Performance Considerations

Ruby JSONAPI is designed to be fast and efficient. This guide covers performance considerations, benchmarks, and instrumentation options.

Benchmarks

Ruby JSONAPI continues the performance-focused approach of its predecessors. Below are benchmark comparisons showing the library’s performance against alternatives:

Comparison with Other Libraries

When serializing the same objects, jsonapi-serializer (and fast_jsonapi before it) consistently outperforms alternatives:

Much faster than ActiveModelSerializers
Much faster than JBuilder
Efficient memory usage

For more details on the benchmark methodology, see Performance Methodology.

Performance Optimization Tips

Use Caching

Enable caching for frequently accessed resources:

class MovieSerializer
  include JSONAPI::Serializer

  cache_options store: Rails.cache, namespace: 'jsonapi-serializer', expires_in: 12.hours
  attributes :name, :year
end

Limit Included Resources

Only include related resources when necessary:

# Instead of including all relationships
serializer = MovieSerializer.new(movie, { include: [:director, :actors, :reviews, :awards] })

# Only include what's needed for the current view
serializer = MovieSerializer.new(movie, { include: [:director] })

Use Sparse Fieldsets

Request only the fields you need:

serializer = MovieSerializer.new(movie, {
  fields: { movie: [:name, :year], actor: [:name] }
})

Avoid Complex Computations in Serializers

Expensive operations in serializer methods can slow down serialization:

# Avoid this
attribute :average_rating do |movie|
  # Expensive calculation done for every serialization
  movie.reviews.sum(:rating) / movie.reviews.count.to_f
end

# Better approach
attribute :average_rating
# Pre-calculate and store the average rating in the model

Batch Database Queries

Use includes to avoid N+1 queries:

# Instead of
movies = Movie.all
serializer = MovieSerializer.new(movies, { include: [:director, :actors] })

# Use includes to load associations efficiently
movies = Movie.includes(:director, :actors)
serializer = MovieSerializer.new(movies, { include: [:director, :actors] })

Performance Instrumentation

Ruby JSONAPI includes built-in instrumentation to help you identify performance bottlenecks.

Enabling Instrumentation

# First, include the instrumentation module
require 'jsonapi/serializer/instrumentation'

class MovieSerializer
  include JSONAPI::Serializer
  include JSONAPI::Serializer::Instrumentation

  # ...
end

Performance Methodology