[Zope] Is Zope slow?

Luke Tymowski ltymowski@attglobal.net
Fri, 07 Jul 2000 00:01:18 -0400


Hello,

>I'm considering using Zope as the development tool for my next web 
>project. However, I read from a recent benchmark test (from Qube, i think) 
>that Zope(running thru Zserver?) is much SLOWER than Apache and 
>AOLserver.  Is that true? To all Zope users and 'guru's, what is yr 
>experience using Zope?

I run the QubeQuorner weblog where those numbers came from.

Zope isn't slow. It's slower than Apache serving static pages. But Zope is 
dynamic. I haven't yet had time to do proper dynamic comparisons between 
the various servers.

I run a few Zope sites. And I'm adding more Zope sites. I wouldn't do that 
if I thought it was too slow.

There is a lot involved in making a site faster or slower. Adding a few 
graphics to your web page is going to make it slower than an all-text page. 
An all-text page vs a mixed text and graphics page can be almost twice as 
fast. Your connection to the site is going to affect "apparent" 
performance. For example, while I have a cable modem at home, and my Zope 
server sits on a fast T1 (there are slow T1s and fast ones), the connection 
in the evenings is too slow for me use my server. That's @Home's fault, not 
Zope's. And our T1 will fill up well before Zope runs out of steam on my box.

Technocrat.net is a Zope site. They were Slashdotted and survived without 
any apparent problems. And they were running Zope on a Pentium 120! I 
believe they upgraded to a PII-450 after that episode, just to be safe.

I have a list of Pystone benchmarks on my QQ site too:
http://weblogs.userland.com/qube/stories/storyReader$289

A PIII-850 gives tremendous Python performance, which should translate to 
impressive Zope numbers too. Zope.org, however, doesn't run on nearly the 
fastest hardware available, and it rarely seems slow to me.

Luke