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 (!$var)2 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms2 ms1954
if (empty($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 ms388
if ('' == $var)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms382
if ($var === '')>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms291
if ('' === $var)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms286
if (strcmp($var, '') == 0)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms483
if (strcmp('', $var) == 0)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms464
if (strlen($var) == 0)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms352
if (!strlen($var))>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms388

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($array) === 0 //by reference>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms163
count($array) === 0 //by value>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms186
$array === []>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms140
empty($array)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms100
(bool)$array>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms114

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 === $b>0 ms>0 ms5 ms5 ms1361
!strcmp($a, $b)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms188
strcmp($a, $b) == 0>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms183
strcmp($a, $b) === 0>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms213
strcasecmp($a, $b) === 0>0 ms>0 ms1 ms1 ms292

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, $needle)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms170
strpos($haystack, $needle) !== false>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms100
strstr($haystack, $needle) !== false>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms164
stristr($haystack, $needle)2 ms7 ms2 ms2 ms13 ms5861
preg_match("/$needle/", $haystack)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms231
preg_match("/$needle/i", $haystack)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms361
preg_match("/$needle/S", $haystack)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms222
strpos( strtolower($haystack), $needle )2 ms5 ms2 ms2 ms10 ms4508
strpos( strtoupper($haystack), $needle )6 ms2 ms6 ms5 ms18 ms8387
strpos($haystack,"NEEDLE") || strpos($haystack,"needle") || strpos($haystack,"Needle")>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms310

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 ms135
strncmp($haystack, 'needle', 6) === 0>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms149
strncasecmp($haystack, $needle, strlen($needle)) === 0>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms123
strpos($haystack, $needle) === 0>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms645
substr($haystack, 0, strlen($needle)) === $needle>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms135
strcmp(substr($haystack, 0, strlen($needle)), $needle) === 0>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms191
substr_compare($haystack, $needle, 0, strlen($needle))>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms185
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 ms502

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)) === $needle>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms141
substr($haystack, -strlen($needle)) === $needle>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms139
substr($haystack, -1) === 'n'>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms113
strcmp(substr($haystack, -strlen($needle)), $needle) === 0>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms185
substr_compare($haystack, $needle, -strlen($needle), strlen($needle))>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms164
substr_compare($haystack, $needle, -strlen($needle))>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms133
preg_match('/' . preg_quote($needle, '/') . '$/', $haystack)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms2706

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, $subject)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms110
preg_replace("/$search/", $replace, $subject)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms205
preg_replace("/$search/S", $replace, $subject)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms204
strtr($subject, array($search => $replace))>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms100

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, $subject)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms100
strtr($subject, $fromChar, $toChar)1 ms6 ms2 ms1 ms11 ms1311
strtr($subject, array($fromChar => $toChar))>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms110

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($string, ',')>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms100
preg_replace('/^,*|,*$/', '', $string)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms1 ms3174
preg_replace('/^,*|,*$/m', '', $string)1 ms4 ms1 ms6 ms12 ms44219
preg_replace('/^,+|,+$/', '', $string)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms468
preg_replace('/^,+|,+$/m', '', $string)>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms288
preg_replace('/^,+/', '', preg_replace('/,+$/', '', …))>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms>0 ms391

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 ms237
preg_match_all('/[^,]+/', $string, $matches)>0 ms>0 ms1 ms2 ms293

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); $i++) //by reference>0 ms233
for ($i = 0; $i < count($array); $i++) //by value>0 ms206
for ($i = 0, $count = count($array); $i < $count; $i++)>0 ms139
for ($i = count($array) - 1; $i >= 0; $i--)>0 ms142
for ($i = count($array) - 1; $i >= 0; --$i)>0 ms100
$i = count($array); while ($i--)>0 ms127

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 ms100
$array['key']6 ms179

My conclusion: I like associative arrays.

Implode an Array

Method Summary Index
implode(' ', $array)1 ms100
"$array[0] $array[1] $array[2]"1 ms102
$array[0] . ' ' . $array[1] . ' ' . $array[2]1 ms153
sprintf('%s %s %s', $array[0], $array[1], $array[2])1 ms171
vsprintf('%s %s %s', $array)1 ms160

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 ms105
"contains no dollar signs">0 ms105
'$variables $are $not $replaced'>0 ms105
"\$variables \$are \$not \$replaced">0 ms100
"$variables $are $replaced"2 ms2445
$variables . ' ' . $are . ' ' . $replaced5 ms8807
$variables . " " . $are . " " . $replaced5 ms8731

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
My current projects:

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