Let's (for a moment) put aside Google Chrome's privacy concerns and find out whether Chrome is really 10 times faster than any other browser as Google claimed.
As pointed out by Adrian yesterday, Chrome's performance loading the Google Analytics pages were second to none, and seemed to load very quickly other process demanding pages like Gmail, Facebook, YouTube, NetVibes, etc...
I have used 3 javascript performance testing tools which in effect push the browser's capabilities to their limits:
- SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark - Measured in miliseconds (The lower the better)
- Dromaeo - Measured in miliseconds (The lower the better)
- V8 Benchmark Suite - This is Google's own tool and was tailored for Chrome. The higher the score the better
Internet Explorer 7
I'm affraid that I have to use IE 7 for this test because I dare not upgrade to a beta version of IE 8. If anyone else can test IE 8's performance, let me know.
SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark - completed in 39614.4ms
Link to test results - http://tinyurl.com/66eqjn
Dromaeo - Unfortunately IE couldn't cope with Dromaeo testing. It simply crashed the entire browser 3 times. Oh dear!
V8 Benchmark Suite - score: 26
Opera 9.5
SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark - completed in 8122.8ms
Link to test results - http://tinyurl.com/59fxu3
Dromaeo - completed in 3491.00ms
Link to test results - http://dromaeo.com/?id=34639
V8 Benchmark Suite - score: 231
Safari 3.1.2
SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark - completed in 5603.0ms
Link to test results - http://tinyurl.com/648aek
Dromaeo - completed in 2358.00ms
Link to test results - http://dromaeo.com/?id=34592
V8 Benchmark Suite - score: 89
Firefox 3.0.1
SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark - completed in 4659.8ms
Link to test results - http://tinyurl.com/64qthc
Dromaeo - completed in 1765.20ms
Link to test results - http://dromaeo.com/?id=34637
V8 Benchmark Suite - score: 130
Google Chrome 0.2
SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark - completed in 3078.8ms
Link to test results - http://tinyurl.com/653xe2
Dromaeo - completed in 462.00ms
Link to test results - http://dromaeo.com/?id=34587
V8 Benchmark Suite - score: 869
Google Chrome really seems to be the fastest browser for processing JavaScript. Firefox came behind in second place, followed by Safari in third and Opera in fourth, and unsurprisingly IE in the last place.
Surely the other browsers will study Chrome's technology and adopt changes in their products. The race is on!
