Comparison of Hibernate with HSQLDB server vs DataNucleus with Derby 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 HSQLDB server	DataNucleus Derby embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB server	DataNucleus Derby embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB server	DataNucleus Derby embedded
Basic Person Test	stopped	9.7	stopped	8.2	stopped	8.9
Element Collection Test	stopped	6.1	stopped	4.0	stopped	5.1
Inheritance Test	stopped	5.6	stopped	10.7	stopped	8.2
Indexing Test	stopped	10.0	stopped	10.8	stopped	10.4
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	stopped	2.9	stopped	2.8	stopped	2.9
Multithreading Test	stopped	8.3	stopped	0.0000	stopped	4.2
All Tests	stopped	7.1	stopped	6.1	stopped	6.6

The results above show that in general DataNucleus with Derby embedded is much more efficient than Hibernate with HSQLDB server in persisting JPA entity objects to the database. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB database server (0.0000) to the normalized speed of DataNucleus with Derby embedded database (6.6) reveals that in these tests, DataNucleus with Derby embedded is ? times faster than Hibernate with HSQLDB server.

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

Retrieval Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate HSQLDB server	DataNucleus Derby embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB server	DataNucleus Derby embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB server	DataNucleus Derby embedded
Basic Person Test	stopped	3.9	stopped	6.4	stopped	5.1
Element Collection Test	stopped	3.5	stopped	6.4	stopped	4.9
Inheritance Test	stopped	4.2	stopped	6.1	stopped	5.1
Indexing Test	stopped	3.3	stopped	5.7	stopped	4.5
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	stopped	3.2	stopped	5.1	stopped	4.2
Multithreading Test	stopped	2.4	stopped	8.7	stopped	5.5
All Tests	stopped	3.4	stopped	6.4	stopped	4.9

The results above show that in general DataNucleus with Derby embedded is much more efficient than Hibernate with HSQLDB server in retrieving JPA entity objects from the database. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB database server (0.0000) to the normalized speed of DataNucleus with Derby embedded database (4.9) reveals that in these tests, DataNucleus with Derby embedded is ? times faster than Hibernate with HSQLDB server.

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

Retrieval Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate HSQLDB server	DataNucleus Derby embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB server	DataNucleus Derby embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB server	DataNucleus Derby embedded
Basic Person Test	stopped	0.10	stopped	1.1	stopped	0.60
Element Collection Test	stopped	0.27	stopped	1.4	stopped	0.82
Inheritance Test	stopped	0.10	stopped	1.3	stopped	0.69
Indexing Test	stopped	0.12	stopped	1.1	stopped	0.63
Multithreading Test	stopped	failed	stopped	failed	stopped	failed
All Tests	stopped	0.15	stopped	1.2	stopped	0.68

DataNucleus with Derby embedded has failed in 2 tests (see exceptions).

The results above show that in general DataNucleus with Derby embedded is much more efficient than Hibernate with HSQLDB server in executing the tested JPA queries. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB database server (0.0000) to the normalized speed of DataNucleus with Derby embedded database (0.68) reveals that in these tests, DataNucleus with Derby embedded is ? times faster than Hibernate with HSQLDB server.

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

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate HSQLDB server	DataNucleus Derby embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB server	DataNucleus Derby embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB server	DataNucleus Derby embedded
Basic Person Test	stopped	1.8	stopped	2.5	stopped	2.1
Element Collection Test	stopped	3.3	stopped	1.6	stopped	2.5
Inheritance Test	stopped	1.6	stopped	3.6	stopped	2.6
Indexing Test	stopped	4.8	stopped	4.0	stopped	4.4
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	stopped	2.6	stopped	1.6	stopped	2.1
Multithreading Test	stopped	failed	stopped	failed	stopped	failed
All Tests	stopped	2.8	stopped	2.7	stopped	2.7

DataNucleus with Derby embedded has failed in 2 tests (see exceptions).

The results above show that in general DataNucleus with Derby embedded is much more efficient than Hibernate with HSQLDB server in updating JPA entity objects in the database. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB database server (0.0000) to the normalized speed of DataNucleus with Derby embedded database (2.7) reveals that in these tests, DataNucleus with Derby embedded is ? times faster than Hibernate with HSQLDB server.

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

Transaction Size =>	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate HSQLDB server	DataNucleus Derby embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB server	DataNucleus Derby embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB server	DataNucleus Derby embedded
Basic Person Test	stopped	1.8	stopped	0.81	stopped	1.3
Element Collection Test	stopped	2.7	stopped	0.25	stopped	1.5
Inheritance Test	stopped	2.0	stopped	0.59	stopped	1.3
Indexing Test	stopped	3.4	stopped	0.57	stopped	2.0
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	stopped	4.2	stopped	5.9	stopped	5.0
Multithreading Test	stopped	6.7	stopped	0.0000	stopped	3.4
All Tests	stopped	3.5	stopped	1.3	stopped	2.4

The results above show that in general DataNucleus with Derby embedded is much more efficient than Hibernate with HSQLDB server in deleting JPA entity objects from the database. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB database server (0.0000) to the normalized speed of DataNucleus with Derby embedded database (2.4) reveals that in these tests, DataNucleus with Derby embedded is ? times faster than Hibernate with HSQLDB server.

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

Transaction/Retrieval Size	Few Entities		Many Entities		Average Score
	Hibernate HSQLDB server	DataNucleus Derby embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB server	DataNucleus Derby embedded	Hibernate HSQLDB server	DataNucleus Derby embedded
Basic Person Test	stopped	3.4	stopped	3.8	stopped	3.6
Element Collection Test	stopped	3.2	stopped	2.7	stopped	2.9
Inheritance Test	stopped	2.7	stopped	4.4	stopped	3.6
Indexing Test	stopped	4.3	stopped	4.4	stopped	4.4
Graph (Binary Tree) Test	stopped	3.2	stopped	3.8	stopped	3.5
Multithreading Test	stopped	5.8	stopped	2.9	stopped	4.3
All Tests	stopped	3.6	stopped	3.7	stopped	3.7

The results above show that in general DataNucleus with Derby embedded is much more efficient than Hibernate with HSQLDB server in performing JPA database operations. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB database server (0.0000) to the normalized speed of DataNucleus with Derby embedded database (3.7) reveals that in these tests, DataNucleus with Derby embedded is ? times faster than Hibernate with HSQLDB server.

A huge performance gap has been detected when using simple basic entities with small transaction/retrieval size. Comparing the normalized speed of Hibernate with HSQLDB database server (0.0000) to the normalized speed of DataNucleus with Derby embedded database (3.4) reveals that in that case, DataNucleus with Derby embedded is ? times faster than Hibernate with HSQLDB server.

JPA Performance Benchmark (JPAB)