Comparison of OpenJPA with MySQL 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 MySQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA MySQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA MySQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	3.9	32.6	1.6	13.1	2.7	22.9
Element Collection Test	1.6	15.1	0.68	8.2	1.1	11.7
Inheritance Test	3.6	25.5	1.4	13.6	2.5	19.5
Indexing Test	5.6	29.6	2.4	18.8	4.0	24.2
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.68	13.8	0.57	15.6	0.63	14.7
Multithreading Test	7.2	37.4	2.7	13.0	4.9	25.2
All Tests	3.7	25.6	1.5	13.7	2.6	19.7

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is much more efficient than OpenJPA with MySQL server in persisting JPA entity objects to the database. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with MySQL database server (2.6) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (19.7) reveals that in these tests, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 7.6 times faster than OpenJPA with MySQL server.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using graphs of objects with large transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with MySQL database server (0.57) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (15.6) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 27.4 times faster than OpenJPA with MySQL server.

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

Retrieval Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	OpenJPA MySQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA MySQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA MySQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	3.2	24.8	22.7	16.4	12.9	20.6
Element Collection Test	0.0038	11.3	2.9	10.8	1.4	11.0
Inheritance Test	0.017	21.7	6.9	21.0	3.4	21.3
Indexing Test	2.4	11.9	23.4	21.5	12.9	16.7
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.27	3.6	0.35	4.7	0.31	4.1
Multithreading Test	0.14	19.8	18.1	21.5	9.1	20.6
All Tests	1.0	15.5	12.4	16.0	6.7	15.7

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is more efficient than OpenJPA with MySQL server in retrieving JPA entity objects from the database. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with MySQL database server (6.7) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (15.7) reveals that in these tests, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 2.3 times faster than OpenJPA with MySQL server.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using JPA element collections with small retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with MySQL database server (0.0038) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (11.3) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 2,974 times faster than OpenJPA with MySQL server.

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

Retrieval Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	OpenJPA MySQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA MySQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA MySQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	9.3	3.6	2.2	0.88	5.8	2.2
Element Collection Test	4.8	3.4	1.1	1.7	2.9	2.6
Inheritance Test	1.5	2.9	0.90	1.0	1.2	1.9
Indexing Test	0.31	9.9	2.1	21.7	1.2	15.8
Multithreading Test	1.9	1.1	0.99	0.58	1.4	0.82
All Tests	3.6	4.2	1.5	5.2	2.5	4.7

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is more efficient than OpenJPA with MySQL server in executing the tested JPA queries.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using database indexes with small retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with MySQL database server (0.31) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (9.9) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 31.9 times faster than OpenJPA with MySQL server.

On the other hand, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is slower, for instance, when using simple basic entities with small retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (3.6) to the normalized speed of OpenJPA with MySQL database server (9.3) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 2.6 times slower than OpenJPA with MySQL server.

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

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	OpenJPA MySQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA MySQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA MySQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	0.74	14.2	1.6	5.0	1.2	9.6
Element Collection Test	0.014	10.1	1.7	5.6	0.87	7.8
Inheritance Test	0.048	13.4	2.0	7.5	1.0	10.5
Indexing Test	0.74	10.7	3.0	6.1	1.9	8.4
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.45	3.7	0.25	2.5	0.35	3.1
Multithreading Test	0.55	23.9	2.9	3.8	1.7	13.9
All Tests	0.42	12.7	1.9	5.1	1.2	8.9

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is much more efficient than OpenJPA with MySQL server in updating JPA entity objects in the database. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with MySQL database server (1.2) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (8.9) reveals that in these tests, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 7.4 times faster than OpenJPA with MySQL server.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using JPA element collections with small transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with MySQL database server (0.014) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (10.1) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 721 times faster than OpenJPA with MySQL server.

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

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	OpenJPA MySQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA MySQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA MySQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	0.98	26.1	1.7	17.5	1.4	21.8
Element Collection Test	0.0099	9.1	0.65	5.2	0.33	7.1
Inheritance Test	0.033	21.4	1.5	17.7	0.75	19.6
Indexing Test	0.64	33.0	2.0	16.3	1.3	24.7
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.41	5.4	0.43	8.2	0.42	6.8
Multithreading Test	0.27	38.5	2.9	28.6	1.6	33.5
All Tests	0.39	22.3	1.5	15.6	0.96	18.9

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is much more efficient than OpenJPA with MySQL server in deleting JPA entity objects from the database. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with MySQL database server (0.96) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (18.9) reveals that in these tests, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 19.7 times faster than OpenJPA with MySQL server.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using JPA element collections with small transaction size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with MySQL database server (0.0099) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (9.1) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 919 times faster than OpenJPA with MySQL server.

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

Transaction/Retrieval Size	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	OpenJPA MySQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA MySQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded	OpenJPA MySQL server	Hibernate HSQLDB embedded
Basic Person Test	3.6	20.2	6.0	10.6	4.8	15.4
Element Collection Test	1.3	9.8	1.4	6.3	1.3	8.0
Inheritance Test	1.0	17.0	2.5	12.2	1.8	14.6
Indexing Test	1.9	19.0	6.6	16.9	4.3	18.0
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	0.45	6.6	0.40	7.8	0.43	7.2
Multithreading Test	2.0	24.1	5.5	13.5	3.8	18.8
All Tests	1.8	16.5	3.9	11.3	2.8	13.9

The results above show that in general Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is much more efficient than OpenJPA with MySQL server in performing JPA database operations. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with MySQL database server (2.8) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (13.9) reveals that in these tests, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 5.0 times faster than OpenJPA with MySQL server.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using graphs of objects with large transaction/retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of OpenJPA with MySQL database server (0.40) to the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded database (7.8) reveals that in that case, Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded is 19.5 times faster than OpenJPA with MySQL server.

JPA Performance Benchmark (JPAB)