Benchmark: bigint vs number

Script Preparation code:

var resBigInt = 1n
var resNumber = 1

Tests:

BigInt
for (let i = 0; i < 52; i++) { resBigInt = resBigInt * 2n + 1n }
Number
for (let i = 0; i < 52; i++) { resNumber = resNumber * 2 + 1 }

Historical Performance Data aggregated from 5 community runs

Desktop Results:

Firefox 5 runs

Number

5.4M/s

BigInt

496/s

Fastest: Number (10831.5x faster)

View exact numbers

✓ Number: 5,375,380 ops/sec
• BigInt: 496 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
BigInt
Number

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: 25 days ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 18_7 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/26.5 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1

Browser/OS: Mobile Safari 26 on iOS 18.7

View result in a separate tab

Number

2.8M/s

BigInt

2K/s

View exact numbers

Test name	Executions per second
✓ Number	2,805,465 Ops/sec
BigInt	1,551 Ops/sec

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

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

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

**Benchmark Definition**

The benchmark is defined in JSON format, which represents a simple arithmetic operation between two types of numbers: `bigint` and `number`. The script preparation code initializes two variables, `resBigInt` and `resNumber`, to 1. There are no specific instructions or conditions for the test.

**Options Compared**

Two options are being compared:

1. **BigInt**: A built-in JavaScript data type that can represent arbitrarily large integers.
2. **Number**: A regular JavaScript number type that has a limited range (usually represented as `float` in binary format).

The benchmark measures which one performs better for the specific operation: `x = x * 2 + 1`, where `x` is either `resBigInt` or `resNumber`.

**Pros and Cons**

**BigInt:**

Pros:

* Can handle very large numbers, making it suitable for applications that require precise calculations with high precision.
* Provides a more robust data type compared to regular numbers.

Cons:

* Has performance overhead due to its larger size and potentially slower arithmetic operations.
* Not all browsers or environments support BigInt natively (some older versions may have limitations).

**Number:**

Pros:

* Generally faster and more lightweight than BigInt.
* Most modern browsers and environments support number calculations without any performance issues.

Cons:

* Limited range, which can lead to overflow errors for very large numbers.

**Other Considerations**

When choosing between BigInt and Number, consider the following factors:

* Precision requirements: If you need precise calculations with high precision, use BigInt. Otherwise, regular numbers might be sufficient.
* Performance: If speed is a concern, number might be a better choice due to its generally faster arithmetic operations.
* Compatibility: Make sure the target environment supports BigInt and has no performance issues.

**Library or Special JS Feature**

There are no specific libraries used in this benchmark, as it only involves basic arithmetic operations with built-in JavaScript data types (BigInt and Number).

**Special JS Features**

There is one special feature being tested:

* **BigInt support**: The test measures the performance of BigInt compared to regular numbers. This allows developers to evaluate their environment's support for this new feature.

**Alternative Approaches**

If you need to compare other arithmetic operations or different data types, consider these alternatives:

1. Compare String vs Integer by measuring the time it takes to iterate over a large string and perform basic arithmetic operations (e.g., addition, subtraction).
2. Test the performance of RegExp patterns versus simple string manipulation using regular expressions.
3. Compare the efficiency of JavaScript's built-in `Math` functions (e.g., `Math.cos()`, `Math.sin()`) against custom implementations.

Keep in mind that each benchmark should be tailored to specific use cases and requirements, taking into account the chosen data types, operations, and potential performance implications.

bigint vs number (version: 0)

bigint vs number, 52 bits

Comparing performance of: `BigInt vs Number`

Created: 2 years ago by: Guest

Go to the latest result

BigInt

Number

Historical Performance Data aggregated from 5 community runs

Desktop Results:

Firefox 5 runs

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

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

bigint vs number (version: 0)

bigint vs number, 52 bits

Comparing performance of: BigInt vs Number

Created: 2 years ago by: Guest

Go to the latest result

BigInt

Number

Historical Performance Data aggregated from 5 community runs

Desktop Results:

Firefox 5 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: `BigInt vs Number`