Benchmarking

Benchmarking is a process of measuring performances. In the computer science, it usually means the speed of execution of a piece of code, or its usage of memory.

Benchmarks are set up at the code level, to compare various syntaxes and algorithms; per PHP versions, to compare the evolution of features; at application level, where a high level feature is run on a full installation.

Benchmarks are usually a good indicator of performance, and should be reviewed with the environment in mind: the hardware, operating system, versions, configurations, feature description … all have impacts on the final results, or the actual representation of real world situations.

See also PHP bench, PHPbenchmarks, The Definitive PHP 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 8.0, and 8.1 Benchmarks, Benchmarking PHP code with PhpBench Benchmarks and PHP Performance Benchmark 2026: 7.4 vs 8.0 vs 8.1 vs 8.2 vs 8.5.

Related : Performance, Flame Graph, Micro-optimisation, Treemap

Related packages : phpbench/phpbench, devster/ubench