PHP Performance Benchmarks

This page allows you to view different processign speeds of various PHP functions, iterated for 10000 (or less in some cases). The info shows the relative speed of these functions on this server, runnin PHP version 7.4.33. The benchmarks are done live. Reload the page to get fresh numbers. This page was created by Thiemo Mättig, check his website for more awesome tools.

Please note that these are micro benchmarks. Micro benchmarks are stupid. I created this comparison to learn something about PHP and how the PHP compiler works. This can not be used to compare PHP versions or servers.

Check if a String is empty

Method Undefined Null False Empty string String '0' String '1' Long string Summary Index
if (!$var)2 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms2 ms1865
if (empty($var))>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms100
if ($var == '')>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms394
if ('' == $var)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms393
if ($var === '')>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms283
if ('' === $var)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms277
if (strcmp($var, '') == 0)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms477
if (strcmp('', $var) == 0)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms450
if (strlen($var) == 0)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms364
if (!strlen($var))>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms395

My conclusion: In most cases, Do not use empty() because it does not trigger a warning when used with undefined variables. Note that empty('0') returns true. Use strlen() if you want to detect '0'. Try to avoid == at all because it may cause strange behaviour (e.g. '9a' == 9 returns true). Prefer === over == and !== over != if possible because it does compare the variable types in addition to the contents.

Check if an Array is empty

Method Empty array 100 elements Summary Index
count($array) === 0 //by reference>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms174
count($array) === 0 //by value>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms164
$array === []>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms135
empty($array)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms100
(bool)$array>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms109

My conclusion: Why count if you don't care about the exact number?

Compare two Strings

Method Equal First character not equal Last character not equal Summary Index
$a == $b>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms100
$a === $b>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms113
!strcmp($a, $b)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms176
strcmp($a, $b) == 0>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms165
strcmp($a, $b) === 0>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms193
strcasecmp($a, $b) === 0>0 ms>0 ms1 ms1 ms290

My conclusion: Use what fits your needs.

Check if a String contains another String

Method Not found Found at the start Found in the middle Found at the end Summary Index
strstr($haystack, $needle)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms166
strpos($haystack, $needle) !== false>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms100
strstr($haystack, $needle) !== false>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms167
stristr($haystack, $needle)2 ms2 ms2 ms2 ms7 ms3538
preg_match("/$needle/", $haystack)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms243
preg_match("/$needle/i", $haystack)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms373
preg_match("/$needle/S", $haystack)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms229
strpos( strtolower($haystack), $needle )2 ms2 ms2 ms2 ms7 ms3197
strpos( strtoupper($haystack), $needle )2 ms2 ms2 ms2 ms9 ms4246
strpos($haystack,"NEEDLE") || strpos($haystack,"needle") || strpos($haystack,"Needle")>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms332

My conclusion: It does not matter if you use strstr() or strpos(). Use the preg…() functions only if you need the power of regular expressions. Never use the ereg…() functions.

Check if a String starts with another String

Method Not found Found at the start Found in the middle Found at the end Summary Index
$haystack[0] === 'n'>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms100
strncmp($haystack, $needle, strlen($needle)) === 0>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms121
strncmp($haystack, 'needle', 6) === 0>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms116
strncasecmp($haystack, $needle, strlen($needle)) === 0>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms119
strpos($haystack, $needle) === 0>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms632
substr($haystack, 0, strlen($needle)) === $needle>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms127
strcmp(substr($haystack, 0, strlen($needle)), $needle) === 0>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms175
substr_compare($haystack, $needle, 0, strlen($needle))>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms145
substr_compare($haystack, $needle, 0)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms112
preg_match('/^' . preg_quote($needle, '/') . '/', $haystack)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms435

My conclusion: strpos() is very fast and can be used in almost all cases. strncmp() is good if you are looking for a constant length needle.

Check if a String ends with another String

Method Not found Found at the start Found in the middle Found at the end Summary Index
$haystack[strlen($haystack) - 1] === 'n'>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms100
substr($haystack, strlen($haystack) - strlen($needle)) === $needle>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms131
substr($haystack, -strlen($needle)) === $needle>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms131
substr($haystack, -1) === 'n'>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms113
strcmp(substr($haystack, -strlen($needle)), $needle) === 0>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms169
substr_compare($haystack, $needle, -strlen($needle), strlen($needle))>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms139
substr_compare($haystack, $needle, -strlen($needle))>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms131
preg_match('/' . preg_quote($needle, '/') . '$/', $haystack)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms2429

My conclusion: Using substr() with a negative position is a good trick.

Replace a (>1 Character) String inside another String

Method Not found Found at the start Found in the middle Found at the end Summary Index
str_replace($search, $replace, $subject)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms100
preg_replace("/$search/", $replace, $subject)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms185
preg_replace("/$search/S", $replace, $subject)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms180
strtr($subject, array($search => $replace))>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms105

My conclusion: Never use the ereg…() functions.

Replace a Character inside a String

Method Not found Found at the start Found in the middle Found at the end Summary Index
str_replace($fromChar, $toChar, $subject)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms101
strtr($subject, $fromChar, $toChar)1 ms3 ms2 ms1 ms8 ms900
strtr($subject, array($fromChar => $toChar))>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms100

My conclusion: Since PHP 7.0 strtr() can sometimes beat str_replace().

Trim Characters from the Beginning and End of a String

Method Not found Found at start Found at end Found at both sides Summary Index
trim($string, ',')>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms100
preg_replace('/^,*|,*$/', '', $string)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms3398
preg_replace('/^,*|,*$/m', '', $string)1 ms1 ms1 ms1 ms4 ms18391
preg_replace('/^,+|,+$/', '', $string)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms313
preg_replace('/^,+|,+$/m', '', $string)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms314
preg_replace('/^,+/', '', preg_replace('/,+$/', '', …))>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms468

My conclusion: Always benchmark your regular expressions! In this case, with .* you also replace nothing with nothing which takes time because there is a lot of “nothing” in every string.

Split a String into an Array

Method Empty string Single occurrence Multiple occurrences Summary Index
explode(',', $string)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms100
preg_split('/,/', $string)>0 ms>0 ms1 ms1 ms179
preg_match_all('/[^,]+/', $string, $matches)>0 ms>0 ms1 ms1 ms294

My conclusion: Don't use split(). It got deprecated in PHP 5.3 and removed from PHP 7.0.

Loop a numerical indexed Array of Strings

Method Summary Index
for ($i = 0; $i < count($array); $i++) //by reference>0 ms336
for ($i = 0; $i < count($array); $i++) //by value>0 ms221
for ($i = 0, $count = count($array); $i < $count; $i++)>0 ms143
for ($i = count($array) - 1; $i >= 0; $i--)>0 ms140
for ($i = count($array) - 1; $i >= 0; --$i)>0 ms100
$i = count($array); while ($i--)>0 ms130

My conclusion: count() could have been horribly slow in PHP 5 and below when copy-on-write accidentally kicked in. Always precalculate it, if possible.

Get Elements from an Array

Method Summary Index
$array[0]3 ms101
$array['key']3 ms100

My conclusion: I like associative arrays.

Implode an Array

Method Summary Index
implode(' ', $array)1 ms100
"$array[0] $array[1] $array[2]"1 ms107
$array[0] . ' ' . $array[1] . ' ' . $array[2]1 ms160
sprintf('%s %s %s', $array[0], $array[1], $array[2])1 ms177
vsprintf('%s %s %s', $array)1 ms163

My conclusion: String concatenation is a cheap operation in PHP. Don't waste your time benchmarking this.

The single vs. double Quotes Myth

Method Summary Index
'contains no dollar signs'>0 ms103
"contains no dollar signs">0 ms103
'$variables $are $not $replaced'>0 ms102
"\$variables \$are \$not \$replaced">0 ms100
"$variables $are $replaced"1 ms2260
$variables . ' ' . $are . ' ' . $replaced2 ms3761
$variables . " " . $are . " " . $replaced2 ms3926

My conclusion: It does not matter if you use single or double quotes at all. The inclusion of variables has a measurable effect, but that's independent from the quotes.

© Thiemo Mättig, created in September 2008, updated in August 2017
Free sourcecode of this script is available
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This page is for the more technical aspect of my life. Here I test new scripts and keep a relevant index of the tools I build or like. Sadly, my time is very limited, so I update this page only on rare occasions.
You can contact me for feedback, suggestions, and custom work requests at this address: max _at_ lumnar.com