benchmarks for Go RNG implementations
A simple benchmark of some RNG implementations in Go. This only tests obtaining random int64 or uint64 values, depending on what the function call for each algorithm returns. If you need a CSPRNG, use crypto/rand; sometimes a PRNG is good enough.
Choose the library that best fits your requirements. Please make sure you are aware of the pros and cons of the chosen prng algorithm and how that will affect your library or application.
System Info:
Processors: 4
Model: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570K CPU @ 3.40GHz
Cache: 6144 KB
Memory: 32 GB
OS: Ubuntu Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Kernel: 4.4.0-21-generic
- crypto/rand
- math/rand
| algorithm | return type | package | func call | Ops | ns/Op | B/Op | Allocs/Op |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| prng | int64 | math/rand | Int63() | 50000000 | 22 | 0 | 0 |
| csprng | int64 | crypto/rand | Int() | 2000000 | 909 | 88 | 3 |
Developed by Takuji Nishimura and Makoto Matsumoto: http://www.math.sci.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/~m-mat/MT/emt64.html
- github.com/bszcz/mt19937_64
- github.com/EricLagergren/go-prng/mersenne_twister_64
- github.com/seehuhn/mt19937
| algorithm | return type | package | func call | Ops | ns/Op | B/Op | Allocs/Op |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mersenne twister | int64 | bszcz/mt19937_64 | Int63() | 50000000 | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| mersenne twister | int64 | EricLagergren/go-prng/mersenne_twister_64 | Int63() | 200000000 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| mersenne twister | int64 | seehuhn/mt19937 | Int63() | 200000000 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
Both dgryski/go-pcgr and MichaelTJones/pcg are implementations of Melissa O'Neills PCG psuedo random number generator. IMO, the decision on which to use should be based on which API best suits your use case.
| algorithm | return type | package | func call | Ops | ns/Op | B/Op | Allocs/Op |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pcg | int64 | dgryski/go-pcgr | Int63() | 200000000 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| pcg | int64 | MichaelTJones/pcg | Random() | 200000000 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
Marsaglia, George (July 2003) "Xorshift RNGs", Journal of Statistical Software 8 (14) This includes variants of xorshift.
Sebastiano Vigna: xoroshiro
- github.com/EricLagergren/go-prng/xorshift
- github.com/lazybeaver/xorshift
- github.com/dgryski/go-xoroshiro
| algorithm | return type | package | func call | Ops | ns/Op | B/Op | Allocs/Op |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| xorshift* | uint64 | EricLagergren/go-prng/xorshift | xorshift64star.Next() | 200000000 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| xorshift* | uint64 | lazybeaver/xorshift | xorshift64star.Next() | 200000000 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| xorshift* | uint64 | EricLagergren/go-prng/xorshift | xorshift1024star.Next() | 300000000 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| xorshift* | uint64 | lazybeaver/xorshift | xorshift1024star.Next() | 200000000 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| xorshift+ | uint64 | EricLagergren/go-prng/xorshift | xorshift128plus.Next() | 1000000000 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| xorshift+ | uint64 | lazybeaver/xorshift | xorshift128plus.Next() | 500000000 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| xoroshiro | int64 | dgryski/go-xoroshiro | xoroshiro.Int63() | 500000000 | 3 | 0 | 0 |