Benchmark: bignumber.js vs. big.js vs. decimal.js performance

HTML Preparation code:

<!--script src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iriscouch/bigdecimal.js/v0.6.1/lib/bigdecimal.js"></script-->
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/bignumber.js/9.0.1/bignumber.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/big.js/6.0.3/big.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/decimal.js/10.2.1/decimal.min.js"></script>
<!--script src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/infusion/Fraction.js/v4.0.12/fraction.min.js"></script-->

Tests:

decimal.js
var a = new Decimal("0.00001"); var b = new Decimal("0.00002"); a.plus(b).times(b).toString();
big.js
var a = new Big("0.00001"); var b = new Big("0.00002"); a.plus(b).mul(b).toString();
bignumber.js
var a = new BigNumber("0.00001"); var b = new BigNumber("0.00002"); a.plus(b).multipliedBy(b).toString();

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
decimal.js
big.js
bignumber.js

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: one year ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/114.0.0.0 Safari/537.36

Browser/OS: Chrome 114 on Mac OS X 10.15.7

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
decimal.js	1518490.2 Ops/sec
big.js	2337993.5 Ops/sec
bignumber.js	1506805.8 Ops/sec

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated 2 months ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

Let's break down the provided benchmark data and explain what is being tested.

**Overview**

The benchmark compares the performance of three libraries: `big.js`, `bignumber.js`, and `decimal.js`. Each library provides arithmetic operations for large numbers, which are essential in various applications, such as finance, science, and engineering.

**Libraries and their purposes**

1. **Big.js**: Big.js is a lightweight library for working with large integers. It provides a simple and intuitive API for performing arithmetic operations, such as addition, multiplication, and exponentiation.
2. **Bignumber.js**: Bignumber.js is a popular library for working with arbitrary-precision arithmetic. It provides an extensive set of methods for performing various arithmetic operations, including division, modulo, and power calculations.
3. **Decimal.js**: Decimal.js is another popular library for working with decimal numbers. It provides a simple API for performing arithmetic operations and provides support for rounding, scaling, and normalization.

**Test cases**

The benchmark consists of three test cases:

1. `decimal.js`: This test case uses the `Decimal` constructor to create two large numbers (0.00001 and 0.00002) and performs an arithmetic operation: `a.plus(b).times(b).toString()`. This operation is designed to test the performance of the library's multiplication and string conversion capabilities.
2. `big.js`: Similar to the previous test case, this test case uses the `Big` constructor to create two large numbers and performs an arithmetic operation: `a.plus(b).mul(b).toString()`. However, it uses the `mul` method instead of `times`.
3. `bignumber.js`: This test case also creates two large numbers using the `BigNumber` constructor and performs a similar arithmetic operation: `a.plus(b).multipliedBy(b).toString()`.

**Options comparison**

The benchmark compares the performance of each library's implementation of the following operations:

* Addition (`plus`)
* Multiplication (`times`/`mul`)
* String conversion

The benchmark aims to determine which library provides the fastest execution times for these critical arithmetic operations.

**Pros and cons**

Each library has its strengths and weaknesses:

1. **Big.js**: Pros - lightweight, simple API, fast execution times. Cons - limited features, not suitable for all types of arithmetic operations.
2. **Bignumber.js**: Pros - extensive set of methods, support for various arithmetic operations, flexible API. Cons - larger footprint, more complex API.
3. **Decimal.js**: Pros - simple API, good performance, robust rounding and scaling capabilities. Cons - limited support for certain arithmetic operations.

**Other considerations**

When choosing a library for large number arithmetic, consider the following factors:

* Performance: Bignumber.js generally provides faster execution times due to its optimized implementation.
* Complexity: Big.js has a simpler API but may not be suitable for all types of arithmetic operations. Decimal.js offers a good balance between simplicity and robustness.
* Features: If you need support for specific arithmetic operations, such as division or exponentiation, choose Bignumber.js.

**Alternatives**

If you're looking for alternative libraries, consider:

1. **Fractions.js**: A library for working with rational numbers and fractions.
2. **BigDecimal.js**: A library that provides a more traditional, Java-inspired API for arbitrary-precision arithmetic.
3. **GMP.js**: A library that uses the GNU Multiple Precision Arithmetic Library (GMP) under the hood to provide high-performance arithmetic operations.

Keep in mind that each library has its strengths and weaknesses, and choosing the right one depends on your specific use case and requirements.

Related benchmarks:

bignumber.js vs. big.js vs. decimal.js performance (version: 0)

- https://github.com/MikeMcl/bignumber.js/tree/v9.0.0 - https://github.com/MikeMcl/big.js/tree/v5.2.2 - https://github.com/MikeMcl/decimal.js/tree/v10.2.0

Comparing performance of: decimal.js vs big.js vs bignumber.js

Created: 2 years ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

decimal.js

big.js

bignumber.js

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Experimental features:

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated 2 months ago):