Benchmark Laravel Package

Product Decisions This Supports

• Performance Optimization Roadmap: Enables data-driven decisions for optimizing critical code paths (e.g., API endpoints, database queries, or heavy computations) by quantifying trade-offs between alternatives.
• Build vs. Buy: Justifies building performance-critical features internally when existing solutions (e.g., PHP’s microtime() or third-party tools) lack regression testing, warmup, or deviation analysis.
• Use Cases:
  • Algorithm Selection: Compare sorting/search algorithms (e.g., array_search vs. custom binary search).
  • ORM vs. Raw SQL: Benchmark Eloquent queries against direct PDO statements for high-traffic models.
  • Caching Strategies: Evaluate Redis vs. file-based caching for session storage.
  • CI/CD Performance Gates: Automate benchmarks in pipelines to block regressions (via toAssert() + toBeRegressionTime).
  • Feature Flags: Measure overhead of feature flag evaluation libraries (e.g., Laravel’s spatie/laravel-feature-management).

When to Consider This Package

Adopt if:

• Your team lacks a standardized way to measure PHP performance (e.g., no existing benchmarks or ad-hoc scripts).
• You need regression testing for performance-critical code (e.g., payment processing, real-time analytics).
• Warmup phases (to account for OPcache/JIT) or deviation analysis are required for reliable comparisons.
• You’re using Laravel/PHP and want to avoid JavaScript-based tools (e.g., Node.js’s bench or Python’s timeit).

Look elsewhere if:

• You need distributed benchmarking (e.g., across microservices) → Use Prometheus + Grafana.
• You require low-level hardware metrics (CPU cycles, cache misses) → Use eBPF tools or Linux perf.
• Your stack is non-PHP (e.g., Go, Rust) → Use language-specific profilers.
• You prioritize visualization over raw data → Consider Blackfire.io or Tideways.

How to Pitch It (Stakeholders)

For Executives: "This package lets us automate performance testing like we do for unit tests—catching slowdowns before they hit production. For example, we can compare two database query strategies and enforce a 10% speed threshold in CI. This reduces tech debt in high-traffic areas (e.g., checkout flows) and aligns with our goal to [reduce latency by X%]. It’s a lightweight, open-source alternative to paid tools like Blackfire, with the added benefit of regression detection."

For Engineers: *"Think of this as PHP’s assert() for performance:

• Compare anything: Algorithms, ORM queries, even framework middleware.
• CI-friendly: Add toAssert()->toBeRegressionTime(max: 15) to your tests to block slowdowns.
• No flaky data: Warmup phases and deviation stats make results reliable.
• Integrates with Laravel: Works alongside existing tooling (e.g., Pest, PHPUnit).

Example workflow:

// In a test or script:
Benchmark::make()
    ->warmup(3) // Account for OPcache
    ->iterations(100)
    ->compare(
        'Eloquent': fn () => User::find(1),
        'Raw SQL': fn () => DB::select('SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = 1')[0],
    )
    ->toAssert()
    ->toBeAvgTime(from: 0, till: 5); // Fail if avg > 5ms

Outcome: Data to justify refactoring or optimize, with zero manual timing code."*