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golang-sql-builder-benchmark

A comparison of popular Go SQL query builders. Provides feature list and benchmarks

Builders

dbr: https://github.com/gocraft/dbr
squirrel: https://github.com/lann/squirrel
sqrl: https://github.com/elgris/sqrl
gocu: https://github.com/doug-martin/goqu - just for SELECT query
sqlf: https://github.com/leporo/sqlf

Feature list

feature	dbr	squirrel	sqrl	goqu	sqlf
SelectBuilder	+	+	+	+	+
InsertBuilder	+	+	+	+	+
UpdateBuilder	+	+	+	+	+
DeleteBuilder	+	+	+	+	+
PostgreSQL support	+	+	+	+	+
Custom placeholders	+	+	+	+	+
JOINs support	+	+	+	+
Subquery in query builder		+	+	+	+
Aliases for columns		+	+	+
CASE expression		+	+	+

Some explanations here:

Custom placeholders - ability to use not only ? placeholders, Useful for PostgreSQL
JOINs support - ability to build JOINs in SELECT queries like Select("*").From("a").Join("b")
Subquery in query builder - when you prepare a subquery with one builder and then pass it to another. Something like:

subQ := Select("aa", "bb").From("dd")
qb := Select().Column(subQ).From("a")

Aliases for columns - easy way to alias a column, especially if column is specified by subquery:

subQ := Select("aa", "bb").From("dd")
qb := Select().Column(Alias(subQ, "alias")).From("a")

CASE expression - syntactic sugar for CASE expressions

Benchmarks

go test -bench=. -benchmem | column -t on 2.6 GHz i5 Macbook Pro:

BenchmarkDbrSelectSimple-4                  2000000        782      ns/op  728    B/op  12   allocs/op
BenchmarkDbrSelectConditional-4             1000000        1156     ns/op  976    B/op  17   allocs/op
BenchmarkDbrSelectComplex-4                 500000         3157     ns/op  2360   B/op  38   allocs/op
BenchmarkDbrSelectSubquery-4                500000         2545     ns/op  2160   B/op  29   allocs/op
BenchmarkDbrInsert-4                        500000         2187     ns/op  1136   B/op  26   allocs/op
BenchmarkDbrUpdateSetColumns-4              1000000        2306     ns/op  1297   B/op  28   allocs/op
BenchmarkDbrUpdateSetMap-4                  1000000        2464     ns/op  1296   B/op  28   allocs/op
BenchmarkDbrDelete-4                        2000000        801      ns/op  496    B/op  12   allocs/op

BenchmarkGoquSelectSimple-4                 300000         5323     ns/op  3360   B/op  38   allocs/op
BenchmarkGoquSelectConditional-4            200000         5848     ns/op  3804   B/op  49   allocs/op
BenchmarkGoquSelectComplex-4                100000         18142    ns/op  9464   B/op  169  allocs/op

BenchmarkSqlfSelectSimple-4                 5000000        275      ns/op  0      B/op  0    allocs/op
BenchmarkSqlfSelectSimplePostgreSQL-4       3000000        401      ns/op  0      B/op  0    allocs/op
BenchmarkSqlfSelectConditional-4            3000000        411      ns/op  0      B/op  0    allocs/op
BenchmarkSqlfSelectConditionalPostgreSQL-4  2000000        595      ns/op  0      B/op  0    allocs/op
BenchmarkSqlfSelectComplex-4                2000000        719      ns/op  0      B/op  0    allocs/op
BenchmarkSqlfSelectComplexPostgreSQL-4      2000000        962      ns/op  0      B/op  0    allocs/op
BenchmarkSqlfSelectSubquery-4               2000000        839      ns/op  0      B/op  0    allocs/op
BenchmarkSqlfSelectSubqueryPostgreSQL-4     1000000        1182     ns/op  0      B/op  0    allocs/op
BenchmarkSqlfInsert-4                       2000000        1028     ns/op  0      B/op  0    allocs/op
BenchmarkSqlfInsertPostgreSQL-4             1000000        1114     ns/op  0      B/op  0    allocs/op
BenchmarkSqlfUpdateSetColumns-4             3000000        520      ns/op  0      B/op  0    allocs/op
BenchmarkSqlfUpdateSetColumnsPostgreSQL-4   2000000        674      ns/op  0      B/op  0    allocs/op
BenchmarkSqlfDelete-4                       5000000        286      ns/op  0      B/op  0    allocs/op
BenchmarkSqlfDeletePostgreSQL-4             5000000        346      ns/op  0      B/op  0    allocs/op

BenchmarkSqrlSelectSimple-4                 1000000        1124     ns/op  704    B/op  15   allocs/op
BenchmarkSqrlSelectConditional-4            1000000        1426     ns/op  848    B/op  18   allocs/op
BenchmarkSqrlSelectComplex-4                200000         8461     ns/op  4352   B/op  87   allocs/op
BenchmarkSqrlSelectSubquery-4               300000         6439     ns/op  3352   B/op  65   allocs/op
BenchmarkSqrlSelectMoreComplex-4            200000         11943    ns/op  6961   B/op  138  allocs/op
BenchmarkSqrlInsert-4                       1000000        1706     ns/op  992    B/op  17   allocs/op
BenchmarkSqrlUpdateSetColumns-4             1000000        2133     ns/op  1056   B/op  25   allocs/op
BenchmarkSqrlUpdateSetMap-4                 500000         2568     ns/op  1130   B/op  27   allocs/op
BenchmarkSqrlDelete-4                       3000000        551      ns/op  272    B/op  8    allocs/op

BenchmarkSquirrelSelectSimple-4             200000         5731     ns/op  2512   B/op  49   allocs/op
BenchmarkSquirrelSelectConditional-4        200000         9630     ns/op  3756   B/op  79   allocs/op
BenchmarkSquirrelSelectComplex-4            50000          25307    ns/op  10162  B/op  224  allocs/op
BenchmarkSquirrelSelectSubquery-4           100000         22823    ns/op  8642   B/op  182  allocs/op
BenchmarkSquirrelSelectMoreComplex-4        50000          39758    ns/op  17155  B/op  384  allocs/op
BenchmarkSquirrelInsert-4                   200000         6682     ns/op  3040   B/op  67   allocs/op
BenchmarkSquirrelUpdateSetColumns-4         200000         10834    ns/op  4465   B/op  103  allocs/op
BenchmarkSquirrelUpdateSetMap-4             200000         10996    ns/op  4545   B/op  105  allocs/op
BenchmarkSquirrelDelete-4                   200000         6547     ns/op  2592   B/op  63   allocs/op

Conclusion

If your queries are very simple, pick sqlf or dbr, the fastest ones.

If really need immutability of query builder and you're ready to sacrifice extra memory, use squirrel, the slowest but most reliable one.

If you like those sweet helpers that squirrel provides to ease your query building or if you plan to use the same builder for PostgreSQL, take sqrl as it's balanced between performance and features.

goqu has LOTS of features and ways to build queries. Although it requires stubbing sql connection if you need just to build a query. It can be done with sqlmock. Disadvantage: the builder is slow and has TOO MANY features, so building a query may become a nightmare. But if you need total control on everything - this is your choice.