Why are sealed types faster?

At the lowest level, the compiler can make a micro-optimization when you have sealed classes.

If you're calling a method on a sealed class, and the type is declared at compile time to be that sealed class, the compiler can implement the method call (in most cases) using the call IL instruction instead of the callvirt IL instruction. This is because the method target can not be overridden. Call eliminates a null check and does a faster vtable lookup than callvirt, since it doesn't have to check virtual tables.

This can be a very, very slight improvement to performance.

That being said, I would completely ignore that when deciding whether to seal a class. Marking a type sealed really should be a design decision, not a performance decision. Do you want people (including yourself) to potentially subclass from your class, now or in the future? If so, do not seal. If not, seal. That really should be the deciding factor.

Essentially, it's got to do with the fact that they don't need to have to worry about extensions to a virtual function table; the sealed types can't be extended, and therefore, the runtime doesn't need to be concerned about how they may be polymorphic.

Decided to post small code samples to illustrate when C# compiler emits "call" & "callvirt" instructions.

So, here's source code of all types which I used:

    public sealed class SealedClass
    {
        public void DoSmth()
        { }
    }

    public class ClassWithSealedMethod : ClassWithVirtualMethod
    {
        public sealed override void DoSmth()
        { }
    }

    public class ClassWithVirtualMethod
    {
        public virtual void DoSmth()
        { }
    }

Also I have one method which calls all of "DoSmth()" methods:

    public void Call()
    {
        SealedClass sc = new SealedClass();
        sc.DoSmth();

        ClassWithVirtualMethod cwcm = new ClassWithVirtualMethod();
        cwcm.DoSmth();

        ClassWithSealedMethod cwsm = new ClassWithSealedMethod();
        cwsm.DoSmth();
    }

Looking on "Call()" method we can say that (theoretically) C# compiler should emit 2 "callvirt" & 1 "call" instructions, right? Unfortunately, reality is a bit different - 3 "callvirt"-s:

.method public hidebysig instance void Call() cil managed
{
    .maxstack 1
    .locals init (
        [0] class TestApp.SealedClasses.SealedClass sc,
        [1] class TestApp.SealedClasses.ClassWithVirtualMethod cwcm,
        [2] class TestApp.SealedClasses.ClassWithSealedMethod cwsm)
    L_0000: newobj instance void TestApp.SealedClasses.SealedClass::.ctor()
    L_0005: stloc.0 
    L_0006: ldloc.0 
    L_0007: callvirt instance void TestApp.SealedClasses.SealedClass::DoSmth()
    L_000c: newobj instance void TestApp.SealedClasses.ClassWithVirtualMethod::.ctor()
    L_0011: stloc.1 
    L_0012: ldloc.1 
    L_0013: callvirt instance void TestApp.SealedClasses.ClassWithVirtualMethod::DoSmth()
    L_0018: newobj instance void TestApp.SealedClasses.ClassWithSealedMethod::.ctor()
    L_001d: stloc.2 
    L_001e: ldloc.2 
    L_001f: callvirt instance void TestApp.SealedClasses.ClassWithVirtualMethod::DoSmth()
    L_0024: ret 
}

The reason is quite simple: runtime must check if type instance isn't equal to null before calling "DoSmth()" method. BUT we still can write our code in such a way that C# compiler would be able to emit optimized IL code:

    public void Call()
    {
        new SealedClass().DoSmth();

        new ClassWithVirtualMethod().DoSmth();

        new ClassWithSealedMethod().DoSmth();
    }

Result is:

.method public hidebysig instance void Call() cil managed
{
    .maxstack 8
    L_0000: newobj instance void TestApp.SealedClasses.SealedClass::.ctor()
    L_0005: call instance void TestApp.SealedClasses.SealedClass::DoSmth()
    L_000a: newobj instance void TestApp.SealedClasses.ClassWithVirtualMethod::.ctor()
    L_000f: callvirt instance void TestApp.SealedClasses.ClassWithVirtualMethod::DoSmth()
    L_0014: newobj instance void TestApp.SealedClasses.ClassWithSealedMethod::.ctor()
    L_0019: callvirt instance void TestApp.SealedClasses.ClassWithVirtualMethod::DoSmth()
    L_001e: ret 
}

If you try to call non-virtual method of non-sealed class in the same way you will also get "call" instruction instead of "callvirt"