Programming Language and compiler
Benchmarks

Lua VS Python benchmarks

Current benchmark data was generated on Tue Apr 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.)

binarytrees

Input: 18

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
python 1.py 1182ms 8.2ms 96.2MB 1120ms 47ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 1.lua 3534ms 46ms 173.0MB 3387ms 133ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 104.9MB 4953ms 33ms lua 5.4.7
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 40.8MB 4963ms 23ms cpython 3.13.2
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 40.5MB 4737ms 247ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
python 1.py 95ms 3.4ms 68.6MB 67ms 17ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 1.lua 290ms 3.9ms 15.8MB 270ms 7ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 1.py 478ms 2.9ms 11.9MB 453ms 10ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 732ms 24ms 12.6MB 720ms 0ms cpython 3.13.2
lua 1.lua 823ms 10ms 16.9MB 807ms 0ms lua 5.4.7

helloworld

Input: QwQ

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 1.4ms 0.2ms 2.4MB 0ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua 1.4ms 0.1ms 2.1MB 0ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 1.py 12ms 1.2ms 7.6MB 0ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 14ms 0.7ms 8.6MB 10ms 0ms cpython 3.13.2
python 1.py 28ms 0.6ms 51.6MB 10ms 10ms pypy 3.10.16

merkletrees

Input: 17

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
python 1.py 2230ms 7.0ms 202.6MB 2107ms 110ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 107.4MB 4947ms 40ms lua 5.4.7
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 149.4MB 4937ms 47ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 93.9MB 4953ms 33ms cpython 3.13.2
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 130.4MB 4930ms 53ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
python 1.py 386ms 6.3ms 105.1MB 327ms 50ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 1.lua 1141ms 19ms 31.3MB 1117ms 10ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua 2248ms 30ms 28.6MB 2223ms 10ms lua 5.4.7
python 1.py 3162ms 61ms 37.1MB 3137ms 13ms cpython 3.13.2
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 48.9MB 4953ms 33ms pyston 3.8.12

nbody

Input: 5000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 4.lua 725ms 7.3ms 2.3MB 713ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 2.py 1356ms 8.7ms 60.2MB 1330ms 10ms pypy 3.10.16
python 1.py 2651ms 14ms 57.2MB 2627ms 10ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 4.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.3MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 8.6MB 4990ms 0ms cpython 3.13.2
python 2.py timeout 0.0ms 8.8MB 4990ms 0ms cpython 3.13.2
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
lua 4.lua 76ms 3.0ms 2.3MB 70ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 2.py 180ms 1.9ms 57.9MB 160ms 10ms pypy 3.10.16
python 1.py 308ms 8.8ms 57.1MB 287ms 10ms pypy 3.10.16
python 1.py 936ms 17ms 8.3MB 923ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
lua 4.lua 1139ms 49ms 2.3MB 1127ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 2.py 1303ms 12ms 8.1MB 1290ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 3020ms 81ms 8.8MB 3010ms 0ms cpython 3.13.2
python 2.py 3178ms 29ms 8.8MB 3167ms 0ms cpython 3.13.2

spectral-norm

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 4075ms 1.1ms 2.5MB 4063ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.4MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.6MB 30ms 10ms cpython 3.13.2
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 96.1MB 793ms 83ms pypy 3.10.16
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.2MB 40ms 7ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 1023ms 5.5ms 2.4MB 1013ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.3MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.4MB 47ms 10ms cpython 3.13.2
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 96.8MB 1297ms 187ms pypy 3.10.16
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 13.7MB 57ms 17ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 260ms 2.7ms 2.3MB 250ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 8-m.py 1947ms 12ms 93.2MB 6353ms 250ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.0MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.0MB 80ms 23ms cpython 3.13.2
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 13.4MB 143ms 33ms pyston 3.8.12