Kotlin VS Zig 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
kotlin 1.kt 502ms 3.0ms 581.8MB 603ms 93ms kotlin/jvm 21
zig 1.zig 1880ms 29ms 49.0MB 1853ms 13ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 1.kt 4205ms 55ms 144.8MB 4410ms 63ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 1.kt 121ms 3.5ms 163.1MB 150ms 30ms kotlin/jvm 21
zig 1.zig 152ms 0.9ms 7.0MB 140ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 1.kt 219ms 14ms 17.7MB 223ms 7ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

coro-prime-sieve

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 2-m.kt 1914ms 60ms 234.2MB 7147ms 110ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1.kt 2192ms 8.0ms 218.7MB 3023ms 70ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 2-m.kt 4300ms 30ms 21.1MB 14380ms 537ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt timeout 0.0ms 17.4MB 5517ms 30ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

Input: 1000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 2-m.kt 249ms 2.2ms 21.4MB 840ms 40ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt 389ms 6.7ms 17.4MB 397ms 7ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1-m.kt 482ms 16ms 75.4MB 1090ms 40ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 2-m.kt 814ms 72ms 95.6MB 2813ms 77ms kotlin/jvm 21

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
kotlin 1.kt 2.1ms 0.1ms 3.0MB 0ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1-m.kt 62ms 0.8ms 47.8MB 78ms 18ms kotlin/jvm 21

http-server

Input: 3000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 2-m.kt 4779ms 156ms 415.1MB 14780ms 2513ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1.kt timeout 0.0ms 397.0MB 16267ms 2767ms kotlin/jvm 21

Input: 500

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 1-m.kt 2041ms 202ms 241.1MB 5747ms 710ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 2-m.kt 2177ms 125ms 242.9MB 5933ms 677ms kotlin/jvm 21

json-serde

Input: sample 5000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 1-m.kt 766ms 91ms 171.9MB 2060ms 83ms kotlin/jvm 21

Input: canada 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 1-m.kt 1844ms 20ms 667.3MB 4333ms 157ms kotlin/jvm 21

lru

Input: 1000 1000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 35ms 2.2ms 2.8MB 27ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 2.kt 166ms 1.9ms 12.4MB 167ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1-m.kt 197ms 7.4ms 94.7MB 323ms 30ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 2-m.kt 201ms 1.6ms 102.7MB 457ms 37ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1.kt 375ms 17ms 12.4MB 380ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

Input: 1000 3000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 92ms 1.2ms 2.8MB 80ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 2-m.kt 317ms 2.5ms 210.7MB 540ms 50ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1.kt 341ms 2.0ms 203.0MB 457ms 40ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 2.kt 475ms 2.5ms 12.5MB 503ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt 1046ms 1.8ms 12.5MB 1073ms 3ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

Input: 100 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 16ms 1.4ms 1.3MB 10ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 2.kt 95ms 0.1ms 12.8MB 87ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt 122ms 1.1ms 12.8MB 117ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1-m.kt 153ms 4.0ms 92.4MB 293ms 27ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 2-m.kt 170ms 16ms 95.9MB 367ms 37ms kotlin/jvm 21

merkletrees

Input: 17

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 1.kt 394ms 11ms 680.4MB 447ms 93ms kotlin/jvm 21
zig 1.zig 913ms 47ms 41.0MB 887ms 10ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 1.kt 1937ms 26ms 90.4MB 2023ms 40ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 1-m.kt 159ms 3.2ms 207.4MB 210ms 43ms kotlin/jvm 21
zig 1.zig 178ms 4.2ms 11.0MB 163ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 1.kt 288ms 11ms 25.8MB 290ms 10ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

nbody

Input: 5000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 3.zig 198ms 0.3ms 1.0MB 190ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 2.zig 281ms 1.9ms 1.0MB 270ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 1.zig 317ms 0.8ms 1.1MB 310ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 1n.kt 354ms 2.9ms 3.6MB 343ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt 444ms 1.3ms 49.7MB 487ms 20ms kotlin/jvm 21

Input: 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 3.zig 22ms 0.6ms 1.3MB 13ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 2.zig 30ms 0.1ms 1.0MB 20ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 1.zig 33ms 0.1ms 1.1MB 27ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 1n.kt 40ms 1.0ms 3.5MB 30ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1-m.kt 121ms 1.7ms 49.7MB 167ms 17ms kotlin/jvm 21

pidigits

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 2452ms 13ms 2.2MB 2420ms 13ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 1.kt 3774ms 15ms 353.5MB 4633ms 110ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1n.kt timeout 0.0ms 26.6MB 4053ms 1487ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 2n.kt timeout 0.0ms 30.6MB 5113ms 140ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 565ms 2.4ms 1.8MB 553ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 1-m.kt 1024ms 7.6ms 352.8MB 1743ms 87ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1n.kt timeout 0.0ms 26.9MB 4010ms 1517ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 2n.kt timeout 0.0ms 30.7MB 5123ms 140ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

regex-redux

Input: 2500000_in

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 1.kt timeout 0.0ms 173.5MB 5417ms 50ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1n.kt timeout 0.0ms 226.8MB 5067ms 120ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

Input: 250000_in

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 1-m.kt 828ms 9.1ms 134.4MB 1267ms 40ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1n.kt 3234ms 34ms 51.1MB 3313ms 80ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

secp256k1

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 1.kt 3088ms 35ms 232.4MB 4080ms 73ms kotlin/jvm 21

Input: 500

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 1-m.kt 982ms 20ms 231.5MB 1887ms 53ms kotlin/jvm 21