Bonnie++ vs Novabench
Bonnie++
github.com
Novabench
novabench.comSide by side
| Figure | Bonnie++ | Novabench |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $3/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 5 |
| Spec score · PC Benchmark Software | 8.4 (#10) | 8.5 (#7) |
| Spec score · PC benchmark tools | 7.9 (#36) | 8.6 (#9) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Intended users | The documentation describes tests that simulate I/O patterns in database applications and file activity similar to Squid or INN. | Novabench describes its free plan as for personal use and Novabench for Work as an endpoint performance suite for IT professionals. |
Plans
In their own words
Bonnie++
Bonnie++ is a free, command-line benchmark suite for measuring filesystem and disk I/O performance on Linux. It exercises sequential input and output, rewrites, random seeks, and file operations including creation, stat, and deletion of many small files. The project describes these workloads as useful for investigating I/O bottlenecks in I/O-intensive applications, including database work, and for simulating file activity associated with Squid or INN. Bonnie++ can test more than 2 GB of storage on a 32-bit machine. Its -D option enables direct I/O for bulk tests, while -b calls fsync after each write and syncs the directory after file creation or deletion. Semaphore support can synchronize multiple instances. Results can be emitted as plain text or CSV, with companion tools to convert CSV into HTML or formatted plain text. The project is licensed under GPL version 2.0, and the repository includes source code and Debian, RPM, and Sun-related packaging files. Its documentation warns against running the benchmark on live production machines because it can affect services and consume disk space or inodes.