composer.json

{
    "require": {
        "pimple/pimple": "1.0.*",
        "symfony/dependency-injection": "2.2.*"
    }
}

RESULTS

Pimple
273K
2153K
0.009068s
DependencyInjection
275K
2903K
0.051517s
DependencyInjection (dumped)
2041K
2413K
0.006198s

run-tests.sh

#!/bin/bash

FLAGS="-d xdebug.max_nesting_level=300"
RUNS=1000

echo "Pimple"
php $FLAGS test-pimple.php $RUNS

echo "DependencyInjection"
php $FLAGS test-di.php $RUNS

echo "DependencyInjection (dumped)"
php $FLAGS test-di-dumped.php $RUNS

service.php

<?php

class Service {
    private $service;
    private $param;

    public function __construct(Service $service, $param)
    {
        $this->service = $service;
        $this->param = $param;
    }
}

class NullService extends Service {
    public function __construct() {}
}

test-di-dumped.php

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';
require 'service.php';
require 'dumped.php';

$runs = $argv[1];

$start = microtime(true);
echo intval(memory_get_usage() / 1024).'K'."\n";

$container = new ProjectServiceContainer();

foreach (range(1, $runs) as $i) {
    $serv = $container->get("service_".$i);
}

echo intval(memory_get_usage() / 1024).'K'."\n";
echo round(microtime(true) - $start, 6).'s'."\n";

test-di.php

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';
require 'service.php';

use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\ContainerBuilder;
use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Reference;

$runs = $argv[1];

$start = microtime(true);
echo intval(memory_get_usage() / 1024).'K'."\n";

$container = new ContainerBuilder();
$container->setParameter('param', 'foo');
$container
        ->register('service_1', 'NullService');

foreach (range(2, $runs) as $i) {
    $container
        ->register('service_'.$i, 'Service')
        ->addArgument(new Reference('service_'.($i - 1)))
        ->addArgument('%param%');
}

foreach (range(1, $runs) as $i) {
    $serv = $container->get("service_".$i);
}

echo intval(memory_get_usage() / 1024).'K'."\n";
echo round(microtime(true) - $start, 6).'s'."\n";

use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Compiler\Compiler;

$compiler = new Compiler();
$compiler->compile($container);

use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Dumper\PhpDumper;

$dumper = new PhpDumper($container);
file_put_contents('dumped.php', $dumper->dump());

test-pimple.php

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';
require 'service.php';

$runs = $argv[1];

$start = microtime(true);
echo intval(memory_get_usage() / 1024).'K'."\n";

$container = new Pimple();
$container['param'] = 'foo';
$container['service_0'] = new NullService;

foreach (range(1, $runs) as $i) {
    $container['service_'.$i] = $container->share(function ($container) use ($i) {
        return new Service($container['service_'.($i - 1)], $container['param']);
    });
}

foreach (range(1, $runs) as $i) {
    $serv = $container['service_'.$i];
}

echo intval(memory_get_usage() / 1024).'K'."\n";
echo round(microtime(true) - $start, 6).'s'."\n";