Javascript VS Lua benchmarks

Current benchmark data was generated on Mon Jun 23 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
javascript 1-m.js 947ms 18ms 176.8MB 1447ms 207ms bun 1.2.17
javascript 1.js 1054ms 6.2ms 453.4MB 980ms 223ms node 24.2.0
lua 1.lua 3539ms 82ms 172.9MB 3403ms 123ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 105.0MB 4947ms 37ms lua 5.4.7

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 1.js 100ms 0.8ms 77.5MB 77ms 27ms bun 1.2.17
javascript 1.js 127ms 1.5ms 81.2MB 130ms 20ms node 24.2.0
lua 1.lua 297ms 5.1ms 15.9MB 270ms 7ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua 823ms 6.8ms 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
javascript 1.js 1629ms 9.3ms 189.9MB 1603ms 103ms node 24.2.0
javascript 1.js 2507ms 85ms 101.4MB 2553ms 67ms bun 1.2.17

Input: 1000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 1.js 158ms 2.0ms 75.4MB 140ms 23ms node 24.2.0
javascript 1.js 200ms 4.1ms 86.8MB 237ms 30ms bun 1.2.17

edigits

Input: 250001

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 1.js 302ms 4.5ms 67.7MB 320ms 23ms node 24.2.0
javascript 1.js 519ms 3.3ms 75.7MB 497ms 20ms bun 1.2.17

Input: 100000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 1.js 136ms 13ms 64.5MB 120ms 17ms node 24.2.0
javascript 1.js 512ms 13ms 65.7MB 487ms 23ms bun 1.2.17

helloworld

Input: QwQ

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 1.3ms 0.1ms 2.4MB 0ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua 1.4ms 0.3ms 2.1MB 0ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
javascript 1.js 13ms 0.5ms 31.3MB 0ms 0ms bun 1.2.17
javascript 1.js 33ms 1.9ms 50.9MB 18ms 8ms node 24.2.0

http-server

Input: 3000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 1-m.bun.js 270ms 14ms 75.3MB 140ms 333ms bun 1.2.17
javascript 1.js 2465ms 105ms 269.7MB 2423ms 1127ms node 24.2.0

Input: 500

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 1.bun.js 104ms 11ms 55.4MB 37ms 83ms bun 1.2.17
javascript 1.js 375ms 26ms 85.9MB 360ms 133ms node 24.2.0

json-serde

Input: sample 5000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 1.js 65ms 1.2ms 62.5MB 40ms 13ms bun 1.2.17
javascript 1.js 104ms 1.9ms 74.8MB 90ms 20ms node 24.2.0

Input: canada 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 1.js 350ms 1.2ms 200.9MB 303ms 87ms bun 1.2.17
javascript 1.js 573ms 4.9ms 254.9MB 590ms 117ms node 24.2.0

lru

Input: 1000 1000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 2.js 305ms 0.7ms 65.3MB 293ms 10ms node 24.2.0
javascript 1.js 565ms 3.2ms 63.6MB 550ms 13ms node 24.2.0
javascript 2.js 669ms 8.0ms 122.9MB 737ms 53ms bun 1.2.17
javascript 1.js 843ms 21ms 106.1MB 907ms 93ms bun 1.2.17

Input: 1000 3000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 2.js 835ms 6.9ms 71.9MB 820ms 17ms node 24.2.0
javascript 1.js 1619ms 16ms 70.0MB 1603ms 13ms node 24.2.0
javascript 2.js 1893ms 6.7ms 123.5MB 2067ms 73ms bun 1.2.17
javascript 1.js 2431ms 36ms 105.9MB 2720ms 160ms bun 1.2.17

Input: 100 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 2.js 163ms 1.1ms 59.8MB 157ms 10ms node 24.2.0
javascript 1.js 166ms 2.3ms 61.0MB 150ms 10ms node 24.2.0
javascript 1.js 327ms 3.4ms 130.8MB 357ms 80ms bun 1.2.17
javascript 2.js 368ms 3.7ms 124.9MB 393ms 60ms bun 1.2.17

merkletrees

Input: 17

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 1-m.js 473ms 10ms 137.8MB 617ms 117ms bun 1.2.17
javascript 1.js 565ms 6.5ms 230.7MB 567ms 110ms node 24.2.0
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 107.4MB 4953ms 33ms lua 5.4.7
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 149.3MB 4937ms 50ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 1.js 116ms 2.9ms 84.8MB 100ms 33ms bun 1.2.17
javascript 1.js 160ms 2.6ms 101.3MB 157ms 40ms node 24.2.0
lua 1.lua 1200ms 56ms 31.1MB 1170ms 17ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua 2310ms 37ms 28.6MB 2290ms 7ms lua 5.4.7

nbody

Input: 5000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 6.js 456ms 0.7ms 59.0MB 450ms 0ms node 24.2.0
javascript 6.js 599ms 2.6ms 44.9MB 603ms 7ms bun 1.2.17
lua 4.lua 715ms 2.7ms 2.4MB 707ms 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
lua 4.lua 75ms 1.4ms 2.3MB 70ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
javascript 6.js 79ms 1.4ms 58.9MB 63ms 10ms node 24.2.0
javascript 6.js 82ms 2.6ms 44.9MB 83ms 10ms bun 1.2.17
lua 4.lua 1160ms 15ms 2.3MB 1153ms 0ms lua 5.4.7

secp256k1

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 1.js 2530ms 12ms 61.9MB 2537ms 10ms node 24.2.0
javascript 1.js 2803ms 2.3ms 82.0MB 2810ms 60ms bun 1.2.17

Input: 500

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 1.js 704ms 57ms 60.1MB 707ms 10ms node 24.2.0
javascript 1.js 729ms 4.2ms 81.9MB 727ms 27ms bun 1.2.17

pidigits

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 3.js 4612ms 24ms 122.4MB 4567ms 43ms node 24.2.0

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 3.js 1016ms 4.2ms 74.0MB 997ms 17ms node 24.2.0

spectral-norm

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
javascript 6-m.js 2170ms 4.5ms 118.6MB 8280ms 63ms node 24.2.0
lua 1.lua 4070ms 8.1ms 2.5MB 4060ms 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
javascript 6-m.js 654ms 2.1ms 118.9MB 2317ms 63ms node 24.2.0
lua 1.lua 1046ms 19ms 2.4MB 1037ms 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
lua 1.lua 258ms 1.6ms 2.3MB 250ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
javascript 6-m.js 271ms 4.8ms 115.9MB 830ms 53ms node 24.2.0
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.0MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7