Benchmark Results

Generated: 2026-08-08 17:07:54 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	1.01 µs (10 allocs)	1.65 µs (7 allocs)	9.20 µs (43 allocs)	unsupported	4.26 µs (48 allocs)	unsupported
Complex	1.62 µs (15 allocs)	2.69 µs (9 allocs)	8.87 µs (139 allocs)	unsupported	10.47 µs (120 allocs)	unsupported
Large	1.12 µs (22 allocs)	1.33 µs (3 allocs)	33.63 µs (254 allocs)	unsupported	10.48 µs (126 allocs)	unsupported

JSONValidate

JSON bytes → struct, then a separate validate step

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Simple	2.51 µs (19 allocs)	3.16 µs (16 allocs)	unsupported	2.59 µs (26 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported
Complex	6.84 µs (39 allocs)	8.06 µs (33 allocs)	unsupported	7.65 µs (78 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported

Marshal

Validate + JSON marshal

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Simple	1.36 µs (11 allocs)	2.18 µs (9 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	unsupported	unsupported

Unmarshal

JSON bytes → validated struct in a single call

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Simple	3.70 µs (39 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	unsupported	8.46 µs (81 allocs)	3.46 µs (42 allocs)
Complex	11.26 µs (122 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	unsupported	35.96 µs (285 allocs)	12.25 µs (149 allocs)

New

Validator creation overhead

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Simple	11.74 µs (129 allocs)	12.22 µs (187 allocs)	unsupported	23.31 µs (255 allocs)	20.19 µs (305 allocs)	4.98 µs (72 allocs)
Complex	27.12 µs (299 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	57.99 µs (515 allocs)	5.57 µs (75 allocs)	17.30 µs (243 allocs)

Schema

JSON Schema generation

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Uncached	20.01 µs (227 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	23.37 µs (255 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported
Cached	15 ns (0 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	466 ns (6 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported

OpenAPI

OpenAPI-compatible schema generation

Struct	Pedantigo	Playground	Ozzo	Huma	Godantic	Godasse
Uncached	20.65 µs (229 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	23.35 µs (255 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported
Cached	15 ns (0 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported	461 ns (6 allocs)	unsupported	unsupported

---

Summary

Validate_Simple (struct validation)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	1.01 µs	10	baseline
Playground	1.65 µs	7	1.62x slower
Ozzo	9.20 µs	43	9.08x slower
Huma	-	-	-
Godantic	4.26 µs	48	4.21x slower
Godasse	-	-	-

Validate_Complex (nested structs)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	1.62 µs	15	baseline
Playground	2.69 µs	9	1.66x slower
Ozzo	8.87 µs	139	5.46x slower
Huma	-	-	-
Godantic	10.47 µs	120	6.45x slower
Godasse	-	-	-

JSONValidate_Simple (JSON → struct, then validate)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	2.51 µs	19	baseline
Playground	3.16 µs	16	1.26x slower
Ozzo	-	-	-
Huma	2.59 µs	26	1.03x slower
Godantic	-	-	-
Godasse	-	-	-

JSONValidate_Complex (nested JSON)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	6.84 µs	39	baseline
Playground	8.06 µs	33	1.18x slower
Ozzo	-	-	-
Huma	7.65 µs	78	1.12x slower
Godantic	-	-	-
Godasse	-	-	-

Unmarshal_Simple (JSON → validated struct, single call)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	3.70 µs	39	baseline
Playground	-	-	-
Ozzo	-	-	-
Huma	-	-	-
Godantic	8.46 µs	81	2.28x slower
Godasse	3.46 µs	42	1.07x faster

Unmarshal_Complex (nested JSON, single call)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	11.26 µs	122	baseline
Playground	-	-	-
Ozzo	-	-	-
Huma	-	-	-
Godantic	35.96 µs	285	3.19x slower
Godasse	12.25 µs	149	1.09x slower

Schema_Uncached (first-time generation)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	20.01 µs	227	baseline
Playground	-	-	-
Ozzo	-	-	-
Huma	23.37 µs	255	1.17x slower
Godantic	-	-	-
Godasse	-	-	-

Schema_Cached (cached lookup)

Library	ns/op	allocs	vs Pedantigo
Pedantigo	15 ns	0	baseline
Playground	-	-	-
Ozzo	-	-	-
Huma	466 ns	6	31.44x 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)