Kanon Performance Benchmarks

Real-world validation benchmarks. Data auto-generated on Jan 31, 2026.

TL;DR

Kanon JIT dominates on discriminated unions and complex schemas. TypeBox/AJV win on simple validations. For typical API/form validation, Kanon is 2-3x faster than Zod/Valibot.

Operations per second. Higher is better.

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Methodology

Each benchmark:

1. Creates a pool of 10,000 test objects
2. Runs validation in a tight loop
3. Measures operations per second with statistical analysis
4. Reports min, max, mean, percentiles (p75, p99, p995, p999)
5. Includes relative margin of error (rme) for confidence

The "fastest" label is only awarded when the winner is ≥10% faster than the runner-up. Otherwise, it's considered a statistical tie.

Does Performance Matter?

Not all validations matter equally for performance. Validating an API response called 1000x/sec matters more than a one-time config check. We assign weights based on real-world usage patterns:

Perf matters?	Weight	Description	Examples
CRITICAL A lot	5 pts	Hot path functions called in tight loops	map, filter, reduce, groupBy, chunk
HIGH Yes	3 pts	Frequently used utilities, but not in tight loops	get, set, pick, omit, cloneDeep
MEDIUM A bit	1 pt	Occasional utilities	Type guards (isArray, isString), string formatting
LOW No	0.5 pts	Setup-only functions where runtime perf is irrelevant	debounce, throttle, once, memoize

This scoring gives a more realistic picture of which library will actually make your app faster.

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Libraries Tested

Library	Version	Description
@sinclair/typebox	0.34.47	JSON Schema with TypeScript inference + JIT
ajv	8.17.1	JSON Schema validator with JIT compilation
fastest-validator	1.19.1	High-performance validator with JIT
kanon	1.1.0	Pithos validation module (schema-first + JIT)
superstruct	2.0.2	Composable validation with custom types
valibot	1.2.0	Modular schema validation, tree-shakable
zod	4.3.5	Schema-first validation with TypeScript inference

Benchmarks run on Jan 31, 2026

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Benchmark Results

Groups:

Schema-firstCompiled / JIT

Libraries:

@kanon/V3.0ZodValibotSuperstruct@kanon/JITAJVTypeBoxFast-Validator

Test	@kanon/V3.0	@kanon/JIT	AJV	Fast-Validator	Superstruct	TypeBox	Valibot	Zod
Critical
Login Form Validation CRITICAL | 5 pts	7.47M ops/s (2.04x)	9.83M ops/s (1.55x)	8.64M ops/s (1.76x)	9.96M ops/s (1.53x)	596.04K ops/s (25.54x)	15.22M ops/s fastest	3.33M ops/s (4.57x)	4.91M ops/s (3.1x)
Payment Form (conditional validation) CRITICAL | 5 pts	5.68M ops/s (3.15x)	17.91M ops/s fastest	15.38M ops/s (1.16x)	12.02M ops/s (1.49x)	285.12K ops/s (62.8x)	1.70M ops/s (10.5x)	1.69M ops/s (10.58x)	2.63M ops/s (6.82x)
User Registration (with password confirm) CRITICAL | 5 pts	5.13M ops/s (1.71x)	5.93M ops/s (1.48x)	6.74M ops/s (1.3x)	6.81M ops/s (1.29x)	297.83K ops/s (29.46x)	8.77M ops/s fastest	1.64M ops/s (5.36x)	2.04M ops/s (4.31x)
High
API Response (discriminated union) HIGH | 3 pts	8.26M ops/s (3.45x)	28.51M ops/s fastest	17.82M ops/s (1.6x)	14.45M ops/s (1.97x)	373.72K ops/s (76.29x)	3.35M ops/s (8.51x)	2.41M ops/s (11.81x)	8.18M ops/s (3.48x)
Blog Post with Comments HIGH | 3 pts	2.57M ops/s (2.38x)	6.10M ops/s fastest	4.91M ops/s (1.24x)	3.41M ops/s (1.79x)	108.24K ops/s (56.32x)	1.48M ops/s (4.12x)	767.56K ops/s (7.94x)	1.50M ops/s (4.07x)
E-commerce Product HIGH | 3 pts	4.93M ops/s (2.75x)	13.57M ops/s fastest	12.30M ops/s (1.1x)	11.84M ops/s (1.15x)	194.48K ops/s (69.79x)	1.12M ops/s (12.07x)	1.38M ops/s (9.82x)	2.65M ops/s (5.13x)
Event Booking HIGH | 3 pts	1.50M ops/s (5.69x)	8.55M ops/s fastest	3.60M ops/s (2.38x)	2.80M ops/s (3.05x)	113.39K ops/s (75.41x)	2.06M ops/s (4.15x)	678.20K ops/s (12.61x)	812.84K ops/s (10.52x)
Invalid Login (error handling) HIGH | 3 pts	5.57M ops/s (1.67x)	8.81M ops/s (1.06x)	9.32M ops/s fastest	1.98M ops/s (4.71x)	235.84K ops/s (39.5x)	7.76M ops/s (1.2x)	2.15M ops/s (4.34x)	142.30K ops/s (65.46x)
Medium
Search Params (with coercion) MEDIUM | 1 pts	4.27M ops/s (5.61x)	23.95M ops/s fastest	22.18M ops/s (1.08x)	17.43M ops/s (1.37x)	188.97K ops/s (126.74x)	1.95M ops/s (12.27x)	1.77M ops/s (13.51x)	4.38M ops/s (5.47x)
User Profile Update (optional fields) MEDIUM | 1 pts	5.98M ops/s (3.21x)	19.21M ops/s fastest	7.80M ops/s (2.46x)	11.33M ops/s (1.7x)	425.89K ops/s (45.1x)	5.25M ops/s (3.66x)	2.30M ops/s (8.34x)	2.60M ops/s (7.4x)

Data generated on Jan 31, 2026 • Vitest bench

📊 Performance Summary

@kanon/JIT

7 wins

TypeBox

2 wins

AJV

1 wins

@kanon/V3.0

0 wins

Zod

0 wins

Valibot

0 wins

Superstruct

0 wins

Fast-Validator

0 wins

📈 Weighted Summary

🏆 @kanon/JIT dominates real-world scenarios!

@kanon/JIT

66%(27 pts)

TypeBox

24%(10 pts)

AJV

10%(4 pts)

@kanon/V3.0

0%(0 pts)

Zod

0%(0 pts)

Valibot

0%(0 pts)

Superstruct

0%(0 pts)

Fast-Validator

0%(0 pts)

On critical + high priority tasks, @kanon/JIT is 2.4x ahead.

Detailed Statistics

For the skeptics who want to see the raw numbers:

Login Form ValidationCRITICAL

Library	ops/s	min	max	mean	p75	p99	p995	p999	rme	samples
TypeBox 🏆	15.22M	0.0000	0.0197	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	±0.07%	7,611,730
Fast-Validator	9.96M	0.0000	0.0242	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	±0.07%	4,979,899
@kanon/JIT	9.83M	0.0000	0.0275	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	±0.06%	4,914,072
AJV	8.64M	0.0000	0.4407	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	0.0002	0.0002	±0.19%	4,318,839
@kanon/V3.0	7.47M	0.0000	0.0267	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	0.0002	0.0003	±0.06%	3,732,849
Zod	4.91M	0.0001	0.2380	0.0002	0.0002	0.0003	0.0003	0.0004	±0.21%	2,453,001
Valibot	3.33M	0.0002	0.3037	0.0003	0.0003	0.0004	0.0004	0.0005	±0.27%	1,665,585
Superstruct	596.04K	0.0014	0.2955	0.0017	0.0016	0.0021	0.0022	0.0085	±0.58%	298,023

User Registration (with password confirm)CRITICAL

Library	ops/s	min	max	mean	p75	p99	p995	p999	rme	samples
TypeBox 🏆	8.77M	0.0000	0.5107	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	0.0003	±0.68%	4,387,058
Fast-Validator	6.81M	0.0000	0.7060	0.0001	0.0002	0.0002	0.0002	0.0004	±0.57%	3,405,163
AJV	6.74M	0.0000	0.3164	0.0001	0.0002	0.0002	0.0002	0.0003	±0.14%	3,369,058
@kanon/JIT	5.93M	0.0000	0.0274	0.0002	0.0002	0.0002	0.0002	0.0003	±0.06%	2,964,740
@kanon/V3.0	5.13M	0.0001	0.0274	0.0002	0.0002	0.0002	0.0003	0.0003	±0.08%	2,564,632
Zod	2.04M	0.0003	0.5549	0.0005	0.0005	0.0006	0.0007	0.0011	±0.52%	1,018,048
Valibot	1.64M	0.0005	0.3863	0.0006	0.0006	0.0008	0.0008	0.0010	±0.21%	818,343
Superstruct	297.83K	0.0030	0.3087	0.0034	0.0033	0.0040	0.0048	0.0157	±0.55%	148,916

API Response (discriminated union)HIGH

Library	ops/s	min	max	mean	p75	p99	p995	p999	rme	samples
@kanon/JIT 🏆	28.51M	0.0000	0.0410	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0001	±0.08%	14,254,971
AJV	17.82M	0.0000	0.3953	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	±0.52%	8,908,332
Fast-Validator	14.45M	0.0000	0.0324	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	±0.06%	7,225,420
@kanon/V3.0	8.26M	0.0000	0.0585	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	0.0002	0.0002	±0.09%	4,131,690
Zod	8.18M	0.0000	0.2304	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	0.0002	0.0003	±0.26%	4,091,166
TypeBox	3.35M	0.0002	0.3292	0.0003	0.0003	0.0004	0.0004	0.0005	±0.24%	1,675,506
Valibot	2.41M	0.0002	0.9493	0.0004	0.0005	0.0005	0.0006	0.0011	±0.51%	1,206,584
Superstruct	373.72K	0.0019	0.2455	0.0027	0.0035	0.0039	0.0042	0.0099	±0.45%	186,858

E-commerce ProductHIGH

Library	ops/s	min	max	mean	p75	p99	p995	p999	rme	samples
@kanon/JIT 🏆	13.57M	0.0000	0.0597	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	±0.09%	6,786,147
AJV	12.30M	0.0000	0.6468	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	±0.34%	6,152,443
Fast-Validator	11.84M	0.0000	0.5260	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	±0.49%	5,921,945
@kanon/V3.0	4.93M	0.0001	0.0225	0.0002	0.0002	0.0003	0.0003	0.0004	±0.07%	2,465,677
Zod	2.65M	0.0002	0.3921	0.0004	0.0004	0.0005	0.0006	0.0007	±0.50%	1,323,052
Valibot	1.38M	0.0006	0.3756	0.0007	0.0008	0.0009	0.0010	0.0011	±0.36%	691,078
TypeBox	1.12M	0.0007	0.4892	0.0009	0.0010	0.0011	0.0012	0.0045	±0.35%	562,330
Superstruct	194.48K	0.0043	0.2581	0.0051	0.0054	0.0061	0.0066	0.0150	±0.51%	97,242

Blog Post with CommentsHIGH

Library	ops/s	min	max	mean	p75	p99	p995	p999	rme	samples
@kanon/JIT 🏆	6.10M	0.0000	0.1039	0.0002	0.0002	0.0002	0.0002	0.0003	±0.11%	3,047,916
AJV	4.91M	0.0001	0.6354	0.0002	0.0002	0.0003	0.0003	0.0005	±0.28%	2,457,042
Fast-Validator	3.41M	0.0001	0.3540	0.0003	0.0003	0.0005	0.0006	0.0027	±0.25%	1,707,302
@kanon/V3.0	2.57M	0.0002	0.0383	0.0004	0.0005	0.0005	0.0005	0.0007	±0.08%	1,283,142
Zod	1.50M	0.0004	0.3613	0.0007	0.0007	0.0009	0.0010	0.0011	±0.43%	748,702
TypeBox	1.48M	0.0005	0.4840	0.0007	0.0007	0.0008	0.0008	0.0012	±0.38%	738,933
Valibot	767.56K	0.0007	0.2901	0.0013	0.0015	0.0018	0.0019	0.0023	±0.32%	383,779
Superstruct	108.24K	0.0053	0.2312	0.0092	0.0108	0.0133	0.0157	0.0365	±0.52%	54,122

Search Params (with coercion)MEDIUM

Library	ops/s	min	max	mean	p75	p99	p995	p999	rme	samples
@kanon/JIT 🏆	23.95M	0.0000	0.1336	0.0000	0.0000	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	±0.10%	11,975,044
AJV	22.18M	0.0000	0.0799	0.0000	0.0000	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	±0.11%	11,089,245
Fast-Validator	17.43M	0.0000	0.0445	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	±0.08%	8,712,950
Zod	4.38M	0.0001	0.3579	0.0002	0.0002	0.0003	0.0003	0.0005	±0.47%	2,188,594
@kanon/V3.0	4.27M	0.0001	5.0260	0.0002	0.0002	0.0003	0.0003	0.0004	±7.22%	2,135,965
TypeBox	1.95M	0.0004	0.5476	0.0005	0.0005	0.0006	0.0007	0.0009	±0.34%	975,622
Valibot	1.77M	0.0004	0.7592	0.0006	0.0005	0.0007	0.0009	0.0044	±0.55%	886,359
Superstruct	188.97K	0.0048	3.6418	0.0053	0.0052	0.0076	0.0089	0.0157	±1.58%	94,487

User Profile Update (optional fields)MEDIUM

Library	ops/s	min	max	mean	p75	p99	p995	p999	rme	samples
@kanon/JIT 🏆	19.21M	0.0000	0.4785	0.0001	0.0000	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	±0.26%	9,604,854
Fast-Validator	11.33M	0.0000	0.0463	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	±0.09%	5,664,294
AJV	7.80M	0.0000	0.4540	0.0001	0.0002	0.0003	0.0003	0.0004	±0.21%	3,899,045
@kanon/V3.0	5.98M	0.0000	0.0862	0.0002	0.0002	0.0003	0.0003	0.0004	±0.11%	2,989,174
TypeBox	5.25M	0.0000	0.4448	0.0002	0.0002	0.0003	0.0003	0.0004	±0.44%	2,623,700
Zod	2.60M	0.0001	0.5583	0.0004	0.0005	0.0007	0.0007	0.0010	±0.52%	1,298,461
Valibot	2.30M	0.0002	0.3610	0.0004	0.0006	0.0008	0.0008	0.0010	±0.31%	1,151,993
Superstruct	425.89K	0.0015	1.8213	0.0023	0.0026	0.0045	0.0060	0.0112	±1.02%	212,946

Payment Form (conditional validation)CRITICAL

Library	ops/s	min	max	mean	p75	p99	p995	p999	rme	samples
@kanon/JIT 🏆	17.91M	0.0000	0.6350	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	±0.31%	8,953,211
AJV	15.38M	0.0000	0.7495	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	±0.31%	7,689,555
Fast-Validator	12.02M	0.0000	0.5262	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	±0.61%	6,009,955
@kanon/V3.0	5.68M	0.0000	0.0678	0.0002	0.0002	0.0003	0.0003	0.0003	±0.10%	2,839,275
Zod	2.63M	0.0002	0.8904	0.0004	0.0005	0.0005	0.0006	0.0036	±0.81%	1,312,783
TypeBox	1.70M	0.0005	0.3546	0.0006	0.0006	0.0007	0.0008	0.0012	±0.18%	852,429
Valibot	1.69M	0.0005	0.0426	0.0006	0.0006	0.0007	0.0007	0.0024	±0.09%	846,324
Superstruct	285.12K	0.0029	0.5393	0.0035	0.0035	0.0045	0.0072	0.0146	±0.64%	142,558

Event BookingHIGH

Library	ops/s	min	max	mean	p75	p99	p995	p999	rme	samples
@kanon/JIT 🏆	8.55M	0.0000	0.0349	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	0.0002	±0.07%	4,275,359
AJV	3.60M	0.0000	1.9146	0.0003	0.0003	0.0005	0.0005	0.0007	±1.64%	1,799,473
Fast-Validator	2.80M	0.0000	0.5001	0.0004	0.0004	0.0006	0.0007	0.0042	±0.65%	1,401,667
TypeBox	2.06M	0.0002	18.5485	0.0005	0.0004	0.0008	0.0010	0.0043	±10.22%	1,031,067
@kanon/V3.0	1.50M	0.0002	4.2404	0.0007	0.0008	0.0013	0.0018	0.0070	±2.14%	751,065
Zod	812.84K	0.0004	0.6644	0.0012	0.0015	0.0038	0.0049	0.0107	±0.79%	406,419
Valibot	678.20K	0.0007	0.5315	0.0015	0.0018	0.0025	0.0050	0.0102	±0.58%	339,102
Superstruct	113.39K	0.0041	0.6500	0.0088	0.0106	0.0170	0.0211	0.0648	±0.89%	56,694

Invalid Login (error handling)HIGH

Library	ops/s	min	max	mean	p75	p99	p995	p999	rme	samples
AJV 🏆	9.32M	0.0000	0.0513	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	0.0002	0.0002	±0.08%	4,657,623
@kanon/JIT	8.81M	0.0000	0.0338	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	0.0002	0.0002	±0.07%	4,404,544
TypeBox	7.76M	0.0000	0.4842	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	0.0002	0.0003	±0.64%	3,877,990
@kanon/V3.0	5.57M	0.0000	5.0055	0.0002	0.0002	0.0002	0.0002	0.0003	±2.51%	2,785,167
Valibot	2.15M	0.0002	0.4990	0.0005	0.0005	0.0007	0.0008	0.0037	±0.64%	1,072,991
Fast-Validator	1.98M	0.0000	0.3249	0.0005	0.0007	0.0012	0.0013	0.0015	±0.45%	988,404
Superstruct	235.84K	0.0017	0.4763	0.0042	0.0051	0.0069	0.0086	0.0119	±0.52%	117,918
Zod	142.30K	0.0002	5.7275	0.0070	0.0095	0.0135	0.0160	0.0255	±5.21%	71,151

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Why Kanon JIT is Fast

1. JIT Compilation: Schemas are compiled to optimized JavaScript functions at runtime
2. No runtime type checks: Types are validated at compile-time by TypeScript
3. Minimal abstraction: Direct validation logic, no class hierarchies
4. Discriminated unions: O(1) lookup instead of O(n) trial-and-error

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A Note on Coercion Performance

On basic coercion operations, Kanon and Zod are roughly equivalent: each wins some benchmarks. This is despite a deliberate architectural difference.

Zod mutates the input directly:

// Zod's approach (simplified)
if (def.coerce) {
  payload.value = new Date(payload.value); // mutation!
}

Kanon returns a new value:

// Kanon's approach
if (value instanceof Date) return true;
return { coerced: new Date(value) }; // pure, no mutation

We chose immutability over raw speed because:

• Predictability: Functions don't modify their arguments
• Debugging: Easier to trace where values come from
• Composition: Pure functions compose better
• Safety: No unexpected side-effects

The performance difference is negligible in practice (~0.00001ms per validation), and Kanon still dominates on coercion with constraints (36x faster than Zod on date.max()), which is the common real-world use case.

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Reproduce These Results

Want to verify these results? See how to reproduce our data.

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Related

• Kanon vs Zod — Full comparison: philosophy, API, migration
• Zygos — Performance — Result pattern benchmarks
• Kanon Module Guide — Full module documentation