Entity-Component-System Benchmarks

This repository contains a collection of benchmarks for popular Entity-Component-System (ECS) frameworks. The benchmarks cover different aspects of ECS frameworks, such as update systems, component additions/removals, and entity creation/destruction. It's important to note that different ECS frameworks have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, some frameworks might excel in adding/removing components, while others might be better at creating/destroying entities. Therefore, it's crucial to choose an ECS framework based on your specific requirements.

ECS (Entity-Component-System) Frameworks:

• EntityX
• EnTT
• Ginseng
• mustache
• flecs
• pico_ecs

TL;DR Results

When using ECS frameworks, it's important to benchmark your specific use case and compare the results. Therefore, the results of these benchmarks should be used as a starting point for your own benchmarking efforts.

Update systems (for-each entities (with mixed components) in 5 systems)

(lower is better)

	EnTT	EnTT (runtime)	EnTT (group)	EnTT (stable)	Ginseng	mustache	Flecs	pico_ecs
Update 16 entities with 5 Systems	1us	2us	1us	1us	1us	41us	3us	1us
Update 64 entities with 5 Systems	6us	9us	5us	5us	6us	48us	7us	5us
Update 256 entities with 5 Systems	25us	40us	24us	24us	26us	65us	25us	25us
Update ~1K entities with 5 Systems	102us	160us	97us	97us	104us	143us	93us	100us
Update ~4K entities with 5 Systems	405us	637us	384us	386us	421us	447us	362us	398us

	EnTT	EnTT (runtime)	EnTT (group)	EnTT (stable)	Ginseng	mustache	Flecs	pico_ecs
Update ~16K entities with 5 Systems	1ms	2ms	1ms	1ms	1ms	1ms	1ms	1ms
Update ~65K entities with 5 Systems	6ms	10ms	6ms	6ms	6ms	6ms	5ms	6ms
Update 262K entities with 5 Systems	26ms	41ms	26ms	25ms	28ms	26ms	23ms	26ms
Update ~1M entities with 5 Systems	105ms	163ms	110ms	101ms	114ms	104ms	94ms	104ms
Update ~2M entities with 5 Systems	212ms	326ms	268ms	200ms	229ms	213ms	188ms	223ms

While this benchmark only includes up to 5 simple components and 5 small systems, it's important to note that Entity-Component-Systems can become much more complex in the wild, with hundreds of components and systems. Therefore, it's crucial to always benchmark your specific cases and systems when necessary and compare results. Choose an ECS framework based on its features, for example, EnTT offers resource management and event handling, while flecs provides useful add-ons, and EntityX includes a built-in world/system manager.

To evaluate a framework, look at its examples and API design, and pick the one that suits your needs the best.

Details

Features

All benchmarks are located in the benchmark/benchmarks/ directory and are implemented with the google/benchmark library. Each benchmark must implement the ECSBenchmark.h template.

Each framework has its own subproject in the src/ directory and must implement specific features (see src/base).

Components

1. PositionComponent: includes x and y coordinates.
2. VelocityComponent: includes x and y coordinates for movement.
3. DataComponent: includes some arbitrary data.
4. HealthComponent: Hero/Monster data includes HP/MaxHP and status.
5. DamageComponent: Hero/Monster data includes damage.

Systems

1. MovementSystem: updates the PositionComponent with a constant VelocityComponent.
2. DataSystem: updates the DataComponent with arbitrary data.
3. MoreComplexSystem: updates components with random data and arbitrary information.
4. HealthSystem: update Hero/Monster health (update HP and status).
5. DamageSystem: update Hero/Monster health by taking damage.

Additional Benchmarks

Benchmarks for more common features, such as "Creating entities", "Adding and removing components", and others.

Features tested

• Entity Creation
• Entity Destruction
• Component Retrieval
• Adding and Removing Components
• Systems (for iterating through entities)

Environment

• OS: Linux 64-Bit (Kernel: 6.6.9)
• CPU: 3.13GHz @ 12Cores
• RAM: 47GB
• Compiler: gcc (GCC) 13.2.1

---

Create entities

(lower is better)

	EntityX	EnTT	Ginseng	mustache	Flecs	pico_ecs
Create 16 entities with two Components	2us	3us	10us	3us	473us	1us
Create 64 entities with two Components	6us	5us	12us	6us	488us	2us
Create 256 entities with two Components	20us	12us	16us	19us	534us	6us
Create ~1K entities with two Components	75us	37us	33us	66us	716us	21us
Create ~4K entities with two Components	293us	138us	101us	261us	1489us	95us

	EntityX	EnTT	Ginseng	mustache	Flecs	pico_ecs
Create ~16K entities with two Components	1ms	0ms	0ms	1ms	4ms	0ms
Create ~65K entities with two Components	4ms	2ms	1ms	4ms	17ms	1ms
Create 262K entities with two Components	18ms	9ms	8ms	17ms	81ms	7ms
Create ~1M entities with two Components	102ms	72ms	60ms	93ms	296ms	45ms
Create ~2M entities with two Components	201ms	138ms	110ms	184ms	574ms	78ms

Destroy entities

(lower is better)

	EntityX	EnTT	Ginseng	Flecs	pico_ecs
Destroy 16 entities with two components	1us	1us	2us	425us	1us
Destroy 64 entities with two components	3us	2us	6us	432us	1us
Destroy 256 entities with two components	12us	8us	23us	436us	3us
Destroy ~1K entities with two components	47us	31us	89us	474us	9us
Destroy ~4K entities with two components	193us	120us	359us	628us	35us

	EntityX	EnTT	Ginseng	Flecs	pico_ecs
Destroy ~16K entities with two components	0ms	0ms	1ms	1ms	0ms
Destroy ~65K entities with two components	3ms	1ms	5ms	3ms	0ms
Destroy 262K entities with two components	13ms	7ms	23ms	16ms	2ms
Destroy ~1M entities with two components	65ms	36ms	100ms	59ms	12ms
Destroy ~2M entities with two components	131ms	74ms	195ms	115ms	21ms

Get one component from Entity

(lower is better)

	EntityX	EnTT	Ginseng	mustache	Flecs	pico_ecs
Unpack one component in 16 entities	0us	0us	0us	0us	0us	0us
Unpack one component in 64 entities	0us	0us	0us	0us	2us	0us
Unpack one component in 256 entities	0us	0us	0us	2us	9us	0us
Unpack one component in ~1K entities	3us	3us	1us	11us	38us	1us
Unpack one component in ~4K entities	14us	13us	6us	44us	153us	6us

	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	2ms	0ms
Unpack one component in 262K entities	1ms	0ms	0ms	3ms	9ms	0ms
Unpack one component in ~1M entities	4ms	3ms	1ms	13ms	38ms	1ms
Unpack one component in ~2M entities	9ms	7ms	3ms	29ms	78ms	3ms

Note:

• Get one non-const component
  1. PositionComponent

Get two components from entity

(lower is better)

	EntityX	EnTT	Ginseng	mustache	Flecs	pico_ecs
Unpack two components in 16 entities	0us	0us	0us	0us	1us	0us
Unpack two components in 64 entities	0us	0us	0us	1us	5us	0us
Unpack two components in 256 entities	1us	1us	0us	5us	20us	0us
Unpack two components in ~1K entities	7us	6us	3us	22us	83us	3us
Unpack two components in ~4K entities	29us	26us	11us	88us	331us	12us

	EntityX	EnTT	Ginseng	mustache	Flecs	pico_ecs
Unpack two components in ~16K entities	0ms	0ms	0ms	0ms	1ms	0ms
Unpack two components in ~65K entities	0ms	0ms	0ms	1ms	5ms	0ms
Unpack two components in 262K entities	2ms	1ms	0ms	5ms	21ms	0ms
Unpack two components in ~1M entities	8ms	6ms	3ms	24ms	84ms	3ms
Unpack two components in ~2M entities	18ms	13ms	6ms	49ms	168ms	6ms

Note:

• Get non-const- and const-component
  1. PositionComponent
  2. const VelocityComponent

Get three components from entity

(lower is better)

	EntityX	EnTT	Ginseng	mustache	Flecs	pico_ecs
Unpack three components in 8 entities	0us	0us	0us	0us	1us	0us
Unpack three components in 32 entities	0us	0us	0us	0us	4us	0us
Unpack three components in 128 entities	0us	1us	0us	2us	18us	0us
Unpack three components in 512 entities	3us	7us	2us	13us	73us	2us
Unpack three components in ~2K entities	14us	28us	11us	44us	293us	9us

	EntityX	EnTT	Ginseng	mustache	Flecs	pico_ecs
Unpack three components in ~8K entities	0ms	0ms	0ms	0ms	1ms	0ms
Unpack three components in ~32K entities	0ms	0ms	0ms	0ms	4ms	0ms
Unpack three components in 131K entities	1ms	1ms	0ms	2ms	18ms	0ms
Unpack three components in 524K entities	4ms	7ms	3ms	12ms	75ms	2ms
Unpack three components in ~1M entities	9ms	14ms	6ms	24ms	149ms	4ms

Note:

• Not every entity has three components, some has only two
• Get two non-const- and const-component(s)
  1. PositionComponent
  2. const VelocityComponent
  3. DataComponent (optional)

Remove and add component

(lower is better)

	EntityX	EnTT	Ginseng	Flecs	pico_ecs
Remove and Add a Component in 16 entities	0us	0us	0us	3us	0us
Remove and Add a Component in 64 entities	0us	1us	0us	14us	0us
Remove and Add a Component in 256 entities	3us	6us	2us	56us	2us
Remove and Add a Component in ~1K entities	15us	27us	15us	225us	8us
Remove and Add a Component in ~4K entities	62us	108us	53us	904us	36us

	EntityX	EnTT	Ginseng	Flecs	pico_ecs
Remove and Add a Component in ~16K entities	0ms	0ms	0ms	3ms	0ms
Remove and Add a Component in ~65K entities	0ms	1ms	0ms	14ms	0ms
Remove and Add a Component in 262K entities	4ms	7ms	3ms	57ms	2ms
Remove and Add a Component in ~1M entities	16ms	28ms	12ms	232ms	9ms
Remove and Add a Component in ~2M entities	32ms	56ms	24ms	459ms	18ms

Note:

• Remove and add PositionComponent

Update systems (for-each entities in 2 systems)

(lower is better)

	EntityX	EnTT	Ginseng	mustache	Flecs	pico_ecs
Update 16 entities with 2 systems	1us	1us	1us	16us	2us	1us
Update 64 entities with 2 systems	7us	5us	6us	20us	6us	5us
Update 256 entities with 2 systems	28us	23us	24us	39us	24us	24us
Update ~1K entities with 2 systems	111us	92us	97us	110us	93us	95us
Update ~4K entities with 2 systems	444us	367us	395us	398us	366us	368us

	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	7ms	5ms	6ms	6ms	5ms	5ms
Update 262K entities with 2 systems	27ms	23ms	24ms	25ms	23ms	23ms
Update ~1M entities with 2 systems	112ms	92ms	99ms	100ms	93ms	92ms
Update ~2M entities with 2 systems	225ms	186ms	200ms	200ms	189ms	186ms

Note:

• Systems used
  1. MovementSystem
  2. DataSystem

Update systems (for-each entities (with mixed components) in 2 systems)

(lower is better)

	EntityX	EnTT	Ginseng	mustache	Flecs	pico_ecs
Update 16 entities with 2 systems	1us	1us	1us	18us	2us	1us
Update 64 entities with 2 systems	6us	5us	5us	23us	6us	4us
Update 256 entities with 2 systems	28us	23us	24us	40us	24us	24us
Update ~1K entities with 2 systems	108us	91us	98us	112us	93us	93us
Update ~4K entities with 2 systems	438us	362us	387us	406us	367us	366us

	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	6ms	6ms	5ms	5ms
Update 262K entities with 2 systems	27ms	23ms	24ms	25ms	23ms	23ms
Update ~1M entities with 2 systems	113ms	92ms	98ms	99ms	93ms	95ms
Update ~2M entities with 2 systems	234ms	184ms	198ms	198ms	190ms	188ms

Note:

• Systems used
  1. MovementSystem
  2. DataSystem
• Not every entity has all three components, some got removed

Update systems (for-each entities in 5 systems)

(lower is better)

	EnTT	EnTT (runtime)	EnTT (group)	EnTT (stable)	Ginseng	mustache	Flecs	pico_ecs
Update 16 entities with 5 systems	1us	3us	1us	1us	1us	38us	3us	1us
Update 64 entities with 5 systems	6us	11us	6us	6us	6us	44us	7us	6us
Update 256 entities with 5 systems	26us	46us	25us	25us	27us	62us	24us	26us
Update ~1K entities with 5 systems	103us	183us	99us	99us	106us	136us	93us	103us
Update ~4K entities with 5 systems	424us	725us	393us	398us	428us	434us	371us	411us

	EnTT	EnTT (runtime)	EnTT (group)	EnTT (stable)	Ginseng	mustache	Flecs	pico_ecs
Update ~16K entities with 5 systems	1ms	2ms	1ms	1ms	1ms	1ms	1ms	1ms
Update ~65K entities with 5 systems	6ms	11ms	6ms	6ms	7ms	6ms	5ms	6ms
Update 262K entities with 5 systems	27ms	46ms	27ms	26ms	29ms	26ms	24ms	26ms
Update ~1M entities with 5 systems	110ms	186ms	132ms	105ms	117ms	106ms	96ms	107ms
Update ~2M entities with 5 systems	220ms	367ms	292ms	211ms	236ms	213ms	190ms	216ms

Note:

• Systems used
  1. MovementSystem
  2. DataSystem
  3. MoreComplexSystem
  4. HealthSystem
  5. DamageSystem
• * EnTT iterate components via views
• ** EnTT iterate components via runtime views
• *** EnTT iterate components via groups:
  1. DataSystem: No Group, use registry.view<DataComponent>. (Can't group a single component)
  2. MovementSystem: Partial-owning group, registry.group<PositionComponent>(entt::get<const VelocityComponent>)
  3. MoreComplexSystem: Full-owning group, registry.group<PositionComponent, VelocityComponent, DataComponent>()
• **** EnTT iterate components via view and uses a stable component (StablePositionComponent)

Update systems (for-each entities (with mixed components) in 5 systems)

(lower is better)

	EnTT	EnTT (runtime)	EnTT (group)	EnTT (stable)	Ginseng	mustache	Flecs	pico_ecs
Update 16 entities with 5 Systems	1us	2us	1us	1us	1us	41us	3us	1us
Update 64 entities with 5 Systems	6us	9us	5us	5us	6us	48us	7us	5us
Update 256 entities with 5 Systems	25us	40us	24us	24us	26us	65us	25us	25us
Update ~1K entities with 5 Systems	102us	160us	97us	97us	104us	143us	93us	100us
Update ~4K entities with 5 Systems	405us	637us	384us	386us	421us	447us	362us	398us

	EnTT	EnTT (runtime)	EnTT (group)	EnTT (stable)	Ginseng	mustache	Flecs	pico_ecs
Update ~16K entities with 5 Systems	1ms	2ms	1ms	1ms	1ms	1ms	1ms	1ms
Update ~65K entities with 5 Systems	6ms	10ms	6ms	6ms	6ms	6ms	5ms	6ms
Update 262K entities with 5 Systems	26ms	41ms	26ms	25ms	28ms	26ms	23ms	26ms
Update ~1M entities with 5 Systems	105ms	163ms	110ms	101ms	114ms	104ms	94ms	104ms
Update ~2M entities with 5 Systems	212ms	326ms	268ms	200ms	229ms	213ms	188ms	223ms

Note:

• Systems used
  1. MovementSystem
  2. DataSystem
  3. MoreComplexSystem
  4. HealthSystem
  5. DamageSystem
• 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:
  1. DataSystem: No Group, use registry.view<DataComponent>. (Can't group a single component)
  2. MovementSystem: Partial-owning group, registry.group<PositionComponent>(entt::get<const VelocityComponent>)
  3. MoreComplexSystem: Full-owning group, registry.group<PositionComponent, VelocityComponent, DataComponent>()
• **** EnTT iterate components via view and uses a stable component (StablePositionComponent)

Contributing

If you have any improvements to the ECS-examples for any of the frameworks, feel free to make a pull request or open an issue. The example(s) for each framework can be found in src/, and benchmarks are located in benchmarks/benchmarks/ for more details.

Additionally, you can write tests for the framework example and add some metadata to the plot.config.json file. Any contributions are greatly appreciated!

TODO: make more detailed "how to add framework"

Read CONTRIBUTING.md for more details.

Run Benchmarks

Using Taskfile

1. git submodule update --init --recursive
2. Build: task build
3. Run (All) Benchmarks: task benchmark
4. 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)

pip install -r ./scripts/gen-benchmark-report/requirements.txt

Step-by-Step

1. Configure and build benchmarks, see Building Details:
   1. git submodule update --init --recursive
   2. cmake -S . -B ./build
   3. cmake --build ./build
2. 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)
3. Plot Reports, after generating json reports, see plot-results.sh:
   1. 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)
   2. 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)

Links and More

• Dependency Setup
• Building Details
• Project Template, mix of: starter_template and ModernCppStarter
  • Forked cpp_vcpkg_project
• Google benchmark
• https://github.com/SanderMertens/ecs-faq
• https://github.com/jslee02/awesome-entity-component-system

Candidates

EntityX by @alecthomas

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 (Apr 2023)

EnTT by @skypjack

EnTT is a header-only, tiny and easy to use library for game programming and much more written in modern C++.

Version: v3.12.2

Ginseng by @apples

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)

mustache by @kirillochnev

A fast, modern C++ Entity Component System

Version: 0.2 (Apr 2023)

OpenEcs by @Gronis

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: 0.1.101 (Apr 2017)

Flecs by @SanderMertens

Flecs is a fast and lightweight Entity Component System that lets you build games and simulations with millions of entities.

Version: v3.2.10

pico_ecs by @empyreanx

A collection of cross-platform single header libraries written in C. Pure and simple ECS.

Version: 2.3 (Sep 2023)