Protobuf Alternatives Debate

Discussions revolve around Protocol Buffers (protobuf) as a serialization format, comparing it to alternatives like JSON, Cap'n Proto, MessagePack, and FlatBuffers, with debates on performance, efficiency, ease of use, and why projects should or shouldn't use protobuf.

➡️ Stable 0.6x Open Source
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#5914
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Keywords

OR CPU JSON DB TCP capnproto.org github.com RPC CapnProto API protobuf grpc json protocol buffers proto code cap encoding wire

Sample Comments

rizzaxc May 7, 2022 View on HN

why is protobuf not an option to you?

eternityforest Jun 25, 2023 View on HN

Why protobuf? Does it really need that or would JSON/MessagePack work?

amluto Jul 29, 2016 View on HN

Try Cap'n Proto instead. Better designed and faster.

baby Nov 13, 2021 View on HN

Who cares about protobuf if you have json amirite

anovikov Dec 26, 2021 View on HN

How is it better than Protocol Buffers?

Nkuna Dec 21, 2020 View on HN

Would be interested to hear if they explored using protobufs or did they default to JSON...?

haberman Jun 23, 2011 View on HN

Use protocol buffers! As easy to use as JSON in dynamic languages, gives you strongly-typed accessors in static languages.

andremedeiros Sep 20, 2024 View on HN

What does this do that Protobuf doesn't?

tfsh Oct 23, 2021 View on HN

Protobufs would be a good contender here

luigi Mar 28, 2011 View on HN

Don't know why they wouldn't use protocol buffers for this. Much more efficient.