Differences between Hashmap, LinkedHashMap & TreeMap

All three classes implement the Map interface and offer mostly the same functionality. The most important difference is the order in which iteration through the entries will happen:

• HashMap makes absolutely no guarantees about the iteration order. It can (and will) even change completely when new elements are added.
• TreeMap will iterate according to the “natural ordering” of the keys according to their compareTo() method (or an externally supplied Comparator). Additionally, it implements the SortedMap interface, which contains methods that depend on this sort order.
• LinkedHashMap will iterate in the order in which the entries were put into the map

Visual represenation

╔══════════════╦═════════════════════╦═══════════════════╦═════════════════════╗
║   Property   ║       HashMap       ║      TreeMap      ║     LinkedHashMap   ║
╠══════════════╬═════════════════════╬═══════════════════╬═════════════════════╣
║ Iteration    ║  no guarantee order ║ sorted according  ║                     ║
║   Order      ║ will remain constant║ to the natural    ║    insertion-order  ║
║              ║      over time      ║    ordering       ║                     ║
╠══════════════╬═════════════════════╬═══════════════════╬═════════════════════╣
║  Get/put     ║                     ║                   ║                     ║
║   remove     ║         O(1)        ║      O(log(n))    ║         O(1)        ║
║ containsKey  ║                     ║                   ║                     ║
╠══════════════╬═════════════════════╬═══════════════════╬═════════════════════╣
║              ║                     ║   NavigableMap    ║                     ║
║  Interfaces  ║         Map         ║       Map         ║         Map         ║
║              ║                     ║    SortedMap      ║                     ║
╠══════════════╬═════════════════════╬═══════════════════╬═════════════════════╣
║              ║                     ║                   ║                     ║
║     Null     ║       allowed       ║    only values    ║       allowed       ║
║ values/keys  ║                     ║                   ║                     ║
╠══════════════╬═════════════════════╩═══════════════════╩═════════════════════╣
║              ║   Fail-fast behavior of an iterator cannot be guaranteed      ║
║   Fail-fast  ║ impossible to make any hard guarantees in the presence of     ║
║   behavior   ║           unsynchronized concurrent modification              ║
╠══════════════╬═════════════════════╦═══════════════════╦═════════════════════╣
║              ║                     ║                   ║                     ║
║Implementation║      buckets        ║   Red-Black Tree  ║    double-linked    ║
║              ║                     ║                   ║       buckets       ║
╠══════════════╬═════════════════════╩═══════════════════╩═════════════════════╣
║      Is      ║                                                               ║
║ synchronized ║              implementation is not synchronized               ║
╚══════════════╩═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝