How Much Slower is .NET Reflection Compared to Direct Method Invocation?

Performance Impact of .NET Reflection: Quantitative Assessment

.NET’s powerful reflection capabilities allow developers to inspect and manipulate types at runtime. While critical in some cases, its performance impact has been a concern.

To gain insight into the extent of the impact of reflective performance, let’s take a look at the empirical measurements. In his famous talk "Performance of Everyday Things", Jeff Richter conducted extensive experiments to quantify the performance cost of reflection.

Richter's research shows that calling methods via reflection is about 1000 times slower than calling them directly. This significant performance penalty stems from the overhead that reflection incurs in the complex process of resolving types, binding parameters, and calling methods.

Therefore, developers should be cautious when using reflection. While it offers unparalleled flexibility, its performance cost can be considerable. In scenarios where you need to call a method repeatedly, Richter recommends using reflection only once to identify the target method, delegate it, and then call the delegate for efficiency. By avoiding the performance overhead of reflection, developers can optimize application performance and ensure optimal execution times.

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