Benchmark: Date.now() vs new Date().getTime() vs performance.now()

Script Preparation code:

var timestamp = null;

Tests:

Date.now()
timestamp = Date.now();
new Date().getTime();
timestamp = new Date().getTime();
performance.now()
timestamp = performance.now()

Historical Performance Data aggregated from 235 community runs

Desktop Results:

Chrome 166 runs

Date.now()

6.7M/s

new Date().getTime();

6.0M/s

performance.now()

4.6M/s

Fastest: Date.now() (1.5x faster)

View exact numbers

✓ Date.now(): 6,668,933 ops/sec
• new Date().getTime();: 5,985,500 ops/sec
• performance.now(): 4,588,593 ops/sec

Firefox 43 runs

Date.now()

12.7M/s

new Date().getTime();

8.1M/s

performance.now()

4.6M/s

Fastest: Date.now() (2.7x faster)

View exact numbers

✓ Date.now(): 12,664,349 ops/sec
• new Date().getTime();: 8,068,240 ops/sec
• performance.now(): 4,645,486 ops/sec

Safari 6 runs

Date.now()

30.1M/s

new Date().getTime();

26.3M/s

performance.now()

14.7M/s

Fastest: Date.now() (2.0x faster)

View exact numbers

✓ Date.now(): 30,112,536 ops/sec
• new Date().getTime();: 26,290,996 ops/sec
• performance.now(): 14,737,182 ops/sec

Mobile Results:

Chrome 14 runs

Date.now()

2.4M/s

new Date().getTime();

2.1M/s

performance.now()

1.4M/s

Fastest: Date.now() (1.7x faster)

View exact numbers

✓ Date.now(): 2,394,122 ops/sec
• new Date().getTime();: 2,106,592 ops/sec
• performance.now(): 1,434,445 ops/sec

Safari 6 runs

Date.now()

11.8M/s

new Date().getTime();

10.4M/s

performance.now()

8.0M/s

Fastest: Date.now() (1.5x faster)

View exact numbers

✓ Date.now(): 11,772,696 ops/sec
• new Date().getTime();: 10,428,679 ops/sec
• performance.now(): 7,955,464 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
Date.now()
new Date().getTime();
performance.now()

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: 5 months ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:128.0) Gecko/20100101 Goanna/6.8 Firefox/128.0 PaleMoon/34.1.0

Browser/OS: Pale Moon (Firefox Variant) 34 on Windows

View result in a separate tab

Date.now()

6.4M/s

performance.now()

5.0M/s

new Date().getTime();

3.5M/s

View exact numbers

Test name	Executions per second
✓ Date.now()	6,431,370 Ops/sec
performance.now()	5,046,218 Ops/sec
new Date().getTime();	3,467,737 Ops/sec

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.1:latest, generated one year ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

Let's dive into what's being tested here.

**Benchmark Description**

The benchmark tests three different ways to get the current timestamp in JavaScript:

1. `Date.now()`
2. `new Date().getTime();`
3. `performance.now()`

These methods are compared in terms of their execution speed, measured by the number of executions per second (EPS).

**Options Compared**

Here's a brief description of each option and its pros/cons:

1. **`Date.now()`**:
	* Pros: Simple to use, widely supported across browsers.
	* Cons: Returns the timestamp in milliseconds since January 1, 1970, which might not be suitable for all use cases (e.g., comparing timestamps within a shorter time range).
2. **`new Date().getTime();`**:
	* Pros: Also returns the timestamp in milliseconds since January 1, 1970.
	* Cons: More verbose than `Date.now()`, requires creating a new `Date` object.
3. **`performance.now()`**:
	* Pros: High-resolution timer that provides the most accurate measurement of time elapsed since the start of the browsing session.
	* Cons: Not supported in older browsers, requires access to the `performance` API.

**Other Considerations**

When choosing between these options, consider the following:

* If you need a simple, widely-supported way to get a timestamp, use `Date.now()`.
* If you require high-resolution timing or want to measure time elapsed since the start of the browsing session, use `performance.now()` (if supported).
* If you're working with older browsers that don't support `performance.now()`, use `new Date().getTime();` as a fallback.

**Library and Special JS Feature**

In this case, no external libraries are used. The benchmark only relies on built-in JavaScript methods: `Date.now()`, `new Date()` (constructor), and `performance.now()` (API).

No special JavaScript features or syntax are employed in this test.

**Alternatives**

Other alternatives for getting the current timestamp include:

* Using a library like Moment.js or Luxon, which provide more advanced date and time manipulation capabilities.
* Utilizing Web APIs like `getUserMedia()` (for measuring time elapsed since the user granted permission) or `requestAnimationFrame()` (for measuring animation duration).
* Implementing custom timing mechanisms using JavaScript's built-in `setInterval()` or `setTimeout()` functions.

I hope this explanation helps you understand what's being tested and provides a solid foundation for choosing the best approach for your specific use case!

Date.now() vs new Date().getTime() vs performance.now() (version: 0)

Comparing performance of: `Date.now() vs new Date().getTime(); vs performance.now()`

Created: 6 years ago by: Guest

Go to the latest result

Date.now()

new Date().getTime();

performance.now()

Historical Performance Data aggregated from 235 community runs

Desktop Results:

Chrome 166 runs

Firefox 43 runs

Safari 6 runs

Mobile Results:

Chrome 14 runs

Safari 6 runs

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.1:latest, generated one year ago):

Date.now() vs new Date().getTime() vs performance.now() (version: 0)

Comparing performance of: Date.now() vs new Date().getTime(); vs performance.now()

Created: 6 years ago by: Guest

Go to the latest result

Date.now()

new Date().getTime();

performance.now()

Historical Performance Data aggregated from 235 community runs

Desktop Results:

Chrome 166 runs

Firefox 43 runs

Safari 6 runs

Mobile Results:

Chrome 14 runs

Safari 6 runs

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.1:latest, generated one year ago):

Related benchmarks

Comparing performance of: `Date.now() vs new Date().getTime(); vs performance.now()`