Lua VS Java 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
java 2.java 455ms 1.0ms 575.9MB 557ms 83ms openjdk 21
java 2-m.java 469ms 4.8ms 641.2MB 673ms 113ms graal/jvm 17.0.8
java 2.java 473ms 8.9ms 642.1MB 573ms 103ms openjdk 23
java 2.java 1191ms 22ms 1054.4MB 577ms 773ms openjdk/zgc 21
lua 1.lua 3544ms 45ms 172.9MB 3407ms 123ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 104.9MB 4947ms 40ms lua 5.4.7

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
java 2-m.java 125ms 0.6ms 167.1MB 157ms 33ms openjdk 21
java 2.java 129ms 5.0ms 96.0MB 167ms 27ms openjdk 23
java 2-m.java 151ms 3.3ms 227.2MB 220ms 63ms graal/jvm 17.0.8
lua 1.lua 290ms 5.5ms 15.7MB 267ms 10ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
java 2.java 305ms 2.0ms 241.5MB 157ms 197ms openjdk/zgc 21
lua 1.lua 814ms 5.2ms 16.9MB 797ms 0ms lua 5.4.7

helloworld

Input: QwQ

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 1.4ms 0.2ms 2.4MB 0ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua 1.4ms 0.2ms 2.1MB 0ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
java 1.java 62ms 2.2ms 52.9MB 66ms 18ms graal/jvm 17.0.8
java 1.java 67ms 7.0ms 43.8MB 74ms 18ms openjdk 21
java 1.java 71ms 5.3ms 44.7MB 74ms 16ms openjdk 23
java 1.java 193ms 7.2ms 42.8MB 82ms 136ms openjdk/zgc 21

merkletrees

Input: 17

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
java 1.java 401ms 5.9ms 544.3MB 500ms 87ms openjdk 23
java 1.java 403ms 2.1ms 680.0MB 480ms 87ms openjdk 21
java 1-m.java 444ms 62ms 669.4MB 667ms 113ms graal/jvm 17.0.8
java 1.java 1021ms 2.8ms 934.5MB 470ms 697ms openjdk/zgc 21
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 107.4MB 4950ms 33ms lua 5.4.7
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 149.3MB 4933ms 57ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
java 1-m.java 164ms 3.1ms 158.5MB 237ms 43ms openjdk 23
java 1-m.java 170ms 10ms 206.6MB 237ms 47ms openjdk 21
java 1-m.java 221ms 7.1ms 253.9MB 363ms 63ms graal/jvm 17.0.8
java 1.java 411ms 7.8ms 341.9MB 223ms 267ms openjdk/zgc 21
lua 1.lua 1101ms 2.2ms 31.1MB 1073ms 17ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua 2187ms 8.5ms 28.6MB 2170ms 3ms lua 5.4.7

nbody

Input: 5000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
java 1.java 442ms 1.0ms 45.1MB 480ms 17ms openjdk 21
java 1.java 444ms 3.9ms 48.3MB 480ms 23ms openjdk 23
java 1.java 454ms 0.5ms 81.1MB 490ms 30ms graal/jvm 17.0.8
java 1.java 563ms 6.0ms 44.7MB 483ms 133ms openjdk/zgc 21
lua 4.lua 713ms 3.7ms 2.3MB 703ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
java 2.java 1235ms 3.8ms 571.4MB 1363ms 87ms openjdk 21
java 2.java 1310ms 91ms 794.4MB 1433ms 93ms openjdk 23
java 2.java 3270ms 60ms 2461.0MB 1670ms 1817ms openjdk/zgc 21
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 74ms 0.9ms 2.3MB 67ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
java 1.java 116ms 4.0ms 45.4MB 143ms 23ms openjdk 21
java 1.java 119ms 2.3ms 81.5MB 150ms 27ms graal/jvm 17.0.8
java 1.java 120ms 2.0ms 47.9MB 157ms 13ms openjdk 23
java 1.java 240ms 5.7ms 44.7MB 153ms 140ms openjdk/zgc 21
java 2-m.java 294ms 9.4ms 366.4MB 437ms 50ms openjdk 21
java 2-m.java 317ms 4.3ms 397.4MB 450ms 67ms openjdk 23
java 2.java 674ms 5.7ms 533.2MB 460ms 400ms openjdk/zgc 21
lua 4.lua 1154ms 10ms 2.3MB 1143ms 0ms lua 5.4.7

spectral-norm

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
java 2-m.java 1988ms 6.6ms 47.8MB 7613ms 23ms openjdk 21
java 2-m.java 1996ms 1.7ms 48.5MB 7643ms 30ms openjdk 23
java 2-m.java 2127ms 4.4ms 45.5MB 7673ms 153ms openjdk/zgc 21
java 2-m.java 2508ms 27ms 94.1MB 9400ms 37ms graal/jvm 17.0.8
lua 1.lua 4063ms 4.0ms 2.5MB 4053ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.5MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
java 2-m.java 602ms 2.3ms 47.5MB 2150ms 17ms openjdk 21
java 2-m.java 612ms 9.6ms 48.6MB 2137ms 20ms openjdk 23
java 2-m.java 737ms 8.8ms 45.3MB 2157ms 143ms openjdk/zgc 21
java 2-m.java 761ms 18ms 94.5MB 2673ms 37ms graal/jvm 17.0.8
lua 1.lua 1029ms 1.6ms 2.4MB 1020ms 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
java 2-m.java 253ms 12ms 47.6MB 770ms 17ms openjdk 21
java 2-m.java 255ms 4.3ms 48.5MB 763ms 20ms openjdk 23
lua 1.lua 257ms 0.3ms 2.3MB 250ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
java 2-m.java 328ms 5.5ms 93.3MB 1020ms 40ms graal/jvm 17.0.8
java 2-m.java 381ms 12ms 45.7MB 770ms 147ms openjdk/zgc 21
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.1MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7