How much does encryption actually cost in performance?
Encrypting data is essential for security, but it adds CPU work that affects processing speed. This calculator uses your data size and the throughput of the algorithm you choose to compute encryption time and how much slower it is than unencrypted processing.
Modern algorithms like AES-256-GCM and ChaCha20-Poly1305 can process over 1GB/s on CPUs with hardware acceleration (AES-NI, etc.), so overhead is often minimal. RSA, on the other hand, is an asymmetric algorithm ill-suited for bulk encryption — it should only be used for small data like key exchange or digital signatures.
Real-world impact varies with CPU type, hardware acceleration support, and network I/O bottlenecks, so treat this result as a rough reference and run an actual benchmark before deploying to production.
Frequently Asked Questions
It has more rounds so it's theoretically slower, but on modern CPUs with AES-NI hardware acceleration the difference is often negligible.
Not recommended. RSA is very slow and should only be used for small data like key exchange or signatures — use a symmetric algorithm like AES for bulk data.
Yes. The throughput figures here are general benchmark references, and actual performance varies significantly based on your CPU and hardware acceleration support.