Getting started

To get started with BenchmarkDotNet, please follow these steps.

Step 1. Installation

Install BenchmarkDotNet via the NuGet package: BenchmarkDotNet

PM> Install-Package BenchmarkDotNet

Step 2. Write code to benchmark

Write a class with methods that you want to measure and mark them with the Benchmark attribute. In the following example, we compare MD5 and SHA256 cryptographic hash functions:

public class Md5VsSha256
{
    private const int N = 10000;
    private readonly byte[] data;

    private readonly SHA256 sha256 = SHA256.Create();
    private readonly MD5 md5 = MD5.Create();

    public Md5VsSha256()
    {
        data = new byte[N];
        new Random(42).NextBytes(data);
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public byte[] Sha256()
    {
        return sha256.ComputeHash(data);
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public byte[] Md5()
    {
        return md5.ComputeHash(data);
    }
}

Step 3. Run the benchmark

Run it:

var summary = BenchmarkRunner.Run<Md5VsSha256>();

Step 4. View results

View the results. Here is an example of output from the above benchmark:

BenchmarkDotNet=v0.9.0.0
OS=Microsoft Windows NT 6.2.9200.0
Processor=Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4810MQ CPU @ 2.80GHz, ProcessorCount=8
Frequency=2728067 ticks, Resolution=366.5599 ns
HostCLR=MS.NET 4.0.30319.42000, Arch=64-bit RELEASE [RyuJIT]

Type=Md5VsSha256  Mode=Throughput

Method	Median	StdDev
Md5	21.2912 us	0.4373 us
Sha256	107.4124 us	1.8339 us

Step 5. Analyze results

Analyze it. In your bin directory, you can find a lot of useful files with detailed information. For example:

• Csv reports with raw data: Md5VsSha256-report.csv, Md5VsSha256-runs.csv
• Markdown reports: Md5VsSha256-report-default.md, Md5VsSha256-report-stackoverflow.md, Md5VsSha256-report-github.md
• Plain report and log: Md5VsSha256-report.txt, Md5VsSha256.log
• Plots (if you have installed R): Md5VsSha256-barplot.png, Md5VsSha256-boxplot.png, and so on.