Performance Analysis and Comparison of Node.Js and Java Spring Boot in
Implementation of Restful Applications
Abstract
The response time of a website has an impact on the overall user
experience. Slow-loading or unresponsive applications can quickly
frustrate and alienate users, leading to dissatisfaction and potentially
driving them away. Conversely, fast and efficient applications can
greatly enhance user engagement, satisfaction, and ultimately contribute
to the success of an online business. The main objective of this work is
to check and compare the performance between Node.js and Java Spring
Boot, in the context of implementing RESTful applications. REST
(Representational State Transfer) has emerged as a dominant
architectural style for building web services due to its simplicity,
scalability, and compatibility with the stateless nature of the web. To
achieve this objective, both implementations were created with an
identical business use case, aiming to provide the fundamental CRUD
operations (Create, Read, Update, and Delete). To conduct the
performance analysis, Apache JMeter tool is used that enables the
creation of a diverse set of concurrent virtual users, simulating
real-world scenarios to load both applications at regular intervals. By
subjecting the applications to varying user loads, it can be assessed
how each platform performs under different workloads and identify
potential bottlenecks and areas for improvement. The results obtained
suggest that Node.js excels in faster response times for HTTP GET, ideal
for read operations. However, Spring Boot outperforms Node.js for
complex operations like POST, PUT, and DELETE under higher user loads.
Both faced challenges at 64000 virtual users, with error rates from 10%
to 75%, but Spring showed better error handling. Spring required fewer
lines of code, benefiting from its environment and dependencies.
Resource utilization in Node.js proved to be efficient with CPU load
below 40% even under heavy loads. Spring on the other hand provided
better response times, exhibited higher CPU usage at times, suggesting
more resource-intensive optimization. The comparison emphasizes the
importance of technology stack choice in development, speed and
performance. The findings serve as a basis for developers to make
informed decisions when selecting the appropriate technology stack based
on specific project requirements, workload considerations, and
performance expectations.