Benchmark: crypto.randomUUID() vs crypto.getRandomValues()

Script Preparation code:

iterations = 1000

Tests:

uuid
const arr = []; for (let i = 0; i < iterations; i++) { arr.push(crypto.randomUUID()); }
random
const arr = []; for (let i = 0; i < iterations; i++) { arr.push(crypto.getRandomValues(new Uint8Array(16))); }

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
uuid
random

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

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

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/18.1.1 Safari/605.1.15

Browser/OS: Safari 18 on Mac OS X 10.15.7

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
uuid	6947.9 Ops/sec
random	2632.6 Ops/sec

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model gpt-4o-mini, generated 5 days ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

The benchmark on MeasureThat.net compares two different methods for generating unique identifiers or random values in JavaScript: `crypto.randomUUID()` and `crypto.getRandomValues()`. Below is a detailed explanation of the benchmark, the libraries used, and their respective pros and cons.

### Benchmark Overview

**1. What is being tested?**
- The benchmark evaluates the performance of two approaches to generating random values:
  - **`crypto.randomUUID()`**: Generates a version 4 UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) as a string.
  - **`crypto.getRandomValues(new Uint8Array(16))`**: Fills a typed array with cryptographically secure random values.

### Individual Test Cases

**Test Case 1: `crypto.randomUUID()`**
- **Benchmark Definition**:
  ```javascript
  const arr = [];
  for (let i = 0; i < iterations; i++) {
    arr.push(crypto.randomUUID());
  }
  ```
- **Test Name**: "uuid"

**Test Case 2: `crypto.getRandomValues()`**
- **Benchmark Definition**:
  ```javascript
  const arr = [];
  for (let i = 0; i < iterations; i++) {
    arr.push(crypto.getRandomValues(new Uint8Array(16)));
  }
  ```
- **Test Name**: "random"

### Performance Results

The benchmark results indicate:
- **`crypto.randomUUID()`** had a performance of approximately **6947.86 executions per second**.
- **`crypto.getRandomValues()`** had a performance of approximately **2632.64 executions per second**.

### Pros and Cons

**`crypto.randomUUID()`**
- **Pros**:
  - More straightforward to use for generating unique identifiers.
  - Ensures that each UUID is unique, which is essential for many applications (e.g., database keys, session identifiers).
  - It is specifically designed for generating UUIDs, making it optimal for this particular use case.
- **Cons**:
  - Limited to generating UUIDs, which may not be suitable for all scenarios needing random data.

**`crypto.getRandomValues()`**
- **Pros**:
  - Can generate a variety of random data types, making it versatile (not limited to just UUIDs).
  - Provides cryptographically secure random values, suitable for cryptographic applications.
- **Cons**:
  - Requires additional processing to convert random values into a format suitable for use as identifiers (e.g., hex strings or base64 encoding).
  - Generally slower compared to `crypto.randomUUID()` when used solely for generating UUIDs.

### Libraries and Features

- **Libraries**: Both methods leverage the `crypto` library, which is a built-in Web Crypto API that provides cryptographic functionalities including secure random number generation.
- **Purpose**: The main purpose of using these methods is to ensure security in random number generation. This is especially crucial in web-based applications dealing with sensitive data, preventing attackers from predicting random values.

### Alternative Approaches

1. **In-house UUID Generation**: Developers could implement their own UUID generation logic, but this typically lacks the robustness of standardized methods like `crypto.randomUUID()`.
  
2. **Third-party Libraries**: Libraries such as `uuid` can be used but might not match the cryptographic security of the built-in `crypto` methods.

3. **Math.random()**: This is another option for generating random numbers. However, it is not cryptographically secure and should not be used for scenarios requiring high levels of randomness or security.

In summary, `crypto.randomUUID()` is the optimal choice for generating unique identifiers due to its speed and simplicity, whereas `crypto.getRandomValues()` offers versatility for a broader range of random data needs at the cost of performance when generating UUIDs.

Related benchmarks:

crypto.randomUUID() vs crypto.getRandomValues() (version: 1)

Comparing performance of: uuid vs random

Created: 5 days ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

uuid

random

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Experimental features:

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model gpt-4o-mini, generated 5 days ago):