Programming Language and compiler
Benchmarks

Crystal VS Zig 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
crystal 1.cr 1241ms 14ms 64.2MB 1213ms 13ms crystal 1.16.3
zig 1.zig 1872ms 186ms 49.0MB 1840ms 17ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
crystal 1.cr 105ms 3.7ms 11.0MB 93ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3
zig 1.zig 152ms 2.9ms 7.0MB 140ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

coro-prime-sieve

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
crystal 1.cr 1511ms 17ms 19.9MB 1450ms 47ms crystal 1.16.3

Input: 1000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
crystal 1.cr 86ms 1.4ms 7.1MB 63ms 13ms crystal 1.16.3

edigits

Input: 250001

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
crystal 1.cr 59ms 1.2ms 7.6MB 40ms 3ms crystal 1.16.3
zig 1.zig 2260ms 7.9ms 2.5MB 2237ms 10ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 100000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
crystal 1.cr 23ms 0.9ms 5.3MB 10ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3
zig 1.zig 382ms 1.1ms 1.9MB 367ms 3ms zig 0.14.1

fannkuch-redux

Input: 11

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 2-m.zig 637ms 8.5ms 1.4MB 2413ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 3-i.zig 1765ms 1.9ms 1.0MB 1757ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
crystal 1.cr 2476ms 14ms 2.9MB 2467ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3
zig 1.zig 2719ms 3.6ms 1.0MB 2710ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 10

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 2-m.zig 60ms 0.6ms 1.4MB 200ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 3-i.zig 147ms 0.3ms 1.0MB 140ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
crystal 1.cr 205ms 3.2ms 2.9MB 197ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3
zig 1.zig 229ms 2.1ms 1.0MB 220ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

fasta

Input: 2500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 88ms 0.8ms 1.0MB 80ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
crystal 2.cr 534ms 3.4ms 3.6MB 443ms 73ms crystal 1.16.3
crystal 1.cr 676ms 1.2ms 14.6MB 570ms 93ms crystal 1.16.3

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 0.14.1
crystal 2.cr 57ms 1.2ms 3.5MB 40ms 3ms crystal 1.16.3
crystal 1.cr 73ms 2.0ms 4.4MB 57ms 3ms crystal 1.16.3

helloworld

Input: QwQ

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 0.9ms 0.0ms 1.1MB 0ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
crystal 1.cr 1.9ms 0.2ms 2.9MB 0ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3

http-server

Input: 3000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
crystal 1.cr 1888ms 247ms 299.0MB 317ms 443ms crystal 1.16.3

Input: 500

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
crystal 1.cr 1291ms 23ms 53.0MB 33ms 70ms crystal 1.16.3

lru

Input: 1000 1000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 33ms 1.2ms 2.8MB 27ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
crystal 0-unsafe.cr 35ms 0.6ms 3.0MB 30ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3
crystal 1.cr 65ms 0.7ms 3.0MB 60ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3

Input: 1000 3000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 95ms 1.5ms 2.8MB 87ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
crystal 0-unsafe.cr 101ms 1.8ms 3.0MB 90ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3
crystal 1.cr 186ms 0.4ms 3.0MB 180ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3

Input: 100 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 16ms 1.1ms 1.3MB 10ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
crystal 0-unsafe.cr 18ms 0.7ms 3.0MB 10ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3
crystal 1.cr 30ms 1.1ms 3.0MB 20ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3

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 0.14.1
crystal 1.cr 316ms 2.0ms 9.3MB 303ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3

Input: 1000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 12ms 0.2ms 1.1MB 10ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
crystal 1.cr 17ms 0.1ms 5.8MB 10ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3

merkletrees

Input: 17

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
crystal 1.cr 843ms 9.4ms 64.2MB 820ms 10ms crystal 1.16.3
zig 1.zig 866ms 9.9ms 41.0MB 833ms 17ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 175ms 2.1ms 11.0MB 160ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
crystal 1.cr 178ms 3.9ms 22.2MB 163ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3

nbody

Input: 5000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 3.zig 198ms 1.1ms 1.0MB 190ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 2.zig 280ms 0.5ms 1.0MB 270ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 1.zig 315ms 0.8ms 1.1MB 303ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
crystal 2.cr 343ms 3.1ms 3.3MB 333ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3
crystal 1.cr 347ms 1.5ms 3.3MB 337ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3

Input: 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 3.zig 22ms 0.3ms 1.0MB 10ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 2.zig 30ms 0.1ms 1.0MB 20ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 1.zig 34ms 0.6ms 1.1MB 30ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
crystal 1.cr 37ms 0.6ms 3.3MB 30ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3
crystal 2.cr 38ms 0.9ms 3.3MB 30ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3

nsieve

Input: 12

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 270ms 5.1ms 40.2MB 257ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 2.zig 330ms 3.2ms 6.0MB 320ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
crystal 2.cr 351ms 3.7ms 8.3MB 340ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3
crystal 1.cr 418ms 6.0ms 43.0MB 407ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3

Input: 10

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 52ms 2.0ms 10.9MB 40ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 2.zig 80ms 1.1ms 2.3MB 70ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
crystal 2.cr 87ms 1.6ms 4.5MB 80ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3
crystal 1.cr 92ms 2.2ms 13.1MB 80ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3

pidigits

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
crystal 1.cr 1967ms 53ms 6.3MB 1943ms 13ms crystal 1.16.3
zig 1.zig 2450ms 12ms 2.2MB 2420ms 17ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
crystal 1.cr 446ms 6.4ms 5.0MB 433ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3
zig 1.zig 569ms 4.0ms 1.8MB 560ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

spectral-norm

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 3686ms 3.7ms 1.4MB 3677ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
crystal 1.cr 3757ms 13ms 4.5MB 3747ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 925ms 2.6ms 1.3MB 917ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
crystal 1.cr 948ms 9.2ms 4.4MB 937ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 235ms 0.4ms 1.3MB 230ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
crystal 1.cr 238ms 1.0ms 3.9MB 230ms 0ms crystal 1.16.3