Benchmark: Math.random vs crypto.getRandomValues

Tests:

Math.random
Math.random()
crypto API
crypto.getRandomValues(new Uint8Array(1))

Historical Performance Data aggregated from 72 community runs

Desktop Results:

Chrome 66 runs

Math.random

16.0M/s

crypto API

832K/s

Fastest: Math.random (19.3x faster)

View exact numbers

✓ Math.random: 16,030,738 ops/sec
• crypto API: 832,086 ops/sec

Firefox 6 runs

Math.random

1245.0M/s

crypto API

1.2M/s

Fastest: Math.random (1054.4x faster)

View exact numbers

✓ Math.random: 1,244,993,152 ops/sec
• crypto API: 1,180,720 ops/sec

Results show median performance across all community submissions. Run this benchmark yourself to verify on your device.

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
Math.random
crypto API

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: 7 months ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/142.0.0.0 Safari/537.36

Browser/OS: Chrome 142 on Mac OS X 10.15.7

View result in a separate tab

Math.random

65.6M/s

crypto API

455K/s

View exact numbers

Test name	Executions per second
✓ Math.random	65,569,552 Ops/sec
crypto API	454,750 Ops/sec

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated one year ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

Let's break down what's being tested in the provided benchmark.

**Benchmark Definition**

The website measures the performance of JavaScript microbenchmarks, specifically comparing the usage of `Math.random()` and `crypto.getRandomValues()`. The goal is to determine which method is faster and more efficient.

**Options Compared**

Two options are compared:

1. **`Math.random()`**: This function generates a random number between 0 (inclusive) and 1 (exclusive). It's a built-in JavaScript function that uses an algorithm to generate pseudo-random numbers.
2. **`crypto.getRandomValues(new Uint8Array(1))`**: This method returns a sequence of cryptographically secure pseudo-random numbers from the `crypto` module. The `new Uint8Array(1)` part creates a new array with one element, which is used as an output for the random number generation.

**Pros and Cons**

* **`Math.random()`**:
	+ Pros: Simple, widely supported, and fast.
	+ Cons: Pseudo-random numbers might not be suitable for cryptographic purposes due to their predictable nature.
* **`crypto.getRandomValues()`**:
	+ Pros: Provides cryptographically secure pseudo-random numbers, making it suitable for cryptographic applications.
	+ Cons: May be slower than `Math.random()` due to the additional overhead of generating cryptographically secure random numbers.

**Library and Purpose**

In this benchmark, the `crypto` library is used. The `crypto` module provides various cryptographic functions, including `getRandomValues()`, which generates cryptographically secure pseudo-random numbers.

**Special JS Feature or Syntax**

There's no special JavaScript feature or syntax being tested in this benchmark. Both options rely on standard JavaScript constructs: `Math.random()` and the `crypto.getRandomValues()` method.

**Other Considerations**

When choosing between these two options, consider the requirements of your application:

* If you need cryptographically secure random numbers for cryptographic applications, use `crypto.getRandomValues()`.
* For general-purpose applications that require fast, pseudo-random numbers, use `Math.random()`.

**Alternatives**

If you're looking for alternative methods to generate random numbers in JavaScript, you can consider using:

* `Web Cryptography API`: A W3C standard for generating and manipulating cryptographic keys and values.
* `Random.org` or other online randomness services: These provide cryptographically secure pseudo-random numbers.
* Other libraries like `seedrandom` or `simple-rng`, which implement different random number generation algorithms.

Keep in mind that the choice of random number generator depends on your specific use case, performance requirements, and the level of security needed.

Math.random vs crypto.getRandomValues (version: 0) Benchmark.js

Fast and quick test

Comparing performance of: `Math.random vs crypto API`

Created: 5 years ago by: Guest

Go to the latest result

Math.random

crypto API

Historical Performance Data aggregated from 72 community runs

Desktop Results:

Chrome 66 runs

Firefox 6 runs

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated one year ago):

Math.random vs crypto.getRandomValues (version: 0) Benchmark.js

Fast and quick test

Comparing performance of: Math.random vs crypto API

Created: 5 years ago by: Guest

Go to the latest result

Math.random

crypto API

Historical Performance Data aggregated from 72 community runs

Desktop Results:

Chrome 66 runs

Firefox 6 runs

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated one year ago):

Related benchmarks

Comparing performance of: `Math.random vs crypto API`