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SQLite WAL mode: 0.29 s vs 1.91 s for 3,000 commits
How much faster are SQLite writes in WAL mode?
3,000 single-row commits took 1.91 s in the default DELETE journal mode with synchronous=FULL, 0.83 s in WAL with FULL and 0.29 s in WAL with synchronous=NORMAL.
Results
| DELETE + FULL | 1.91 s |
|---|---|
| WAL + FULL | 0.83 s |
| WAL + NORMAL | 0.29 s |
How it was measured
3,000 inserts, one transaction each.
PRAGMA journal_mode = WAL;
PRAGMA synchronous = NORMAL;Why
WAL appends to a log instead of rewriting pages.
When this does not apply
NORMAL can lose the last commits on power loss.
Environment
MacBook Air (Apple silicon, 8 cores), macOS. Measured 2026-10-12.
Source: shorts/demo-ticket/w2/wal.py in my content-engine repository. Treat any single run as a direction; re-run it on your hardware.
By Josué Barros, senior software engineer (full-stack, data and AI).