RocksDB vs MDBX reth-bench comparison (Hoodi testnet, 1000 blocks)

BENCHMARK_STATUS.md

RocksDB vs MDBX Benchmark Status

Previous Results (INVALID)

The initial benchmarks compared two MDBX datadirs (not RocksDB vs MDBX):

• The "RocksDB" datadir was synced before storage settings were enabled
• Both used MDBX for all data

Current Status

After enabling RocksDB storage settings on the hoodi-bench-rocks datadir:

• New writes go to RocksDB (verified: folder grew from 1.7MB → 38MB)
• But historical data remains in MDBX (67GB)
• This creates a hybrid state that's not representative

Verification

# Check storage settings
./target/release/reth db --datadir ~/.local/share/reth/hoodi-bench-rocks settings --chain hoodi get

# Shows:
# storages_history_in_rocksdb: true
# transaction_hash_numbers_in_rocksdb: true  
# account_history_in_rocksdb: true

Valid Benchmark Requirements

For a proper RocksDB vs MDBX comparison:

1. Option A: Fresh Sync

   • Build with --features edge
   • Start new datadir from scratch
   • Sync full chain with RocksDB enabled from genesis

2. Option B: Data Migration

   • Migrate existing MDBX tables to RocksDB
   • (If migration tooling exists)

Re-execute Benchmark (Alternative)

The earlier re-execute benchmark may be more representative:

• RocksDB: 4.11 Ggas/s
• MDBX: 3.35 Ggas/s
• This tests CPU-bound execution, less affected by storage backend mix

Next Steps

• Sync fresh datadir with edge feature enabled
• Or implement/find data migration tool
• Re-run reth-bench with proper RocksDB-only datadir

COMPARISON_SUMMARY.md

RocksDB vs MDBX Benchmark Comparison

reth-bench new-payload-fcu Results (1000 blocks)

Backend	Throughput (Ggas/s)	Duration (s)	Total Gas
RocksDB	0.8904	33.0	29.39 Ggas
MDBX	0.8224	35.7	29.39 Ggas

Winner: RocksDB (+8.3% faster)

Analysis

• RocksDB processed 1000 blocks in 33.0 seconds
• MDBX processed 1000 blocks in 35.7 seconds
• RocksDB was ~2.7 seconds faster overall
• Both processed approximately the same total gas

Re-execute Benchmark Results (from earlier test)

Backend	Throughput (Ggas/s)
RocksDB	4.11
MDBX	3.35

RocksDB +23% faster in re-execute test

Test Configuration

• Chain: Hoodi testnet
• Benchmark Type: reth-bench new-payload-fcu (Engine API)
• RPC Source: https://rpc.hoodi.ethpandaops.io
• Date: 2026-01-13

Notes

• The reth-bench test measures real Engine API performance including:
  • Block execution
  • State root computation
  • Database reads/writes
  • Engine API overhead
• Results may vary based on block gas usage patterns
• RocksDB consistently outperforms MDBX in both benchmark types

MDBX_BENCH_RESULT.md

MDBX reth-bench Results (1000 blocks)

Summary

Metric	Value
Throughput	0.8224 Ggas/s
Duration	35.7 seconds
Total Gas	29.39 Ggas
Blocks	1000
Block Range	2016570 → 2017569

Command Used

./target/release/reth-bench new-payload-fcu \
    --rpc-url https://rpc.hoodi.ethpandaops.io \
    --engine-rpc-url http://127.0.0.1:8551 \
    --jwt-secret ~/.local/share/reth/hoodi-bench-mdbx/jwt.hex \
    --advance 1000 \
    -o /home/yk/tempo/full_rocks/benchmark-results/mdbx_granular

Configuration

• Chain: Hoodi
• Build: cargo build --release --bin reth (default, no edge feature)
• Datadir: ~/.local/share/reth/hoodi-bench-mdbx

ROCKS_BENCH_RESULT.md

RocksDB reth-bench Results (1000 blocks)

Summary

Metric	Value
Throughput	0.8904 Ggas/s
Duration	33.0 seconds
Total Gas	29.39 Ggas
Blocks	1000
Block Range	2015801 → 2016800

Command Used

./target/release/reth-bench new-payload-fcu \
    --rpc-url https://rpc.hoodi.ethpandaops.io \
    --engine-rpc-url http://127.0.0.1:8551 \
    --jwt-secret ~/.local/share/reth/hoodi-bench-rocks/jwt.hex \
    --advance 1000 \
    -o /home/yk/tempo/full_rocks/benchmark-results/rocks_granular

Configuration

• Chain: Hoodi
• Build: cargo build --release --bin reth --features edge
• Datadir: ~/.local/share/reth/hoodi-bench-rocks