benchmarking serialization frameworks

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README.md

serialization-bench

Benchmarking serialization frameworks for encode/decode throughput and payload size.

Benchmark

cargo bench

nix run .#bench

Individual benchmarks can also be run directly:

cargo bench --bench flatbuffers
cargo bench --bench fory
cargo bench --bench json
cargo bench --bench protobuf
nix run .#bench-flatbuffers
nix run .#bench-fory
nix run .#bench-json
nix run .#bench-protobuf

The FlatBuffers benchmark uses flatbuffers with generated-style Rust table accessors committed in the benchmark source. The Apache Fory benchmark uses fory xlang mode. The JSON benchmark uses serde_json. The protobuf benchmark uses prost. All benchmarks print encoded payload size.

Suites

The shared safe full-decode suite measures encode, verified/safe decode into owned Rust values, and round-trip throughput for every framework.

suite	frameworks	payloads	operations
safe full decode	FlatBuffers, Apache Fory xlang, JSON/serde_json, Protobuf/prost	telemetry event, checkout request, checkout response	encode, decode, round-trip
verified access all	FlatBuffers	telemetry event	verify buffer and read every field through accessors without materializing owned values
verified access partial	FlatBuffers	telemetry event	verify buffer and read routing/latest-sample fields through accessors
optimized struct vector	FlatBuffers	telemetry event	encode, decode, and round-trip with metric samples modeled as FlatBuffers structs

Results

Run on debian (x86_64, Linux 6.17.13-3-pve) with Rust 1.95.0. Each benchmark used Criterion with 10 seconds of warmup, 60 seconds of measurement, and 200 samples per operation. Values are Criterion point estimates with throughput in parentheses.

Safe Full Decode

payload	framework	encoded size	encode	decode	round-trip
telemetry event	Apache Fory xlang	1,597 B	1.4118 us (1.0535 GiB/s)	1.7537 us (868.46 MiB/s)	3.1475 us (483.87 MiB/s)
telemetry event	JSON/serde_json	8,217 B	7.4642 us (1.0253 GiB/s)	11.828 us (662.54 MiB/s)	19.821 us (395.36 MiB/s)
telemetry event	Protobuf/prost	2,079 B	3.7013 us (535.68 MiB/s)	3.7038 us (535.31 MiB/s)	7.4827 us (264.97 MiB/s)
telemetry event	FlatBuffers	4,984 B	6.5584 us (724.73 MiB/s)	7.8142 us (608.27 MiB/s)	14.601 us (325.53 MiB/s)
checkout request	Apache Fory xlang	814 B	1.1173 us (694.78 MiB/s)	1.0175 us (762.94 MiB/s)	2.4682 us (314.51 MiB/s)
checkout request	JSON/serde_json	1,025 B	1.5293 us (639.17 MiB/s)	2.2278 us (438.77 MiB/s)	4.1954 us (233.00 MiB/s)
checkout request	Protobuf/prost	460 B	1.0685 us (410.58 MiB/s)	1.2409 us (353.53 MiB/s)	2.5096 us (174.80 MiB/s)
checkout request	FlatBuffers	944 B	1.4313 us (629.00 MiB/s)	1.8834 us (477.99 MiB/s)	3.8634 us (233.02 MiB/s)
checkout response	Apache Fory xlang	594 B	787.43 ns (719.41 MiB/s)	696.20 ns (813.68 MiB/s)	1.6172 us (350.28 MiB/s)
checkout response	JSON/serde_json	738 B	1.1074 us (635.53 MiB/s)	1.4298 us (492.23 MiB/s)	2.7675 us (254.32 MiB/s)
checkout response	Protobuf/prost	371 B	816.76 ns (433.19 MiB/s)	810.40 ns (436.59 MiB/s)	1.6526 us (214.09 MiB/s)
checkout response	FlatBuffers	688 B	1.0368 us (632.81 MiB/s)	1.2257 us (535.31 MiB/s)	2.4768 us (264.91 MiB/s)

FlatBuffers Specific

suite	encoded size	operation	result
verified access all	4,984 B	access all	7.5116 us (632.77 MiB/s)
verified access partial	4,984 B	access partial	7.3807 us (643.99 MiB/s)
optimized struct vector	3,424 B	encode	1.1754 us (2.7130 GiB/s)
optimized struct vector	3,424 B	decode	930.92 ns (3.4255 GiB/s)
optimized struct vector	3,424 B	round-trip	2.2738 us (1.4024 GiB/s)

Payloads

The telemetry event is a larger batch-style message with service metadata, tags, four attributes, and 128 metric samples.

The checkout request is a CheckoutService.PlaceOrder request with request metadata, customer/session IDs, currency, three line items, shipping address, payment method, coupon codes, and four attributes.

The checkout response is a successful order response with request metadata, order status, subtotal/discount/tax/shipping/total amounts, two shipments, and four attributes.