In benchmarks published yesterday on XML.com, MSXML 3 was significantly ahead on performance, the nearest competitor being James Clark's XT processor.

The tests, conducted by DataPower, show Java-based processors ahead of their C/C++ counterparts (with the exception of MSXML). XT, the grandaddy of XSLT processors, outperformed all but Microsoft. Oracle's was the next-best performing processor in production (Sun's XSLT compiler performed well, but is only alpha technology).

In their analysis DataPower observed that while each processor tended to excel in certain areas, coverage of the entire XSLT 1.0 specification was in general incomplete. According to the report, Michael Kay's Saxon processor offers the best coverage of XSLT 1.0 features, as well as very respectable performance.

The strong showing offered by open source processors is a confirmation of the key role such software has played in XML, and in particular that played by James Clark.

Links: explanation of the benchmarks, and full breakdown of results.