Benchmark Results

Generated: 2026-09-02 11:51:31 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.

---

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	1.41 µs (10 allocs)	2.27 µs (7 allocs)	13.06 µs (43 allocs)	unsupported	6.18 µs (48 allocs)	unsupported
Complex	2.25 µs (15 allocs)	3.67 µs (9 allocs)	12.76 µs (139 allocs)	unsupported	14.22 µs (120 allocs)	unsupported
Large	1.60 µs (22 allocs)	1.96 µs (3 allocs)	48.06 µs (254 allocs)	unsupported	14.98 µs (126 allocs)	unsupported

JSONValidate

JSON bytes → struct, then a separate validate step

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Simple	3.50 µs (19 allocs)	4.31 µs (16 allocs)	unsupported	3.54 µs (26 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported
Complex	9.69 µs (39 allocs)	11.06 µs (33 allocs)	unsupported	10.33 µs (78 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported

Marshal

Validate + JSON marshal

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Simple	1.93 µs (11 allocs)	2.82 µs (9 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	unsupported	unsupported

Unmarshal

JSON bytes → validated struct in a single call

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Simple	5.47 µs (49 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	unsupported	11.69 µs (81 allocs)	4.70 µs (42 allocs)
Complex	16.86 µs (132 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	unsupported	50.92 µs (285 allocs)	16.41 µs (149 allocs)

New

Validator creation overhead

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Simple	15.73 µs (129 allocs)	16.50 µs (187 allocs)	unsupported	31.44 µs (255 allocs)	27.50 µs (305 allocs)	6.90 µs (72 allocs)
Complex	37.71 µs (299 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	76.32 µs (515 allocs)	7.64 µs (75 allocs)	24.08 µs (243 allocs)

Schema

JSON Schema generation

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Uncached	28.07 µs (227 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	31.41 µs (255 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported
Cached	18 ns (0 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	648 ns (6 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported

OpenAPI

OpenAPI-compatible schema generation

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Uncached	29.05 µs (229 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	31.68 µs (255 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported
Cached	18 ns (0 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	665 ns (6 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported

---

Summary

Validate_Simple (struct validation)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	1.41 µs	10	baseline
Playground	2.27 µs	7	1.60x slower
Ozzo	13.06 µs	43	9.24x slower
Huma	-	-	-
Godantic	6.18 µs	48	4.37x slower
Godasse	-	-	-

Validate_Complex (nested structs)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	2.25 µs	15	baseline
Playground	3.67 µs	9	1.63x slower
Ozzo	12.76 µs	139	5.66x slower
Huma	-	-	-
Godantic	14.22 µs	120	6.31x slower
Godasse	-	-	-

JSONValidate_Simple (JSON → struct, then validate)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	3.50 µs	19	baseline
Playground	4.31 µs	16	1.23x slower
Ozzo	-	-	-
Huma	3.54 µs	26	1.01x slower
Godantic	-	-	-
Godasse	-	-	-

JSONValidate_Complex (nested JSON)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	9.69 µs	39	baseline
Playground	11.06 µs	33	1.14x slower
Ozzo	-	-	-
Huma	10.33 µs	78	1.07x slower
Godantic	-	-	-
Godasse	-	-	-

Unmarshal_Simple (JSON → validated struct, single call)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	5.47 µs	49	baseline
Playground	-	-	-
Ozzo	-	-	-
Huma	-	-	-
Godantic	11.69 µs	81	2.14x slower
Godasse	4.70 µs	42	1.17x faster

Unmarshal_Complex (nested JSON, single call)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	16.86 µs	132	baseline
Playground	-	-	-
Ozzo	-	-	-
Huma	-	-	-
Godantic	50.92 µs	285	3.02x slower
Godasse	16.41 µs	149	1.03x faster

Schema_Uncached (first-time generation)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	28.07 µs	227	baseline
Playground	-	-	-
Ozzo	-	-	-
Huma	31.41 µs	255	1.12x slower
Godantic	-	-	-
Godasse	-	-	-

Schema_Cached (cached lookup)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	18 ns	0	baseline
Playground	-	-	-
Ozzo	-	-	-
Huma	648 ns	6	35.32x slower
Godantic	-	-	-
Godasse	-	-	-

---

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)