MessageFormat parse and render benchmark

In this benchmark we’ll look at two metrics : Library size and parsing/rendering speed.

Like any synthetic benchmark these should be taken with a pinch of salt. I tried to compare apples with apples as much as possible, but some libraries do a bit more and some others do a bit less.

Feel free to make a PR to help make these comparisons as fair as possible.

As a final word, I made this comparison purely for fun and to learn a thing or two about performance optimization.

Libraries size

Sources can be found in src, measure taken on 19/07/2026 with latest available versions

Npm Package	Version	Size	Comment
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ @onigoetz/intl-formatters)	1.0.0-rc.3	8.6K
@ffz/icu-msgparser (+ custom renderer)	2.0.0	9.5K
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ @onigoetz/make-plural)	1.0.0-rc.3	11.4K
format-message-parse	6.2.4	22.6K	Uses peg.js
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ make-plural)	1.0.0-rc.3	24.7K
intl-messageformat	11.2.11	38.9K	Uses peg.js
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ @phensley/plurals)	1.0.0-rc.3	42.1K
@phensley/messageformat	1.14.0	56.1K
@messageformat/core	3.4.0	76.6K	Uses peg.js
globalize	1.7.1	160.8K	Uses peg.js

Notes:

globalize comes with a bundled version of messageformat 0.3.0 and make-plural 3.0.0. Also, it requires ICU data to know how to format numbers, currencies, timezones and more. It also comes with a compiler to remove the parts that aren’t required, but for my use case I consider that we can’t know in advance what is going to be formatted.
@ffz/icu-msgparser is only a parser, I added a renderer to it but did not add any number/date formatter (hence the comparatively small size).
@eo-locale/core was excluded from this list as it crashes on our valid test strings. It would be a strong contender as it has a very small footprint (4.6KB).

Benchmark

To make the benchmark compareable I tried to apply the same rules to all libraries. Each libraries must follow the same rules:

Parse and format a string.
Properly handles plurals.
Do not perform any number or date formatting since not all libraries support them and it would give a serious boost to those.
Give the same output as all other implementations.
Compiled with the same tools and options.
Use an identical method signature for all libraries.

The benchmark is applied to 4 different strings, which for the simple cases should be fairly common in applications and more advanced case are probably not as common but should still be performant.

Benchmarks run on

Node.js v24.11.1

Apple M2 CPU

July 19, 2026

Simple String

const input = [`Hello, world!`, {}];

// Renders: `Hello, world!`

Name	ops/sec	MoE	Runs sampled
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ @onigoetz/make-plural)	17,590,474	± 0.66%	97
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ @onigoetz/intl-formatters)	17,486,794	± 0.99%	99
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ @phensley/plurals)	17,254,479	± 1.64%	93
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ make-plural)	17,191,342	± 1.46%	90
format-message-parse	7,954,434	± 1.72%	92
@phensley/messageformat	7,946,222	± 1.66%	96
@ffz/icu-msgparser (+ custom renderer)	5,901,498	± 0.92%	97
@messageformat/core	1,781,052	± 1.37%	98
intl-messageformat	305,089	± 2.04%	88
globalize	36,857	± 1.69%	93

With one variable

const input = [
  `Hello, {name}!`,
  {
    name: "John",
  },
];

// Renders: `Hello, John!`

Name	ops/sec	MoE	Runs sampled
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ @onigoetz/make-plural)	6,835,933	± 0.79%	94
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ make-plural)	6,844,375	± 0.93%	99
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ @phensley/plurals)	6,838,621	± 1.05%	95
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ @onigoetz/intl-formatters)	6,826,379	± 1.21%	95
format-message-parse	3,919,461	± 1.13%	96
@ffz/icu-msgparser (+ custom renderer)	3,271,084	± 0.90%	93
@phensley/messageformat	3,064,708	± 2.13%	93
@messageformat/core	875,587	± 1.04%	94
intl-messageformat	253,392	± 1.30%	91
globalize	36,145	± 1.24%	96

With plurals

const input = [
  `Yo, {firstName} {lastName} has {numBooks} {numBooks, plural, one {book} other {books}}.`,
  {
    firstName: "John",
    lastName: "Constantine",
    numBooks: 5,
  },
];

// Renders: `Yo, John Constantine has 5 books.`

Name	ops/sec	MoE	Runs sampled
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ make-plural)	955,408	± 1.24%	92
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ @phensley/plurals)	939,039	± 1.53%	97
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ @onigoetz/intl-formatters)	789,906	± 1.12%	97
@phensley/messageformat	526,661	± 0.52%	98
@messageformat/core	183,568	± 1.22%	97
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ @onigoetz/make-plural)	144,910	± 1.06%	93
@ffz/icu-msgparser (+ custom renderer)	123,744	± 0.78%	97
format-message-parse	86,564	± 1.42%	91
intl-messageformat	52,682	± 2.13%	91
globalize	26,716	± 1.74%	93

With select and plurals

const input = [`
  {gender_of_host, select,
	  female {
		  {num_guests, plural, offset:1
			  =0 {{host} does not give a party.}
			  =1 {{host} invites {guest} to her party.}
			  =2 {{host} invites {guest} and one other person to her party.}
			  other {{host} invites {guest} and # other people to her party.}
		  }
	  }
	  male {
		  {num_guests, plural, offset:1
			  =0 {{host} does not give a party.}
			  =1 {{host} invites {guest} to his party.}
			  =2 {{host} invites {guest} and one other person to his party.}
			  other {{host} invites {guest} and # other people to his party.}
		  }
	  }
	  other {
		  {num_guests, plural, offset:1
			  =0 {{host} does not give a party.}
			  =1 {{host} invites {guest} to their party.}
			  =2 {{host} invites {guest} and one other person to their party.}
			  other {{host} invites {guest} and # other people to their party.}
		  }
	  }
  }
  `, {
  "gender_of_host": "male",
  "num_guests": 3,
  "host": "Lucifer",
  "guest": "John Constantine"
}];

// Renders: `

		  Lucifer invites John Constantine and 2 other people to his party.

  `

Name	ops/sec	MoE	Runs sampled
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ @phensley/plurals)	177,525	± 0.96%	95
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ @onigoetz/intl-formatters)	171,376	± 1.12%	93
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ make-plural)	162,572	± 14.51%	87
@onigoetz/messageformat (+ @onigoetz/make-plural)	87,113	± 0.60%	98
@phensley/messageformat	48,158	± 5.95%	89
@messageformat/core	27,419	± 1.37%	93
@ffz/icu-msgparser (+ custom renderer)	24,636	± 4.05%	82
format-message-parse	16,321	± 2.17%	88
intl-messageformat	13,338	± 11.11%	76
globalize	6,816	± 1.80%	91

Benchmark messageformat

#MessageFormat parse and render benchmark

#Libraries size

#Benchmark

#Simple String

#With one variable

#With plurals