Programming Language and compiler
Benchmarks

Nim VS Lua benchmarks

Current benchmark data was generated on Mon Mar 31 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
nim 2.nim 951ms 22ms 34.6MB 933ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
nim 2.nim 1044ms 46ms 34.9MB 1030ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
lua 1.lua 3623ms 23ms 173.0MB 3477ms 133ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 104.9MB 4953ms 33ms lua 5.4.7

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 91ms 1.0ms 5.5MB 80ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
nim 2.nim 92ms 1.1ms 5.8MB 80ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
lua 1.lua 292ms 3.1ms 15.9MB 267ms 10ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua 824ms 5.5ms 16.9MB 807ms 0ms lua 5.4.7

coro-prime-sieve

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim timeout 0.0ms 553.5MB 2527ms 2017ms nim 2.2.2
nim 1.nim timeout 0.0ms 555.8MB 2507ms 2037ms nim/clang 2.2.2

Input: 1000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 4347ms 12ms 519.8MB 2150ms 1773ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 4379ms 10ms 519.4MB 2190ms 1760ms nim 2.2.2

fasta

Input: 2500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 189ms 2.4ms 1.5MB 177ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
nim 2.nim 237ms 2.8ms 1.8MB 227ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 553ms 0.6ms 1.8MB 447ms 90ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 579ms 2.1ms 1.5MB 477ms 87ms nim 2.2.2

Input: 250000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 21ms 0.0ms 1.5MB 10ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
nim 2.nim 26ms 0.2ms 1.8MB 20ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 59ms 1.2ms 1.8MB 40ms 10ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 61ms 0.5ms 1.5MB 40ms 7ms nim 2.2.2

helloworld

Input: QwQ

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 1.1ms 0.0ms 1.5MB 0ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 1.2ms 0.0ms 1.9MB 0ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
lua 1.lua 1.5ms 0.2ms 2.3MB 0ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua 1.6ms 0.1ms 2.1MB 0ms 0ms lua 5.4.7

lru

Input: 1000 1000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 111ms 1.6ms 1.6MB 100ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 2.nim 113ms 2.6ms 1.4MB 103ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
nim 1.nim timeout 0.0ms 1.3MB 4990ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
nim 1.nim timeout 0.0ms 1.5MB 4990ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2

Input: 1000 3000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 324ms 1.9ms 1.6MB 313ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 2.nim 326ms 1.9ms 1.6MB 320ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
nim 1.nim timeout 0.0ms 1.3MB 4990ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
nim 1.nim timeout 0.0ms 1.5MB 4990ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2

Input: 100 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 50ms 1.1ms 1.3MB 40ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
nim 2.nim 50ms 0.7ms 1.6MB 40ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 440ms 2.2ms 1.5MB 430ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 481ms 0.8ms 1.3MB 470ms 0ms nim 2.2.2

mandelbrot

Input: 5000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 388ms 0.9ms 4.7MB 380ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 579ms 3.4ms 4.4MB 570ms 0ms nim 2.2.2

Input: 1000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 19ms 0.3ms 1.9MB 10ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 26ms 0.4ms 1.6MB 20ms 0ms nim 2.2.2

merkletrees

Input: 17

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 534ms 2.9ms 34.6MB 517ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 631ms 20ms 34.9MB 613ms 3ms nim/clang 2.2.2
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 107.4MB 4947ms 37ms lua 5.4.7
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 149.4MB 4923ms 63ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 114ms 2.7ms 9.6MB 100ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 135ms 3.0ms 9.9MB 123ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
lua 1.lua 1392ms 85ms 31.1MB 1360ms 13ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua 2291ms 16ms 28.6MB 2270ms 10ms lua 5.4.7

nbody

Input: 5000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 319ms 1.2ms 1.8MB 310ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
nim 2.nim 342ms 0.5ms 2.0MB 330ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
lua 4.lua 713ms 1.8ms 2.3MB 703ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 4.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.3MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7

Input: 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 34ms 0.6ms 1.8MB 27ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
nim 2.nim 37ms 1.4ms 2.0MB 30ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
lua 4.lua 75ms 1.1ms 2.4MB 70ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 4.lua 1112ms 26ms 2.3MB 1103ms 0ms lua 5.4.7

nsieve

Input: 12

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 271ms 8.1ms 41.5MB 257ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 298ms 2.6ms 41.8MB 287ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2

Input: 10

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 51ms 0.5ms 11.5MB 40ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 57ms 0.8ms 11.8MB 50ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2

regex-redux

Input: 2500000_in

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 1633ms 8.8ms 164.1MB 1603ms 13ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 1703ms 20ms 163.9MB 1670ms 20ms nim 2.2.2

Input: 250000_in

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 173ms 2.3ms 20.9MB 160ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 178ms 2.0ms 20.6MB 163ms 0ms nim 2.2.2

spectral-norm

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 3590ms 1.4ms 1.6MB 3580ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 3596ms 7.0ms 1.9MB 3583ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
lua 1.lua 4068ms 9.8ms 2.5MB 4057ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.4MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 899ms 0.8ms 1.5MB 890ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 901ms 1.6ms 1.3MB 890ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
lua 1.lua 1021ms 2.2ms 2.4MB 1010ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.1MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 227ms 0.3ms 1.5MB 220ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 229ms 1.2ms 1.3MB 220ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
lua 1.lua 261ms 2.8ms 2.3MB 250ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.0MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7