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Comparing Serialization Interfaces

5.7-SNAPSHOT 5.6 5.5 5.4 5.3 5.2 5.1 5.0

The table below provides a comparison between the interfaces listed in the previous section to help you in deciding which interface to use in your applications.

Serialization Interface Advantages Disadvantages

Serializable

  • A standard and basic Java interface

  • Requires no implementation

  • More time and CPU usage

  • More space occupancy

  • Not supported by Native clients

Externalizable

  • A standard Java interface

  • More CPU and memory usage efficient than Serializable

  • Serialization interface must be implemented

  • Not supported by Native clients

DataSerializable

  • More CPU and memory usage efficient than Serializable

  • Specific to Hazelcast

  • Not supported by Native clients

IdentifiedDataSerializable

  • More CPU and memory usage efficient than Serializable

  • Reflection is not used during deserialization

  • Supported by all Native Clients

  • Specific to Hazelcast

  • Serialization interface must be implemented

  • A Factory and configuration must be implemented

Portable

  • More CPU and memory usage efficient than Serializable

  • Reflection is not used during deserialization

  • Versioning is supported

  • Partial deserialization is supported during Queries

  • Supported by all Native Clients

  • Specific to Hazelcast

  • Serialization interface must be implemented

  • A Factory and configuration must be implemented

  • Class definition is also sent with data but stored only once per class

Custom Serialization

  • Does not require class to implement an interface

  • Convenient and flexible

  • Can be based on StreamSerializer ByteArraySerializer

  • Serialization interface must be implemented

  • Plug in and configuration is required

Compact Serialization (BETA)

  • More memory usage efficient than Portable

  • Convenient, flexible, and can be used with no configuration

  • Does not require class to implement an interface

  • Supports schema evolution

  • Partial deserialization is supported during queries and indexing

  • Specific to Hazelcast

  • Schema is not part of the data but schema distribution may incur costs on short-lived use cases

  • The format is in the BETA state and no compatibility guarantees are given yet

  • Currently, not supported by the Hazelcast SQL engine

Let’s dig into the details of the above serialization mechanisms in the following sections.

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