Programming Language and compiler
Benchmarks

Lua VS Python benchmarks

Current benchmark data was generated on Sun Jul 13 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 1162ms 7.5ms 96.8MB 1097ms 47ms pypy 3.11.13
lua 1.lua 3544ms 45ms 172.9MB 3407ms 123ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 104.9MB 4947ms 40ms lua 5.4.7
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 41.0MB 4973ms 10ms cpython 3.13.5
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 40.5MB 4743ms 240ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
python 1.py 94ms 1.5ms 68.2MB 67ms 13ms pypy 3.11.13
lua 1.lua 290ms 5.5ms 15.7MB 267ms 10ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 1.py 478ms 3.6ms 11.9MB 457ms 10ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 727ms 3.3ms 12.9MB 717ms 0ms cpython 3.13.5
lua 1.lua 814ms 5.2ms 16.9MB 797ms 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 0.2ms 2.1MB 0ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 1.py 12ms 0.8ms 7.6MB 0ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 14ms 1.2ms 8.8MB 10ms 0ms cpython 3.13.5
python 1.py 30ms 0.8ms 52.3MB 10ms 10ms pypy 3.11.13

merkletrees

Input: 17

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
python 1.py 2184ms 9.5ms 204.9MB 2073ms 97ms pypy 3.11.13
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 107.4MB 4950ms 33ms lua 5.4.7
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 149.3MB 4933ms 57ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 94.1MB 4960ms 27ms cpython 3.13.5
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 130.4MB 4940ms 47ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
python 1.py 378ms 3.7ms 105.2MB 320ms 47ms pypy 3.11.13
lua 1.lua 1101ms 2.2ms 31.1MB 1073ms 17ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua 2187ms 8.5ms 28.6MB 2170ms 3ms lua 5.4.7
python 1.py 2994ms 19ms 37.4MB 2970ms 10ms cpython 3.13.5
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 48.9MB 4943ms 43ms pyston 3.8.12

nbody

Input: 5000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 4.lua 713ms 3.7ms 2.3MB 703ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 2.py 1348ms 4.2ms 60.6MB 1320ms 10ms pypy 3.11.13
python 1.py 2705ms 69ms 57.8MB 2677ms 13ms pypy 3.11.13
lua 4.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.3MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 8.9MB 4990ms 0ms cpython 3.13.5
python 2.py timeout 0.0ms 9.0MB 4990ms 0ms cpython 3.13.5
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 74ms 0.9ms 2.3MB 67ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 2.py 178ms 3.3ms 58.3MB 153ms 10ms pypy 3.11.13
python 1.py 309ms 4.0ms 57.8MB 287ms 10ms pypy 3.11.13
python 1.py 936ms 11ms 8.3MB 927ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
lua 4.lua 1154ms 10ms 2.3MB 1143ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 2.py 1312ms 18ms 8.3MB 1300ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 2893ms 26ms 8.9MB 2883ms 0ms cpython 3.13.5
python 2.py 3043ms 14ms 9.0MB 3030ms 0ms cpython 3.13.5

spectral-norm

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 4063ms 4.0ms 2.5MB 4053ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.5MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.8MB 33ms 10ms cpython 3.13.5
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 94.7MB 680ms 60ms pypy 3.11.13
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.2MB 33ms 13ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 1029ms 1.6ms 2.4MB 1020ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.1MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.5MB 43ms 10ms cpython 3.13.5
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 97.8MB 1170ms 147ms pypy 3.11.13
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 13.6MB 57ms 20ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 257ms 0.3ms 2.3MB 250ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 8-m.py 2134ms 4.9ms 94.1MB 7090ms 240ms pypy 3.11.13
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.1MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.0MB 87ms 17ms cpython 3.13.5
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 13.2MB 133ms 33ms pyston 3.8.12