Programming Language and compiler
Benchmarks

Zig VS Nim benchmarks

Current benchmark data was generated on Thu May 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
nim 2.nim 775ms 6.2ms 33.9MB 757ms 10ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 953ms 12ms 35.2MB 933ms 7ms nim/clang 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 1721ms 8.7ms 49.0MB 1690ms 17ms zig 0.14.0

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 76ms 2.3ms 5.5MB 67ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 92ms 3.6ms 5.8MB 83ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 156ms 0.8ms 7.0MB 147ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

edigits

Input: 250001

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 2257ms 3.8ms 2.5MB 2227ms 17ms zig 0.14.0

Input: 100000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 382ms 3.2ms 1.9MB 363ms 3ms zig 0.14.0

fannkuch-redux

Input: 11

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 2-m.zig 632ms 6.8ms 1.4MB 2400ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
zig 3-i.zig 1765ms 2.1ms 1.0MB 1757ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
zig 1.zig 2717ms 3.5ms 1.0MB 2707ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

Input: 10

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 2-m.zig 60ms 0.7ms 1.4MB 200ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
zig 3-i.zig 147ms 0.2ms 1.0MB 140ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
zig 1.zig 228ms 1.2ms 1.0MB 220ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

fasta

Input: 2500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 88ms 1.7ms 1.0MB 80ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
nim 2.nim 187ms 0.8ms 1.5MB 180ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 243ms 2.3ms 1.8MB 233ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 550ms 1.7ms 1.8MB 440ms 100ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 574ms 3.5ms 1.5MB 467ms 97ms nim 2.2.4

Input: 250000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 11ms 0.8ms 1.0MB 0ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
nim 2.nim 20ms 0.1ms 1.5MB 10ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 26ms 0.7ms 1.8MB 20ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 58ms 0.4ms 1.8MB 40ms 3ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 60ms 0.9ms 1.5MB 43ms 0ms nim 2.2.4

helloworld

Input: QwQ

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 1.0ms 0.0ms 1.5MB 0ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 1.1ms 0.2ms 1.1MB 0ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
nim 1.nim 1.1ms 0.0ms 1.9MB 0ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

knucleotide

Input: 2500000_in

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1-m.zig 315ms 1.9ms 67.1MB 830ms 30ms zig 0.14.0
zig 1.zig 504ms 5.3ms 28.1MB 477ms 10ms zig 0.14.0

Input: 250000_in

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1-m.zig 64ms 1.1ms 54.4MB 133ms 27ms zig 0.14.0
zig 1.zig 66ms 1.8ms 15.4MB 50ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

lru

Input: 1000 1000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 35ms 2.4ms 2.8MB 27ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
nim 2.nim 112ms 3.7ms 1.6MB 103ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 113ms 0.4ms 1.4MB 103ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim timeout 0.0ms 1.3MB 4990ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim timeout 0.0ms 1.5MB 4990ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

Input: 1000 3000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 91ms 1.2ms 2.8MB 80ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
nim 2.nim 325ms 2.2ms 1.6MB 320ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 337ms 3.0ms 1.4MB 327ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim timeout 0.0ms 1.3MB 4990ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim timeout 0.0ms 1.5MB 4990ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

Input: 100 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 16ms 1.2ms 1.3MB 10ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
nim 2.nim 49ms 0.5ms 1.5MB 40ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 51ms 0.7ms 1.3MB 40ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 488ms 11ms 1.5MB 480ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 493ms 16ms 1.3MB 483ms 0ms nim 2.2.4

mandelbrot

Input: 5000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 247ms 0.5ms 4.1MB 240ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
nim 1.nim 387ms 1.0ms 4.8MB 380ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 579ms 4.0ms 4.5MB 570ms 0ms nim 2.2.4

Input: 1000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 12ms 0.0ms 1.1MB 10ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
nim 1.nim 19ms 0.5ms 1.9MB 10ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 26ms 0.6ms 1.6MB 20ms 0ms nim 2.2.4

merkletrees

Input: 17

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 545ms 3.9ms 34.9MB 523ms 7ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 627ms 17ms 35.2MB 610ms 3ms nim/clang 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 858ms 3.7ms 41.0MB 830ms 13ms zig 0.14.0

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 117ms 2.0ms 9.6MB 107ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 133ms 1.1ms 9.9MB 120ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 180ms 6.0ms 11.0MB 163ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

nbody

Input: 5000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 3.zig 198ms 1.2ms 1.0MB 190ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
zig 2.zig 279ms 0.4ms 1.0MB 270ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
zig 1.zig 315ms 1.0ms 1.1MB 307ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
nim 2.nim 320ms 1.7ms 1.8MB 310ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 344ms 1.7ms 2.0MB 337ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

Input: 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 3.zig 22ms 0.3ms 1.1MB 10ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
zig 2.zig 30ms 0.1ms 1.0MB 20ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
zig 1.zig 34ms 0.6ms 1.1MB 23ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
nim 2.nim 35ms 0.5ms 1.8MB 30ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 37ms 0.5ms 2.0MB 30ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

nsieve

Input: 12

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 269ms 7.3ms 41.5MB 260ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 271ms 2.6ms 40.2MB 250ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
nim 1.nim 318ms 3.3ms 41.8MB 307ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
zig 2.zig 328ms 2.4ms 6.0MB 320ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

Input: 10

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 54ms 4.3ms 11.5MB 47ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 54ms 4.4ms 10.9MB 47ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
nim 1.nim 65ms 1.4ms 11.8MB 57ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
zig 2.zig 81ms 0.9ms 2.3MB 70ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

pidigits

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 2466ms 3.3ms 2.2MB 2437ms 13ms zig 0.14.0

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 567ms 2.8ms 1.8MB 553ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

spectral-norm

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 3589ms 1.3ms 1.6MB 3580ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 3603ms 8.0ms 1.4MB 3597ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 3689ms 4.3ms 1.4MB 3683ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 899ms 0.2ms 1.5MB 890ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 904ms 4.4ms 1.3MB 893ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 923ms 3.3ms 1.3MB 913ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 227ms 0.6ms 1.5MB 220ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 228ms 1.2ms 1.3MB 220ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 232ms 0.1ms 1.3MB 220ms 0ms zig 0.14.0