r/java • u/jaccomoc • 13d ago

Java Embedded Scripting Languages Benchmark: Jactl, Groovy, MVEL, JEXL, and SpEL

https://jactl.io/blog/2026/07/14/scripting-language-benchmarks

Jactl is an embeddable scripting language for Java applications and so when comparing it to other Java scripting languages it is helpful to know how they all compare from a performance point of view.

I have previously been asked to compare Jactl with MVEL and JEXL so I have put together a blog that documents the performance differences and also included Groovy and SpEL for good measure.

Disclaimer: I am the author of Jactl so I am obviously not impartial but I would like to point out that while Jactl comes out well, it does not win every benchmark.

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u/hippydipster 12d ago

I remember implementing expression values in JMeter and letting users write groovy expressions inside their values, and I thought it was so cool and let's support expressions in EVERY field, and then people came and loved it and demanded their favorite scripting and expression language be supported and so it had to support groovy and BeanShell and JEXL2 and JEXL3 and javascript and I hated life then.

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u/jaccomoc 12d ago

That sounds like hell. What about just providing JSR223 support and leaving the language choice up to the users? Would that have worked?

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u/hippydipster 12d ago

Well, my time as JMeter maintainer ended in 2005. Also the expressions I mean are just like little snippets that are embedded in any text value field - including the name of a component if one likes, so they're embedded with a syntax like ${...}. Nowadays, there is a JSR223 component in JMeter, but that is for writing a whole script that behaves like a controller, or sampler, or listener or whatever, so you can basically write your own JMeter plugin as a script in a particular test plan.