C VS Python benchmarks

Current benchmark data was generated on Sun Jun 01 2025, full log can be found HERE

CONTRIBUTIONS are WELCOME!

[x86_64][4 cores] AMD EPYC 7763 64-Core Processor (Model 1)

* -m in a file name stands for multi-threading or multi-processing

* -i in a file name stands for direct intrinsics usage. (Usage of simd intrinsics via libraries is not counted)

* -ffi in a file name stands for non-stdlib FFI usage

* (You may find time < time(user) + time(sys) for some non-parallelized programs, the overhead is from GC or JIT compiler, which are allowed to take advantage of multi-cores as that's more close to real-world scenarios.)

helloworld

Input: QwQ

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 1.c 1.0ms 0.0ms 1.4MB 0ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 1.c 1.2ms 0.0ms 2.1MB 0ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 1.c 1.2ms 0.0ms 2.1MB 0ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
python 1.py 12ms 0.9ms 7.6MB 0ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 14ms 1.3ms 8.6MB 10ms 0ms cpython 3.13.3
python 1.py 29ms 1.0ms 51.7MB 10ms 8ms pypy 3.10.16

knucleotide

Input: 2500000_in

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 1-m.c 172ms 2.2ms 23.6MB 403ms 7ms gcc 15.1.0
c 1-m.c 292ms 0.1ms 25.7MB 1000ms 27ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
python 3-m.py 2576ms 18ms 136.5MB 8740ms 333ms pypy 3.10.16
python 3-m.py 3287ms 36ms 34.0MB 12567ms 110ms pyston 3.8.12
python 3.py timeout 0.0ms 35.3MB 97ms 13ms cpython 3.13.3

Input: 250000_in

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 1-m.c 26ms 1.5ms 13.0MB 57ms 3ms gcc 15.1.0
c 1-m.c 36ms 1.0ms 15.0MB 103ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
python 3-m.py 399ms 1.9ms 75.8MB 1023ms 157ms pypy 3.10.16
python 3-m.py 410ms 3.4ms 14.2MB 1370ms 67ms pyston 3.8.12
python 3-m.py 663ms 5.8ms 15.2MB 2337ms 63ms cpython 3.13.3

mandelbrot

Input: 5000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 1-mffi.c 224ms 14ms 7.5MB 840ms 13ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 1-mffi.c 269ms 8.5ms 6.5MB 817ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 1-mffi.c 330ms 1.5ms 6.0MB 320ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 1-ffi.c 332ms 2.8ms 6.0MB 323ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 1-ffi.c 452ms 0.9ms 6.5MB 440ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 1-ffi.c 543ms 2.3ms 6.6MB 533ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0

Input: 1000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 1-mffi.c 15ms 0.5ms 4.6MB 30ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 1-ffi.c 16ms 0.1ms 3.0MB 10ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 1-mffi.c 16ms 0.2ms 3.0MB 10ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 1-mffi.c 17ms 2.0ms 3.8MB 43ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 1-ffi.c 21ms 0.1ms 3.5MB 10ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 1-ffi.c 25ms 0.4ms 3.8MB 20ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0

nbody

Input: 5000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 8-i.c 270ms 3.2ms 1.5MB 263ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 8-i.c 303ms 3.1ms 2.1MB 293ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 2.c 309ms 1.0ms 2.3MB 300ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 2.c 313ms 2.0ms 1.5MB 303ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 5.c 313ms 1.2ms 2.3MB 307ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 5.c 315ms 1.6ms 1.5MB 307ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 5.c 315ms 1.6ms 2.1MB 310ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 2.c 322ms 4.3ms 2.1MB 317ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 8-i.c 337ms 1.0ms 2.3MB 330ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
python 2.py 1361ms 8.4ms 60.3MB 1333ms 10ms pypy 3.10.16
python 1.py 2648ms 10ms 57.1MB 2623ms 10ms pypy 3.10.16
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 8.9MB 4990ms 0ms cpython 3.13.3
python 2.py timeout 0.0ms 8.9MB 4990ms 0ms cpython 3.13.3
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 8.3MB 4990ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
python 2.py timeout 0.0ms 8.1MB 4990ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 8-i.c 29ms 0.6ms 1.5MB 20ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 8-i.c 33ms 0.2ms 2.1MB 20ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 2.c 33ms 0.3ms 1.5MB 30ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 5.c 33ms 0.3ms 2.3MB 30ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 5.c 34ms 0.4ms 1.5MB 27ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 2.c 34ms 0.9ms 2.3MB 27ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 5.c 34ms 1.0ms 2.1MB 30ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 2.c 34ms 0.7ms 2.1MB 30ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 8-i.c 35ms 0.1ms 2.3MB 30ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
python 2.py 180ms 3.2ms 58.1MB 153ms 13ms pypy 3.10.16
python 1.py 303ms 4.6ms 57.1MB 280ms 10ms pypy 3.10.16
python 1.py 943ms 20ms 8.3MB 933ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
python 2.py 1311ms 6.8ms 8.3MB 1300ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 3029ms 49ms 8.9MB 3017ms 0ms cpython 3.13.3
python 2.py 3194ms 81ms 8.9MB 3183ms 0ms cpython 3.13.3

nsieve

Input: 12

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 1.c 261ms 9.0ms 40.9MB 243ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 1.c 271ms 2.2ms 41.0MB 257ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 1.c 285ms 5.2ms 40.3MB 270ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
python 1.py 2510ms 35ms 369.7MB 2443ms 53ms pypy 3.10.16
python 2.py 3001ms 11ms 632.9MB 2817ms 167ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 4815ms 106ms 320.4MB 4753ms 47ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 321.4MB 4960ms 23ms cpython 3.13.3
python 2.py timeout 0.0ms 633.8MB 4820ms 160ms cpython 3.13.3
python 2.py timeout 0.0ms 959.9MB 4717ms 273ms pypy 3.10.16

Input: 10

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 1.c 53ms 3.0ms 11.7MB 40ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 1.c 55ms 2.4ms 11.6MB 43ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 1.c 58ms 2.2ms 11.0MB 47ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
python 1.py 534ms 6.8ms 135.3MB 497ms 20ms pypy 3.10.16
python 2.py 727ms 14ms 164.2MB 683ms 27ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 1059ms 9.9ms 86.0MB 1033ms 10ms pyston 3.8.12
python 2.py 1436ms 9.3ms 165.0MB 1393ms 27ms cpython 3.13.3
python 2.py 1518ms 1.3ms 290.1MB 1430ms 73ms pypy 3.10.16
python 1.py 2777ms 67ms 87.0MB 2753ms 10ms cpython 3.13.3

spectral-norm

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 3-m.c 736ms 1.2ms 2.0MB 2897ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 6-im.c 951ms 0.7ms 2.0MB 3743ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 4-m.c 999ms 19ms 2.0MB 3907ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 6-im.c 1002ms 3.9ms 3.3MB 3943ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 4-m.c 1132ms 22ms 3.4MB 4423ms 7ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 5-im.c 1142ms 1.9ms 2.0MB 4507ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 5-im.c 1330ms 4.1ms 3.3MB 5240ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 3-m.c 1830ms 5.6ms 3.3MB 7220ms 10ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.8MB 40ms 10ms cpython 3.13.3
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 95.2MB 787ms 80ms pypy 3.10.16
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.2MB 37ms 10ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 3-m.c 193ms 1.4ms 2.0MB 737ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 6-im.c 247ms 2.2ms 2.0MB 943ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 4-m.c 258ms 0.8ms 2.0MB 990ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 6-im.c 259ms 2.3ms 3.3MB 983ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 4-m.c 290ms 4.2ms 3.1MB 1107ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 5-im.c 303ms 19ms 2.0MB 1153ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 5-im.c 341ms 2.7ms 3.4MB 1310ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 3-m.c 476ms 17ms 3.3MB 1823ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.6MB 50ms 10ms cpython 3.13.3
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 96.8MB 1343ms 173ms pypy 3.10.16
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 13.6MB 53ms 23ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 3-m.c 55ms 1.1ms 2.0MB 193ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 6-im.c 70ms 0.8ms 3.3MB 250ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 4-m.c 72ms 0.8ms 2.1MB 260ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 6-im.c 72ms 6.7ms 2.0MB 257ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 4-m.c 78ms 0.4ms 3.1MB 280ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 5-im.c 81ms 0.6ms 2.0MB 297ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 5-im.c 92ms 0.5ms 3.3MB 330ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 3-m.c 123ms 2.1ms 3.4MB 453ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
python 8-m.py 1961ms 11ms 93.0MB 6377ms 250ms pypy 3.10.16
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.3MB 90ms 17ms cpython 3.13.3
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 13.2MB 153ms 37ms pyston 3.8.12