X.Org vs. Wayland Browser Performance With Firefox + Chrome

The CanvasMark results were close between Wayland and X.Org on GNOME with Ubuntu 20.04. However, Firefox 76.0 Beta with WebRender showed a minor regression while Chrome 80 really suffered on Wayland.

The MotionMark benchmark results deviated somewhat between runs but generally on Firefox offered similar performance between X.Org and Wayland but with some uplift on Firefox 76 under WebRender. This was another test where Chrome 80 was failing on Wayland.

The WebXPRT results are quite promising for the Linux desktop on Wayland with better performance compared to the traditional X.Org sessions. The other benchmarks meanwhile generally showed Wayland at least comparable to X.Org and does point towards Firefox having a stronger footing on Wayland at this stage compared to Google Chrome. For those planning to upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS upon its official release, the desktop is still defaulting to the X.Org-based session but from the GDM log-in manager the GNOME Wayland experience can be easily run.