The Linux performance of Opera is still a bit on the slower side, but the Windows version just speeds up with every new snapshot release.

And now the newest (and fastest) snapshot of Opera (build 9981) actually beats the newest (and fastest AFAIK) nightly of Firefox (2008051011) in the Mozilla javascript performance test, the Dromaeo benchmark.

Opera score :
http://dromaeo.com/?id=9707

Firefox score :
http://dromaeo.com/?id=9709

The latest Opera snapshot :
http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/2008/...d-optimizations

It's quite a feat when you consider that just more than a couple weeks ago Opera was behind Firefox by 1 whole second, and now they are ahead by 100ms, not to mention it's a test made by Mozilla

100 ms as if I care about it when I browse some web sites

well, it's a benchmark, and the total result is just around 2 second, so when you put it into perspective, from 1 second (50%) slower to 100ms (5%) faster in a couple of weeks is quite a feat ;)

Especially when Firefox made it sound like a huge thing by claiming itself to be the fastest browser when b5 was released, so it's fair game

My results using Firefox 2.0.0.14

http://dromaeo.com/?id=9810

Your result is in the 11 thousand range, the new Opera build is in the 2 thousand range

Depends on the machine. My FFb5 is in the low 1000's http://dromaeo.com/?id=9815

Anywho, this is good. Faster browsers are better for us (the consumer). Yay for competition!

Ya in ms. big deal. Wait until your Opera becomes final. I have never heard of this test site. As far as I know it is meaningless.

No doubt the latest Opera weekly is faster. However, my results tend to differ from yours:

Opera 9.5 beta build 9981: 1392
Minefield 2008051107: 1353
Firefox 2.0.0.14: 6992.6 (lol)
Webkit r33029: 1246.4

Results are too close to call for the latest Opera and Firefox previews. So let's just sit back and pat both on the back for speeding up their products.

Edit: Let's give Webkit some praise too.

This only test JavaScript Performance.

well it's about as meaningless as how the Mozilla guys made it sound like a BIG DEAL when ff3b5 was released and claimed itself as the fastest browser for some synthetic javascript benchmark. And some dude here even posted a "Firefox beats everything" thread back then, so it's fair game

and obviously it's quite a big deal to them since they even made their own javascript benchmark, the Dromaeo, so yeah this test site is THE Mozilla javascript test, it's no wonder you haven't heard of it since Mozilla just made it after firefox3b5. If you have something against it, tell that to the Mozilla guys, and tell them to wait their Firefox becomes final instead of beta 5

But then they both make some great progress in javascript performance lately, so kudos to both teams, and to the webkit for being very very fast all this time.

This is a generic browser test site that happened to have been made by a Mozilla (and jQuery) guy. Mozilla have taken it and are working with other browser guys to make the test better.

Not everything has to be a "us vs. them" thing.

I tried this in IE7 and it just froze and I had to end the process lol.

So? it doesn't change the fact that it is THE Mozilla javascript test. It's not a "us vs. them" thing, it's just a fair game after all those "Firefox 3b5 fastest browser" reports everywhere for the past month or so


yea, IE7 freezes, IE8 beta 1 can pass the test, I guess that means the IE guys are also doing a good work lately (compared to themselves before that is)

Just installed it, Holy hell this build is fast.

7.3s with 2.0.0.14 http://dromaeo.com/?id=9944

I think the fact that when the flashing contest button on the NW frontpage was broken and used a full core on IE, and ~25%(50% of one core) on FF and what was it 5% or so on Opera shows wich browser handles scripts better


I still use Maxthon though, but I may change when 9.5 is final.

Javascript performance isn't meaningless though, especially not in this day and age of Javascript-heavy AJAX sites.

So this is interesting, and I think there's no coincidence both Mozilla and Opera have been focusing a bit on this lately. Sites may widely be affected, regardless if it's about Gmail or e.g. Digg.

Well I did some benchmarks on my computer (x2 4800+ @2.64Ghz / WinXP) and it does seem to be speedy but Firefox 3.0pre 080512 (ayakawa's PGO build) had a slight edge over Opera 9981 in JavaScript when I tested. Overall both seem very fast and you probably wouldn't notice much of a difference between the two.

Opera Score 2278.20ms (Total)
http://dromaeo.com/?id=10000

Firefox Score 1987.60ms (Total)
http://dromaeo.com/?id=10004

JavaScript Performance Test
Firefox

Opera

DOM Core Performance Appending, Prepending, Inserting, Indexing, Removing
Firefox (avg. of 10 tests): 961.1ms
Opera (avg. of 10 tests): 511.1ms

DOM Core Performance Parsing
Firefox (avg. of 10 tests): 1359ms
Opera (avg. of 10 tests): 1467.7ms

hmm
if I add up the scores form the 3 tests you showed/listed I get

FF: 2585
Opera: 2330

Well if you add in the SunSpider Javascript benchmark in which Opera is about 2 seconds slower, then Firefox would take a considerable lead.

SunSpider Result Firefox 3770.4ms

SunSpider Result Opera 5775.4ms

All said and done optimized Firefox 3.0pre builds are still faster with javascript then Opera and Opera is still faster rendering the other objects on the page other than javascript. If they stay neck and neck like this while continuing to improve, performance won't even be much of a factor when making a decision to use either Opera 9.50 or Firefox 3.0 once the final versions are released.

well, it seems Firefox managed to improve its score steadily in the past few days with each new build

http://dromaeo.com/?id=10161

Also I guess it depends a lot on the system, maybe that's what the PGO is about. It's faster on the Woodcrest system, but a bit slower on my old Thinkpad

http://dromaeo.com/?id=10162

http://dromaeo.com/?id=10164

http://dromaeo.com/?id=11109

916.6 ms with firefox RC1

812 ms with opera latest nightly

http://dromaeo.com/?id=11110

this means nothing considering opera doesnt load some sites properly
i havnet had an issue with fx yet on a site
opera is faster..but meh..id rather see a site the way its meant to be seen

I really should start thinking about OC'ing my q6600. I could squeeze in half a second!!

Opera always ran amazingly well on my Vista system. FF always feels sluggish, even FF3. The web rendering feels very erratic, while Opera's is smooth.