Here are some benchmarks for various architectures and operating systems. You can easily run your own benchmarks, as long as you have memcached itself on your system: $ ruby -e 'system("ruby #{File.dirname(`gem which memcached`.split("\n"). last)}/../test/profile/benchmark.rb")' == x86-32 OS X These benchmarks were run on 32-bit Intel OS X 10.4: user system total real set:plain:noblock:memcached 0.120000 0.020000 0.140000 ( 0.307926) set:plain:memcached 0.260000 0.340000 0.600000 ( 1.282603) set:plain:memcache-client 46.690000 0.580000 47.270000 ( 48.749359) set:ruby:noblock:memcached 0.190000 0.020000 0.210000 ( 0.346802) set:ruby:memcached 0.370000 0.340000 0.710000 ( 1.396252) set:ruby:caffeine 5.640000 0.890000 6.530000 ( 7.364335) set:ruby:memcache-client 46.900000 0.580000 47.480000 ( 48.988299) get:plain:memcached 0.300000 0.340000 0.640000 ( 1.273405) get:plain:memcache-client 47.200000 0.570000 47.770000 ( 49.161767) get:ruby:memcached 0.410000 0.350000 0.760000 ( 1.447452) get:ruby:caffeine 5.560000 0.910000 6.470000 ( 7.207449) get:ruby:memcache-client 47.230000 0.580000 47.810000 ( 51.481972) multiget:ruby:memcached 0.160000 0.060000 0.220000 ( 0.363161) multiget:ruby:caffeine 4.800000 0.550000 5.350000 ( 5.658651) multiget:ruby:memcache-client 50.710000 0.410000 51.120000 ( 52.303405) missing:ruby:memcached 0.430000 0.370000 0.800000 ( 1.358393) missing:ruby:memcached:inline 0.360000 0.370000 0.730000 ( 1.353781) missing:ruby:caffeine 4.740000 0.870000 5.610000 ( 6.320854) missing:ruby:memcache-client 46.840000 0.570000 47.410000 ( 48.789416) mixed:ruby:noblock:memcached 0.750000 0.910000 1.660000 ( 2.807438) mixed:ruby:memcached 0.760000 0.690000 1.450000 ( 4.057959) mixed:ruby:caffeine 8.730000 1.780000 10.510000 ( 13.515564) mixed:ruby:memcache-client 95.450000 1.160000 96.610000 (100.632132) hash:crc:memcached 1.240000 1.360000 2.600000 ( 5.149145) hash:fnv1_32:memcached 1.260000 1.360000 2.620000 ( 5.333619) hash:hsieh:memcached 1.150000 1.370000 2.520000 ( 6.256728) hash:fnv1_64:memcached 1.220000 1.360000 2.580000 ( 5.188369) hash:ketama:memcached 1.150000 1.360000 2.510000 ( 5.076080) hash:md5:memcached 1.220000 1.360000 2.580000 ( 6.622163) hash:default:memcached 1.190000 1.350000 2.540000 ( 5.185591) hash:fnv1a_32:memcached 1.210000 1.360000 2.570000 ( 5.759699) hash:fnv1a_64:memcached 1.180000 1.360000 2.540000 ( 5.097193) == x86-64 Linux These benchmarks were run on AMD64 RHEL4: user system total real set:plain:noblock:memcached 0.110000 0.010000 0.120000 ( 1.350748) set:plain:memcached 0.120000 0.350000 0.470000 ( 0.772407) set:plain:memcache-client 13.670000 0.190000 13.860000 ( 14.266996) set:ruby:noblock:memcached 0.160000 0.020000 0.180000 ( 2.259853) set:ruby:memcached 0.210000 0.320000 0.530000 ( 0.841844) set:ruby:memcache-client 13.710000 0.190000 13.900000 ( 14.249961) get:plain:memcached 0.170000 0.270000 0.440000 ( 0.754607) get:plain:memcache-client 14.200000 0.220000 14.420000 ( 14.761720) get:ruby:memcached 0.230000 0.310000 0.540000 ( 0.847958) get:ruby:memcache-client 14.170000 0.230000 14.400000 ( 14.804035) multiget:ruby:memcached 0.070000 0.010000 0.080000 ( 0.177625) multiget:ruby:memcache-client 14.860000 0.080000 14.940000 ( 15.092570) missing:ruby:memcached 0.270000 0.310000 0.580000 ( 0.856026) missing:ruby:memcached:inline 0.280000 0.300000 0.580000 ( 0.871487) missing:ruby:memcache-client 14.110000 0.250000 14.360000 ( 14.765192) mixed:ruby:noblock:memcached 0.480000 0.520000 1.000000 ( 1.615341) mixed:ruby:memcached 0.520000 0.590000 1.110000 ( 1.668772) mixed:ruby:memcache-client 27.710000 0.430000 28.140000 ( 28.788336) hash:crc:memcached 0.790000 1.180000 1.970000 ( 3.041880) hash:fnv1a_64:memcached 0.760000 1.060000 1.820000 ( 3.010219) hash:fnv1_32:memcached 0.800000 1.050000 1.850000 ( 3.006838) hash:fnv1_64:memcached 0.710000 1.260000 1.970000 ( 3.016661) hash:default:memcached 0.660000 1.120000 1.780000 ( 3.115817) hash:hsieh:memcached 0.620000 1.070000 1.690000 ( 3.106407) hash:ketama:memcached 0.680000 1.180000 1.860000 ( 3.046879) hash:md5:memcached 0.700000 1.130000 1.830000 ( 3.009488) hash:fnv1a_32:memcached 0.620000 1.310000 1.930000 ( 3.027653)