.2	23.6
Inheritance Test	0.0025	33.8	2.0	39.8	0.98	36.8
Indexing Test	22.1	22.2	43.6	41.3	32.9	31.8
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	2.1	16.0	2.1	20.0	2.1	18.0
Multithreading Test	20.9	33.7	23.5	29.0	22.2	31.4
All Tests	11.1	25.9	17.6	31.1	14.4	28.5

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

A huge performance gap has been detected when using class inheritance in the object model with small retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded database (0.0025) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with H2 embedded database (33.8) reveals that in that case, EclipseLink with H2 embedded is 13,520 times faster than OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded.

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

Retrieval Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded
Basic Person Test	2.8	4.4	0.91	1.4	1.9	2.9
Element Collection Test	1.4	4.1	0.95	2.4	1.2	3.2
Inheritance Test	2.4	3.4	1.3	2.0	1.8	2.7
Indexing Test	15.4	13.0	34.3	22.8	24.9	17.9
Multithreading Test	1.4	1.0	0.53	0.67	0.95	0.85
All Tests	4.7	5.2	7.6	5.9	6.1	5.5

The results above show that in general OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded is slightly more efficient than EclipseLink with H2 embedded in executing the tested JPA queries.

On the other hand, OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded is slower, for instance, when using JPA element collections with small retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded database (1.4) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with H2 embedded database (4.1) reveals that in that case, OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded is 2.9 times slower than EclipseLink with H2 embedded.

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

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded
Basic Person Test	12.0	16.6	5.3	7.6	8.6	12.1
Element Collection Test	0.017	15.3	3.7	10.5	1.8	12.9
Inheritance Test	0.0098	15.7	2.0	9.8	0.99	12.7
Indexing Test	9.3	12.1	5.5	9.9	7.4	11.0
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	2.5	13.7	1.6	7.0	2.1	10.3
Multithreading Test	20.0	20.9	3.7	4.2	11.8	12.6
All Tests	7.3	15.7	3.6	8.2	5.5	12.0

The results above show that in general EclipseLink with H2 embedded is more efficient than OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded in updating JPA entity objects in the database. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded database (5.5) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with H2 embedded database (12.0) reveals that in these tests, EclipseLink with H2 embedded is 2.2 times faster than OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using class inheritance in the object model with small transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded database (0.0098) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with H2 embedded database (15.7) reveals that in that case, EclipseLink with H2 embedded is 1,602 times faster than OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded.

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

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded
Basic Person Test	21.3	35.1	15.7	19.6	18.5	27.4
Element Collection Test	0.011	19.3	2.9	8.5	1.5	13.9
Inheritance Test	0.0070	36.0	3.5	14.0	1.8	25.0
Indexing Test	28.8	42.5	15.2	19.2	22.0	30.9
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	2.9	12.2	3.6	14.4	3.2	13.3
Multithreading Test	26.0	54.4	19.6	25.8	22.8	40.1
All Tests	13.2	33.3	10.1	16.9	11.6	25.1

The results above show that in general EclipseLink with H2 embedded is more efficient than OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded in deleting JPA entity objects from the database. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded database (11.6) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with H2 embedded database (25.1) reveals that in these tests, EclipseLink with H2 embedded is 2.2 times faster than OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using class inheritance in the object model with small transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded database (0.0070) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with H2 embedded database (36.0) reveals that in that case, EclipseLink with H2 embedded is 5,143 times faster than OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded.

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

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded
Basic Person Test	41.4	36.2	41.4	39.2	41.4	37.7
Element Collection Test	46.9	33.3	46.9	34.9	46.9	34.1
Inheritance Test	41.4	35.4	41.4	36.2	41.4	35.8
Indexing Test	48.4	39.8	49.2	43.7	48.8	41.7
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	28.5	41.0	21.4	28.4	25.0	34.7
Multithreading Test	51.9	48.7	10.3	12.4	31.1	30.6
All Tests	43.1	39.1	35.1	32.5	39.1	35.8

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

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

Transaction/Retrieval Size	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded	OpenJPA HSQLDB embedded	EclipseLink H2 embedded
Basic Person Test	14.3	22.3	11.8	13.3	13.0	17.8
Element Collection Test	2.0	15.7	3.5	11.4	2.7	13.6
Inheritance Test	2.9	23.5	2.9	14.9	2.9	19.2
Indexing Test	18.5	25.5	21.6	21.5	20.0	23.5
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	3.4	14.9	3.7	14.0	3.5	14.5
Multithreading Test	19.0	28.1	10.9	14.2	14.9	21.1
All Tests	10.2	21.9	9.2	14.9	9.7	18.4

The results above show that in general EclipseLink with H2 embedded is more efficient than OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded in performing JPA database operations.

A large performance gap has been detected when using class inheritance in the object model with small transaction/retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded database (2.9) to the normalized speed of EclipseLink with H2 embedded database (23.5) reveals that in that case, EclipseLink with H2 embedded is 8.1 times faster than OpenJPA with HSQLDB embedded.

JPA Performance Benchmark (JPAB)