Benchmark: Random Generator Speed

HTML Preparation code:

<!--your preparation HTML code goes here-->
<script src='https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/nanoid@latest/nanoid.min.js'></script>

Script Preparation code:

/*your preparation JavaScript code goes here
To execute async code during the script preparation, wrap it as function globalMeasureThatScriptPrepareFunction, example:*/
async function globalMeasureThatScriptPrepareFunction() {
    // This function is optional, feel free to remove it.
    // await someThing();
}

Tests:

crypto.randomUUID
window.benchmark = function (deferred) { crypto.randomUUID(); };
nanoid
window.benchmark = function (deferred) { nanoid.nanoid(); // Use nanoid from the global scope };

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
crypto.randomUUID
nanoid

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: 6 months ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:144.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/144.0

Browser/OS: Firefox 144 on Windows

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
crypto.randomUUID	7297259.0 Ops/sec
nanoid	7375434.0 Ops/sec

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model gpt-4o-mini, generated one year ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

The benchmark defined here compares the performance of two methods for generating random UUIDs (Universally Unique Identifiers) in JavaScript: `crypto.randomUUID` and `nanoid`. Both methods provide ways of generating unique identifiers, but they use different underlying principles and libraries.

### What is being tested?

1. **`crypto.randomUUID`**: This is a built-in JavaScript method that generates a UUID using the `Crypto` API. It's designed to create RFC-compliant UUIDs in a secure way, making it suitable for scenarios where uniqueness and security (like tokens) are critical.

2. **`nanoid`**: This is a third-party library that generates unique IDs in a highly efficient manner. It allows developers to specify the length of the ID and can be configured to generate shorter IDs than UUIDs, which can be advantageous in terms of storage and efficiency in URLs.

### Pros and Cons

#### **crypto.randomUUID**

**Pros:**
- **Built-in**: No need for third-party libraries, ensuring compatibility and stability across environments.
- **Security**: Utilizes cryptographic functions, making it suitable for secure applications (e.g., tokens, session IDs).
- **RFC Compliance**: Generates standard UUIDs which can be used consistently across systems.

**Cons:**
- **Performance**: Although fast, the performance might not match specialized libraries like `nanoid` for high-throughput scenarios.
- **Lack of Configuration**: The UUID generated is a standard length (36 characters) and cannot be shortened.

#### **nanoid**

**Pros:**
- **Performance**: Often faster than built-in alternatives for generating identifiers, particularly under load, due to optimized algorithms.
- **Customizability**: Developers can configure the length of the generated ID, which can be a crucial factor in certain applications (e.g., shorter IDs for URLs).
- **Lightweight**: Designed to be very small (in terms of bundle size) and doesn't introduce significant overhead.

**Cons:**
- **Dependency Management**: Requires adding an external library, which introduces potential for version management and compatibility issues.
- **Non-standard**: Generated IDs are not RFC-compliant UUIDs, which may not be suitable for all applications.

### Other Considerations

- **Use Cases**: The choice between `crypto.randomUUID` and `nanoid` often depends on the use case. For applications requiring standard UUIDs with security, `crypto.randomUUID` may be preferable. Conversely, for performance-oriented applications where shortened IDs are beneficial, `nanoid` would be a better choice.
  
- **Environment**: Compatibility should also be considered. While modern browsers support the `Crypto` API, environments like Node.js also have their versions of these libraries, which might affect results across different platforms.

### Alternatives

Other alternatives for generating unique identifiers include:
- **UUID Libraries**: Libraries like `uuid` provide various methods to create UUIDs according to different RFC standards.
- **Random String Generators**: Basic string generation methods (like using Math.random) can be used for less critical applications, though they lack the uniqueness guarantees provided by more structured methods like those from `crypto` or `nanoid`.
- **Snowflake IDs**: Some systems use algorithms like Twitter's Snowflake, which generate unique IDs based on timestamps and machine IDs, catering to high-scale applications.

This benchmark effectively compares a built-in method with a popular external library, giving developers insights into performance and use-case suitability.

Related benchmarks:

Random Generator Speed (version: 3)

diff between crypto. randomUUID and nanoid

Comparing performance of: crypto.randomUUID vs nanoid

Created: one year ago by: Registered User

Jump to the latest result

crypto.randomUUID

nanoid

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model gpt-4o-mini, generated one year ago):