Benchmark Results

Generated: 2026-08-17 13:50:35 UTC

If you're interested in diving deeper, check out our benchmark repository.

Library Notes

Feature Comparison

Feature	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Declarative constraints	✅ tags	✅ tags	✅ rules	✅ tags	✅ methods	❌ hand-written
JSON Schema generation	✅	❌	❌	✅	✅	❌
Default values	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
Unmarshal + validate	✅	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅
Validate existing struct	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌*

*Godasse requires hand-written Validate() methods

Library Descriptions

1. Pedantigo - Struct tag-based validation (validate:"required,email,min=5"). JSON Schema generation with caching.

2. Playground (go-playground/validator) - Struct tag-based validation. Rich constraint library, no JSON Schema.

3. Ozzo (ozzo-validation) - Rule builder API (validation.Field(&u.Name, validation.Required, validation.Length(2,100))). No struct tags.

4. Huma - OpenAPI-focused. Validates map[string]any against schemas, not structs directly.

5. Godantic - Method-based constraints (FieldName() FieldOptions[T]). JSON Schema, defaults, streaming partial JSON.

6. Godasse - Deserializer with default: tag. All constraint validation requires hand-written Validate() methods.

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Getting the Best Performance

New[T]() does the expensive work once: it walks the struct via reflection, resolves every constraint tag, and builds an internal field-constraint cache (plus the JSON field deserializers). That one-time cost is what the New section below measures (microsecond range). Every other operation - Validate, Unmarshal, Marshal, Schema - reuses that precomputed cache and runs in the hundreds-of-ns to low-µs range, which is why those numbers consistently beat libraries that re-resolve constraints or re-walk structs on every call.

This only pays off if the *Validator[T] returned by New is built once and reused - not recreated per request. Two ways to do that:

Module-level variable (sufficient to call the validator directly):

var userValidator = validator.New[User]()

func handleCreateUser(body []byte) (*User, error) {
	return userValidator.Unmarshal(body) // reuses the cached field constraints
}

Register (needed in addition, only if a framework integration - e.g. the Echo Binder plugin, or UnmarshalInto - must find the validator for a type it only knows via reflect.Type at runtime, not through your module-level variable):

var _ = validator.Register(validator.New[User]())

Register[T] may be called exactly once per type - a second call for the same type panics, by design. A type could have multiple differently-configured validators (different Options), and pedantigo has no way to guess which one a framework plugin should resolve to, so it refuses to silently pick one. Call Register from exactly one package-level var declaration per type.

---

Validate

Validate existing struct (no JSON parsing)

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Simple	1.28 µs (10 allocs)	2.13 µs (7 allocs)	11.86 µs (43 allocs)	unsupported	5.39 µs (48 allocs)	unsupported
Complex	2.07 µs (15 allocs)	3.44 µs (9 allocs)	11.49 µs (139 allocs)	unsupported	12.46 µs (120 allocs)	unsupported
Large	1.45 µs (22 allocs)	1.74 µs (3 allocs)	42.94 µs (254 allocs)	unsupported	13.17 µs (126 allocs)	unsupported

JSONValidate

JSON bytes → struct, then a separate validate step

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Simple	3.23 µs (19 allocs)	4.12 µs (16 allocs)	unsupported	3.33 µs (26 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported
Complex	8.88 µs (39 allocs)	10.31 µs (33 allocs)	unsupported	9.86 µs (78 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported

Marshal

Validate + JSON marshal

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Simple	1.73 µs (11 allocs)	2.68 µs (9 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	unsupported	unsupported

Unmarshal

JSON bytes → validated struct in a single call

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Simple	4.66 µs (39 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	unsupported	10.79 µs (81 allocs)	4.41 µs (42 allocs)
Complex	14.62 µs (122 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	unsupported	45.52 µs (285 allocs)	15.78 µs (149 allocs)

New

Validator creation overhead

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Simple	14.54 µs (129 allocs)	15.26 µs (187 allocs)	unsupported	29.64 µs (255 allocs)	25.89 µs (305 allocs)	6.33 µs (72 allocs)
Complex	34.56 µs (299 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	74.44 µs (515 allocs)	7.22 µs (75 allocs)	22.01 µs (243 allocs)

Schema

JSON Schema generation

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Uncached	25.60 µs (227 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	30.11 µs (255 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported
Cached	19 ns (0 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	582 ns (6 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported

OpenAPI

OpenAPI-compatible schema generation

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Uncached	26.36 µs (229 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	30.07 µs (255 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported
Cached	19 ns (0 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	581 ns (6 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported

---

Summary

Validate_Simple (struct validation)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	1.28 µs	10	baseline
Playground	2.13 µs	7	1.67x slower
Ozzo	11.86 µs	43	9.29x slower
Huma	-	-	-
Godantic	5.39 µs	48	4.22x slower
Godasse	-	-	-

Validate_Complex (nested structs)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	2.07 µs	15	baseline
Playground	3.44 µs	9	1.67x slower
Ozzo	11.49 µs	139	5.56x slower
Huma	-	-	-
Godantic	12.46 µs	120	6.03x slower
Godasse	-	-	-

JSONValidate_Simple (JSON → struct, then validate)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	3.23 µs	19	baseline
Playground	4.12 µs	16	1.28x slower
Ozzo	-	-	-
Huma	3.33 µs	26	1.03x slower
Godantic	-	-	-
Godasse	-	-	-

JSONValidate_Complex (nested JSON)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	8.88 µs	39	baseline
Playground	10.31 µs	33	1.16x slower
Ozzo	-	-	-
Huma	9.86 µs	78	1.11x slower
Godantic	-	-	-
Godasse	-	-	-

Unmarshal_Simple (JSON → validated struct, single call)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	4.66 µs	39	baseline
Playground	-	-	-
Ozzo	-	-	-
Huma	-	-	-
Godantic	10.79 µs	81	2.32x slower
Godasse	4.41 µs	42	1.06x faster

Unmarshal_Complex (nested JSON, single call)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	14.62 µs	122	baseline
Playground	-	-	-
Ozzo	-	-	-
Huma	-	-	-
Godantic	45.52 µs	285	3.11x slower
Godasse	15.78 µs	149	1.08x slower

Schema_Uncached (first-time generation)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	25.60 µs	227	baseline
Playground	-	-	-
Ozzo	-	-	-
Huma	30.11 µs	255	1.18x slower
Godantic	-	-	-
Godasse	-	-	-

Schema_Cached (cached lookup)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	19 ns	0	baseline
Playground	-	-	-
Ozzo	-	-	-
Huma	582 ns	6	30.35x slower
Godantic	-	-	-
Godasse	-	-	-

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Generated by pedantigo-benchmarks

Benchmark naming convention

Benchmark_<Library>_<Feature>_<Struct>

Libraries: Pedantigo, Playground, Ozzo, Huma, Godantic, Godasse
Features: Validate, JSONValidate, Marshal, Unmarshal, New, Schema, OpenAPI
Structs: Simple (5 fields), Complex (nested), Large (20+ fields)