Benchmarking classing string-based bindings vs. compiled bindings in .NET MAUI 9

All the results on this page were collected on Samsung Galaxy S23 using these commands:

dotnet build -c Release -t:Run -f net9.0-android
adb shell logcat -d -v tag -s "DOTNET" > android-results.txt

1. Creating new binding

Method	Mean	Error	StdDev	Ratio	Gen0	Gen1	Gen2	Allocated	Alloc Ratio
Compiled_Create	2.899 us	0.0485 us	0.0454 us	0.78	0.2022	0.0343	0.0343	960 B	0.83
Classic_Create	3.704 us	0.0194 us	0.0182 us	1.00	0.2327	0.0458	0.0458	1152 B	1.00

Source code

[MemoryDiagnoser(false)]
public class CreateBinding
{
    [Benchmark(Baseline = true)]
    public void Classic_Create()
    {
        _ = new Binding("FullName.FirstName");
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public void Compiled_Create()
    {
        _ = Binding.Create(static (ContactInformation contact) => contact.FullName?.FirstName);
    }
}

2. SetBinding - without existing BindingContext

Method	Mean	Error	StdDev	Ratio	RatioSD	Allocated	Alloc Ratio
Compiled_SetBinding	26.04 us	0.539 us	1.493 us	0.76	0.05	-	NA
Classic_SetBinding	34.45 us	0.701 us	1.400 us	1.00	0.06	-	NA

Source code

[MemoryDiagnoser(false)]
public class SetBindingNoContext
{
    Label _label = new();

    [Benchmark(Baseline = true)]
    public void Classic_SetBinding()
    {
        _label.SetBinding(Label.TextProperty, "FullName.FirstName");
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public void Compiled_SetBinding()
    {
        _label.SetBinding(Label.TextProperty, static (ContactInformation contact) => contact.FullName?.FirstName);
    }

    [IterationCleanup]
    public void Cleanup()
    {
        _label.RemoveBinding(Label.TextProperty);
    }
}

3. SetBinding - with existing BindingContext

Method	Mean	Error	StdDev	Ratio	RatioSD	Allocated	Alloc Ratio
Compiled_SetBinding	30.61 us	0.629 us	1.182 us	0.45	0.02	-	NA
Classic_SetBinding	67.81 us	1.338 us	1.787 us	1.00	0.04	-	NA

Source code

[MemoryDiagnoser(false)]
public class SetBinding
{
    private readonly ContactInformation _contact = new(new FullName("John"));
    private readonly Label _label = new();

    [GlobalSetup]
    public void Setup()
    {
        DispatcherProvider.SetCurrent(new MockDispatcherProvider());
        _label.BindingContext = _contact;
    }

    [Benchmark(Baseline = true)]
    public void Classic_SetBinding()
    {
        _label.SetBinding(Label.TextProperty, "FullName.FirstName");
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public void Compiled_SetBinding()
    {
        _label.SetBinding(Label.TextProperty, static (ContactInformation contact) => contact.FullName?.FirstName);
    }

    [IterationCleanup]
    public void Cleanup()
    {
        _label.RemoveBinding(Label.TextProperty);
    }
}

4. Update source value - single nesting level

Method	Mean	Error	StdDev	Ratio	RatioSD	Allocated	Alloc Ratio
Compiled_UpdateWhenSourceChanges	30.78 us	0.631 us	1.512 us	0.71	0.04	-	NA
Classic_UpdateWhenSourceChanges	43.12 us	0.870 us	1.500 us	1.00	0.05	-	NA

source code

[MemoryDiagnoser(false)]
public class UpdateValueOneLevel
{
    private readonly FullName _name = new("John");
    private readonly Label _label = new();

    [GlobalSetup]
    public void Setup()
    {
        DispatcherProvider.SetCurrent(new MockDispatcherProvider());
        _label.BindingContext = _name;
    }

    [IterationCleanup]
    public void Reset()
    {
        _label.Text = "John";
        _name.FirstName = "John";
        _label.RemoveBinding(Label.TextProperty);
    }

    [IterationSetup(Target = nameof(Classic_UpdateWhenSourceChanges))]
    public void SetupClassicBinding()
    {
        _label.SetBinding(Label.TextProperty, "FirstName");
    }

    [IterationSetup(Target = nameof(Compiled_UpdateWhenSourceChanges))]
    public void SetupCompiledBinding()
    {
        _label.SetBinding(Label.TextProperty, static (FullName name) => name.FirstName);
    }

    [Benchmark(Baseline = true)]
    public void Classic_UpdateWhenSourceChanges()
    {
        _name.FirstName = "Jane";
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public void Compiled_UpdateWhenSourceChanges()
    {
        _name.FirstName = "Jane";
    }
}

5. Update source value - two nesting levels

Method	Mean	Error	StdDev	Ratio	RatioSD	Allocated	Alloc Ratio
Compiled_UpdateWhenSourceChanges	30.85 us	0.634 us	1.295 us	0.67	0.03	-	NA
Classic_UpdateWhenSourceChanges	46.06 us	0.934 us	1.369 us	1.00	0.04	-	NA

Source code

[MemoryDiagnoser(false)]
public class UpdateValueTwoLevels
{
    ContactInformation _contact = new(new FullName("John"));
    Label _label = new();

    [GlobalSetup]
    public void Setup()
    {
        DispatcherProvider.SetCurrent(new MockDispatcherProvider());
        _label.BindingContext = _contact;
    }

    [IterationCleanup]
    public void Reset()
    {
        _label.Text = "John";
        _contact.FullName.FirstName = "John";
        _label.RemoveBinding(Label.TextProperty);
    }

    [IterationSetup(Target = nameof(Classic_UpdateWhenSourceChanges))]
    public void SetupClassicBinding()
    {
        _label.SetBinding(Label.TextProperty, "FullName.FirstName");
    }

    [IterationSetup(Target = nameof(Compiled_UpdateWhenSourceChanges))]
    public void SetupCompiledBinding()
    {
        _label.SetBinding(Label.TextProperty, static (ContactInformation contact) => contact.FullName?.FirstName);
    }

    [Benchmark(Baseline = true)]
    public void Classic_UpdateWhenSourceChanges()
    {
        _contact.FullName.FirstName = "Jane";
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public void Compiled_UpdateWhenSourceChanges()
    {
        _contact.FullName.FirstName = "Jane";
    }
}

---

See Benchmarks.cs for full source code.