Simple Benchmarks of common ECS (Entity-Component-System) Frameworks:
(lower is better)
EnTT | EnTT (runtime) | EnTT (group) | EnTT (stable) | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Update 16 entities with 3 Systems | 1557ns | 2293ns | 1534ns | 1557ns | 1394ns | 16269ns | 2277ns | 1088ns |
Update 64 entities with 3 Systems | 6240ns | 8232ns | 6383ns | 6603ns | 5727ns | 20288ns | 6280ns | 4284ns |
Update 256 entities with 3 Systems | 27198ns | 34881ns | 26685ns | 38581ns | 24747ns | 38027ns | 25549ns | 23899ns |
Update ~1K entities with 3 Systems | 101964ns | 150459ns | 117708ns | 95259ns | 97448ns | 107293ns | 104872ns | 96481ns |
Update ~4K entities with 3 Systems | 404471ns | 788225ns | 385092ns | 374572ns | 381494ns | 381719ns | 367703ns | 379462ns |
EnTT | EnTT (runtime) | EnTT (group) | EnTT (stable) | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Update ~16K entities with 3 Systems | 1ms | 2ms | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms |
Update ~65K entities with 3 Systems | 6ms | 9ms | 6ms | 6ms | 6ms | 5ms | 6ms | 6ms |
Update 262K entities with 3 Systems | 25ms | 34ms | 26ms | 23ms | 25ms | 23ms | 22ms | 24ms |
Update ~1M entities with 3 Systems | 98ms | 160ms | 119ms | 100ms | 99ms | 91ms | 91ms | 96ms |
Update ~2M entities with 3 Systems | 197ms | 442ms | 304ms | 195ms | 209ms | 188ms | 181ms | 192ms |
This is a very little Benchmark with three simple components and three small systems. In wild Entity-Component-Systems can have hundreds of components and a lot of systems and even more complex systems. So always benchmarks YOUR special cases and systems, when needed and compare.
Some frameworks are faster in adding/removing components, others in creating or destroying entities, it always depends on what you need the most. Always choose an ECS-Framework by features, for example EnTT has some great features like a resource-management or events, flecs has some nice add-ons and EntityX has a build-in world/system-manager.
Pick and evaluate a framework you like and have a look at the examples and API design.
All benchmarks are located in benchmark/benchmarks/
and are written with google/benchmark.
Each benchmark must implement the template ECSBenchmark.h.
Each framework has a sub-project in src/
and must implement certain features (see src/base
).
PositionComponent
withx
andy
coord.VelocityComponent
withx
andy
for movement.DataComponent
with some nonsense data.
MovementSystem
: updatesPositionComponent
with (const)VelocityComponent
DataSystem
: updatesDataComponent
with nonsenseMoreComplexSystem
: updates Components with random data and nonsense
Benchmarks of more common features, like "Creating entities", "Add and remove components", etc.
- Create Entities
- Destroy Entities
- Get Component(s)
- Remove and add component
- Systems (for-each entities)
- OS: Linux (Kernel: 6.2.12)
- CPU: 3.13GHz @ 12Cores
- RAM: 16GB
- Compiler: gcc (GCC) 12.2.1
(lower is better)
EntityX | EnTT | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Create 16 entities with two Components | 2610ns | 3094ns | 10716ns | 3713ns | 480888ns | 625ns |
Create 64 entities with two Components | 6431ns | 4782ns | 12343ns | 9318ns | 480325ns | 1066ns |
Create 256 entities with two Components | 20942ns | 10400ns | 17134ns | 19254ns | 542756ns | 2940ns |
Create ~1K entities with two Components | 82970ns | 34246ns | 34756ns | 71563ns | 640262ns | 10449ns |
Create ~4K entities with two Components | 309591ns | 126624ns | 101425ns | 334003ns | 1144631ns | 47758ns |
EntityX | EnTT | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Create ~16K entities with two Components | 1ms | 0ms | 0ms | 1ms | 3ms | 0ms |
Create ~65K entities with two Components | 4ms | 2ms | 1ms | 6ms | 11ms | 0ms |
Create 262K entities with two Components | 20ms | 9ms | 9ms | 27ms | 43ms | 3ms |
Create ~1M entities with two Components | 79ms | 58ms | 63ms | 166ms | 258ms | 40ms |
Create ~2M entities with two Components | 191ms | 117ms | 147ms | 370ms | 576ms | 63ms |
(lower is better)
EntityX | EnTT | Ginseng | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Destroy 16 entities with two components | 1433ns | 1086ns | 2266ns | 431296ns | 530ns |
Destroy 64 entities with two components | 3599ns | 2543ns | 6672ns | 427290ns | 704ns |
Destroy 256 entities with two components | 12677ns | 8652ns | 23625ns | 435862ns | 1438ns |
Destroy ~1K entities with two components | 49252ns | 33051ns | 94155ns | 464450ns | 4377ns |
Destroy ~4K entities with two components | 196305ns | 131325ns | 360440ns | 626717ns | 16175ns |
EntityX | EnTT | Ginseng | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Destroy ~16K entities with two components | 0ms | 0ms | 1ms | 1ms | 0ms |
Destroy ~65K entities with two components | 3ms | 2ms | 5ms | 3ms | 0ms |
Destroy 262K entities with two components | 14ms | 9ms | 24ms | 11ms | 1ms |
Destroy ~1M entities with two components | 64ms | 39ms | 105ms | 51ms | 9ms |
Destroy ~2M entities with two components | 140ms | 79ms | 211ms | 98ms | 16ms |
(lower is better)
EntityX | EnTT | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unpack one component in 16 entities | 23ns | 47ns | 28ns | 208ns | 274ns | 10ns |
Unpack one component in 64 entities | 101ns | 194ns | 114ns | 834ns | 1624ns | 54ns |
Unpack one component in 256 entities | 376ns | 760ns | 451ns | 3140ns | 6319ns | 175ns |
Unpack one component in ~1K entities | 1529ns | 3016ns | 1823ns | 11974ns | 24433ns | 720ns |
Unpack one component in ~4K entities | 6612ns | 12333ns | 7126ns | 69547ns | 66548ns | 2784ns |
EntityX | EnTT | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unpack one component in ~16K entities | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms |
Unpack one component in ~65K entities | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 1ms | 0ms |
Unpack one component in 262K entities | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 3ms | 5ms | 0ms |
Unpack one component in ~1M entities | 2ms | 3ms | 2ms | 13ms | 24ms | 0ms |
Unpack one component in ~2M entities | 4ms | 6ms | 4ms | 28ms | 32ms | 1ms |
Note:
- Get one non-const component
PositionComponent
(lower is better)
EntityX | EnTT | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Get one (const) component in 16 entities | 25ns | 51ns | 27ns | 109ns | 161ns | 14ns |
Get one (const) component in 64 entities | 101ns | 198ns | 114ns | 558ns | 676ns | 58ns |
Get one (const) component in 256 entities | 381ns | 809ns | 450ns | 1508ns | 2572ns | 223ns |
Get one (const) component in ~1K entities | 1509ns | 3168ns | 1858ns | 6175ns | 11148ns | 890ns |
Get one (const) component in ~4K entities | 5961ns | 12793ns | 7193ns | 24181ns | 39599ns | 3481ns |
EntityX | EnTT | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Get one (const) component in ~16K entities | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms |
Get one (const) component in ~65K entities | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms |
Get one (const) component in 262K entities | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 1ms | 3ms | 0ms |
Get one (const) component in ~1M entities | 2ms | 3ms | 2ms | 6ms | 10ms | 1ms |
Get one (const) component in ~2M entities | 4ms | 7ms | 5ms | 12ms | 21ms | 2ms |
Note:
- Get one const component
const PositionComponent
(lower is better)
EntityX | EnTT | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unpack two components in 16 entities | 43ns | 116ns | 55ns | 271ns | 604ns | 24ns |
Unpack two components in 64 entities | 178ns | 452ns | 228ns | 1122ns | 1740ns | 104ns |
Unpack two components in 256 entities | 727ns | 1734ns | 909ns | 4272ns | 6496ns | 384ns |
Unpack two components in ~1K entities | 3047ns | 8828ns | 3888ns | 18381ns | 29349ns | 1525ns |
Unpack two components in ~4K entities | 11543ns | 42062ns | 14348ns | 68161ns | 107035ns | 6175ns |
EntityX | EnTT | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unpack two components in ~16K entities | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms |
Unpack two components in ~65K entities | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 1ms | 2ms | 0ms |
Unpack two components in 262K entities | 0ms | 2ms | 0ms | 4ms | 7ms | 0ms |
Unpack two components in ~1M entities | 3ms | 9ms | 3ms | 19ms | 34ms | 1ms |
Unpack two components in ~2M entities | 6ms | 16ms | 7ms | 40ms | 53ms | 3ms |
Note:
- Get non-const- and const-component
PositionComponent
const VelocityComponent
(lower is better)
EntityX | EnTT | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unpack three components in 8 entities | 34ns | 102ns | 60ns | 145ns | 354ns | 17ns |
Unpack three components in 32 entities | 145ns | 417ns | 211ns | 606ns | 1735ns | 72ns |
Unpack three components in 128 entities | 590ns | 1481ns | 822ns | 2161ns | 5480ns | 284ns |
Unpack three components in 512 entities | 2232ns | 5582ns | 3282ns | 8752ns | 21279ns | 1152ns |
Unpack three components in ~2K entities | 8900ns | 23222ns | 12736ns | 36379ns | 90612ns | 4361ns |
EntityX | EnTT | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unpack three components in ~8K entities | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms |
Unpack three components in ~32K entities | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 1ms | 0ms |
Unpack three components in 131K entities | 0ms | 1ms | 0ms | 2ms | 5ms | 0ms |
Unpack three components in 524K entities | 2ms | 5ms | 3ms | 10ms | 22ms | 1ms |
Unpack three components in ~1M entities | 5ms | 11ms | 7ms | 20ms | 46ms | 2ms |
Note:
- Not every entity has three components, some has only two
- Get two non-const- and const-component(s)
PositionComponent
const VelocityComponent
DataComponent
(optional)
(lower is better)
EntityX | EnTT | Ginseng | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Remove and Add a Component in 16 entities | 320ns | 465ns | 205ns | 2429ns | 101ns |
Remove and Add a Component in 64 entities | 1312ns | 1732ns | 793ns | 9720ns | 390ns |
Remove and Add a Component in 256 entities | 5056ns | 7638ns | 3285ns | 37669ns | 1492ns |
Remove and Add a Component in ~1K entities | 19787ns | 33502ns | 13068ns | 154306ns | 6370ns |
Remove and Add a Component in ~4K entities | 78372ns | 119935ns | 53093ns | 605653ns | 23848ns |
EntityX | EnTT | Ginseng | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Remove and Add a Component in ~16K entities | 0ms | 0ms | 0ms | 2ms | 0ms |
Remove and Add a Component in ~65K entities | 1ms | 2ms | 0ms | 9ms | 0ms |
Remove and Add a Component in 262K entities | 5ms | 7ms | 3ms | 41ms | 1ms |
Remove and Add a Component in ~1M entities | 20ms | 28ms | 13ms | 155ms | 8ms |
Remove and Add a Component in ~2M entities | 40ms | 58ms | 26ms | 341ms | 13ms |
Note:
- Remove and add
PositionComponent
(lower is better)
EntityX | EnTT | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Update 16 entities with 2 systems | 1897ns | 1761ns | 1699ns | 10524ns | 2259ns | 1498ns |
Update 64 entities with 2 systems | 7352ns | 6390ns | 6500ns | 17198ns | 6759ns | 5967ns |
Update 256 entities with 2 systems | 28178ns | 26636ns | 28390ns | 32832ns | 24570ns | 25563ns |
Update ~1K entities with 2 systems | 109553ns | 102751ns | 101077ns | 104007ns | 94564ns | 123043ns |
Update ~4K entities with 2 systems | 452075ns | 454020ns | 458897ns | 378993ns | 368903ns | 504147ns |
EntityX | EnTT | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Update ~16K entities with 2 systems | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms |
Update ~65K entities with 2 systems | 6ms | 5ms | 5ms | 5ms | 5ms | 5ms |
Update 262K entities with 2 systems | 29ms | 24ms | 23ms | 22ms | 23ms | 22ms |
Update ~1M entities with 2 systems | 112ms | 98ms | 93ms | 90ms | 99ms | 89ms |
Update ~2M entities with 2 systems | 219ms | 191ms | 195ms | 193ms | 246ms | 330ms |
Note:
- Systems used
MovementSystem
DataSystem
(lower is better)
EntityX | EnTT | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Update 16 entities with 2 systems | 1587ns | 1565ns | 1366ns | 11855ns | 2143ns | 1210ns |
Update 64 entities with 2 systems | 6680ns | 5980ns | 5873ns | 17111ns | 6394ns | 4832ns |
Update 256 entities with 2 systems | 28568ns | 24338ns | 25737ns | 35106ns | 24903ns | 32547ns |
Update ~1K entities with 2 systems | 116007ns | 95030ns | 99253ns | 106470ns | 98654ns | 150685ns |
Update ~4K entities with 2 systems | 417477ns | 378727ns | 405248ns | 386221ns | 373018ns | 570561ns |
EntityX | EnTT | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Update ~16K entities with 2 systems | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms |
Update ~65K entities with 2 systems | 6ms | 6ms | 6ms | 5ms | 6ms | 5ms |
Update 262K entities with 2 systems | 27ms | 23ms | 23ms | 22ms | 26ms | 24ms |
Update ~1M entities with 2 systems | 113ms | 102ms | 96ms | 90ms | 95ms | 98ms |
Update ~2M entities with 2 systems | 228ms | 187ms | 208ms | 179ms | 186ms | 241ms |
Note:
- Systems used
MovementSystem
DataSystem
- Not every entity has all three components, some got removed
(lower is better)
EnTT | EnTT (runtime) | EnTT (group) | EnTT (stable) | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Update 16 entities with 3 systems | 1787ns | 2111ns | 2027ns | 1711ns | 1618ns | 14869ns | 2232ns | 1589ns |
Update 64 entities with 3 systems | 6736ns | 8215ns | 6640ns | 6493ns | 6203ns | 19540ns | 6622ns | 6060ns |
Update 256 entities with 3 systems | 25873ns | 36771ns | 26232ns | 23567ns | 24894ns | 37636ns | 25010ns | 23996ns |
Update ~1K entities with 3 systems | 103824ns | 221225ns | 110732ns | 94054ns | 97211ns | 124796ns | 94751ns | 98308ns |
Update ~4K entities with 3 systems | 422562ns | 538807ns | 469281ns | 382498ns | 385221ns | 380641ns | 372710ns | 396109ns |
EnTT | EnTT (runtime) | EnTT (group) | EnTT (stable) | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Update ~16K entities with 3 systems | 1ms | 2ms | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms |
Update ~65K entities with 3 systems | 6ms | 19ms | 7ms | 5ms | 6ms | 5ms | 5ms | 6ms |
Update 262K entities with 3 systems | 25ms | 55ms | 43ms | 28ms | 24ms | 23ms | 23ms | 24ms |
Update ~1M entities with 3 systems | 99ms | 251ms | 115ms | 123ms | 97ms | 91ms | 89ms | 99ms |
Update ~2M entities with 3 systems | 203ms | 431ms | 314ms | 221ms | 198ms | 184ms | 181ms | 194ms |
Note:
- Systems used
MovementSystem
DataSystem
MoreComplexSystem
- * EnTT iterate components via views
- ** EnTT iterate components via runtime views
- *** EnTT iterate components via groups:
DataSystem
: No Group, useregistry.view<DataComponent>
. (Can't group a single component)MovementSystem
: Partial-owning group,registry.group<PositionComponent>(entt::get<const VelocityComponent>)
MoreComplexSystem
: Full-owning group,registry.group<PositionComponent, VelocityComponent, DataComponent>()
- **** EnTT iterate components via view and uses a stable component (
StablePositionComponent
)
(lower is better)
EnTT | EnTT (runtime) | EnTT (group) | EnTT (stable) | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Update 16 entities with 3 Systems | 1557ns | 2293ns | 1534ns | 1557ns | 1394ns | 16269ns | 2277ns | 1088ns |
Update 64 entities with 3 Systems | 6240ns | 8232ns | 6383ns | 6603ns | 5727ns | 20288ns | 6280ns | 4284ns |
Update 256 entities with 3 Systems | 27198ns | 34881ns | 26685ns | 38581ns | 24747ns | 38027ns | 25549ns | 23899ns |
Update ~1K entities with 3 Systems | 101964ns | 150459ns | 117708ns | 95259ns | 97448ns | 107293ns | 104872ns | 96481ns |
Update ~4K entities with 3 Systems | 404471ns | 788225ns | 385092ns | 374572ns | 381494ns | 381719ns | 367703ns | 379462ns |
EnTT | EnTT (runtime) | EnTT (group) | EnTT (stable) | Ginseng | mustache | Flecs | pico_ecs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Update ~16K entities with 3 Systems | 1ms | 2ms | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms | 1ms |
Update ~65K entities with 3 Systems | 6ms | 9ms | 6ms | 6ms | 6ms | 5ms | 6ms | 6ms |
Update 262K entities with 3 Systems | 25ms | 34ms | 26ms | 23ms | 25ms | 23ms | 22ms | 24ms |
Update ~1M entities with 3 Systems | 98ms | 160ms | 119ms | 100ms | 99ms | 91ms | 91ms | 96ms |
Update ~2M entities with 3 Systems | 197ms | 442ms | 304ms | 195ms | 209ms | 188ms | 181ms | 192ms |
Note:
- Systems used
MovementSystem
DataSystem
MoreComplexSystem
- Not every entity has all three components, some got removed
- * EnTT iterate components via views
- ** EnTT iterate components via runtime views
- *** EnTT iterate components via groups:
DataSystem
: No Group, useregistry.view<DataComponent>
. (Can't group a single component)MovementSystem
: Partial-owning group,registry.group<PositionComponent>(entt::get<const VelocityComponent>)
MoreComplexSystem
: Full-owning group,registry.group<PositionComponent, VelocityComponent, DataComponent>()
- **** EnTT iterate components via view and uses a stable component (
StablePositionComponent
)
I try to implement the ECS-examples as good as possible for each framework, if you have any improvements, feel free to make a PR or open an issue.
You can find the frameworks example(s) in src/
and benchmark benchmarks/
for more details.
Also, you can write tests for the framework example :)
and add some metadata in plot.config.json.
TODO: make more detailed "how to add framework"
Read CONTRIBUTING.md for more details.
Using Taskfile
git submodule update --init --recursive
- Build:
task build
- Run (All) Benchmarks:
task benchmark
- Plot Graphs:
task plot:all
You can now find the benchmark-results in reports/
.
You need python (>=3.9.0) and some dependencies to run gen-benchmark-report (plotting)
- Configure and build benchmarks, see Building Details:
git submodule update --init --recursive
cmake -S . -B ./build
cmake --build ./build
- Run benchmark(s), with
run-benchmarks.sh
or each:./build/benchmark/benchmarks/entt/ecs-benchmark-entt
(console output) (optional)./build/benchmark/benchmarks/entt/ecs-benchmark-entt --benchmark_format=json > ./reports/entt.json
(write json report)
- Plot Reports, after generating json reports, see
plot-results.sh
:python3 ./scripts/gen-benchmark-report -i ./info.json gen-plot ./reports/entityx.json ./reports/entt.json ./reports/ginseng.json ./reports/mustache.json ./reports/openecs.json ./reports/flecs.json
(generate graphs)python3 ./scripts/gen-benchmark-report -i ./info.json gen-results-md ./reports/entityx.json ./reports/entt.json ./reports/ginseng.json ./reports/mustache.json ./reports/openecs.json ./reports/flecs.json
(generate full report)
- Dependency Setup
- Building Details
- Project Template, mix of: starter_template and ModernCppStarter
- Google benchmark
- https://github.com/SanderMertens/ecs-faq
- https://github.com/jslee02/awesome-entity-component-system
Entity Component Systems (ECS) are a form of decomposition that completely decouples entity logic and data from the entity "objects" themselves. The Evolve your Hierarchy article provides a solid overview of EC systems and why you should use them.
Version: 1.1.2 (Dec 2021)
EnTT is a header-only, tiny and easy to use library for game programming and much more written in modern C++.
Version: v3.11.1
Ginseng is an entity-component-system (ECS) library designed for use in games.
The main advantage over similar libraries is that the component types do not need to be listed or registered. Component types are detected dynamically.
Any function-like object can be used as a system. The function's parameters are used to determine the required components.
Version: 1.1 (Dec 2021)
A fast, modern C++ Entity Component System
Version: 0.2 (Apr 2023)
Open Ecs is an Entity Component System that uses metaprogramming, cache coherency, and other useful tricks to maximize performance and configurability. It is written in c++11 without further dependencies.
Version: Beta (Apr 2017)
Flecs is a fast and lightweight Entity Component System that lets you build games and simulations with millions of entities.
Version: v3.2.1
A collection of cross-platform single header libraries written in C. Pure and simple ECS.
Version: v2.0.0 (Apr 2023)
I removed anax and Artemis-Cpp, they are out-of-date and didn't receive any updates in the last time. You can still checkout the old versions and branches.