Firefox, Chrome Virtually Tied for JavaScript Speed

The newly released Firefox 3.1 beta 2 and Chrome 0.4.154.33 compete into JavaScript performance testing. Firefox remains the leader on the SunSpider test, with a score of 2.110, chrome edged very close with 2.140. A lower score is better, because of some variation in results, the nubers are an avarage of several runs.

Firefox and Chrome aren't the only browsers out there, but they're interesting to compare for a few reasons. First, they're both open-source projects launched to shake up the establishment with new ideas about the browsing experience. Second, given that philosophical alignment, they're likely to appeal to the same early-adopter crowd. Finally, both have new JavaScript engines, Chrome's V8 and Mozilla's TraceMonkey, which in the new beta is switched on by default.

JavaScript is used to build sophisticated Web sites such as Gmail or Google Docs, but it's also widely used for more ordinary operations, so faster JavaScript performance is desirable. One interesting possibility Google has raised for Web applications though is to bypass JavaScript altogether and use Google's new Native Client software, a research project that lets Web-based software run closer to the speeds of regular software on a computer.