Programming Language and compiler
Benchmarks

Lua VS Python 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
python 1.py 1163ms 3.7ms 96.4MB 1093ms 57ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 1.lua 3518ms 55ms 172.8MB 3373ms 130ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 104.8MB 4943ms 40ms lua 5.4.7
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 41.0MB 4967ms 20ms cpython 3.13.3
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 40.6MB 4747ms 240ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
python 1.py 94ms 1.4ms 68.9MB 67ms 20ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 1.lua 290ms 4.0ms 15.8MB 270ms 10ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 1.py 477ms 5.2ms 11.9MB 453ms 10ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 735ms 1.9ms 12.9MB 720ms 0ms cpython 3.13.3
lua 1.lua 809ms 8.7ms 16.9MB 790ms 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 1.5ms 0.2ms 2.1MB 0ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
lua 1.lua 1.7ms 0.4ms 2.4MB 0ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 1.py 12ms 0.6ms 7.6MB 0ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 14ms 1.0ms 8.6MB 10ms 0ms cpython 3.13.3
python 1.py 29ms 1.3ms 51.6MB 10ms 10ms pypy 3.10.16

merkletrees

Input: 17

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
python 1.py 2205ms 15ms 202.6MB 2087ms 107ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 107.4MB 4943ms 43ms lua 5.4.7
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 149.3MB 4940ms 47ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 93.9MB 4953ms 37ms cpython 3.13.3
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 130.3MB 4937ms 50ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
python 1.py 374ms 1.8ms 105.3MB 317ms 40ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 1.lua 1081ms 4.4ms 31.3MB 1053ms 13ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua 2159ms 20ms 28.8MB 2140ms 7ms lua 5.4.7
python 1.py 2897ms 36ms 37.3MB 2873ms 10ms cpython 3.13.3
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 48.9MB 4940ms 50ms pyston 3.8.12

nbody

Input: 5000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 4.lua 713ms 2.4ms 2.3MB 703ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 2.py 1359ms 3.9ms 58.1MB 1333ms 10ms pypy 3.10.16
python 1.py 2652ms 15ms 57.1MB 2627ms 13ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 4.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.3MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 8.8MB 4990ms 0ms cpython 3.13.3
python 2.py timeout 0.0ms 8.9MB 4990ms 0ms cpython 3.13.3
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 8.3MB 4990ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
python 2.py timeout 0.0ms 8.1MB 4990ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 4.lua 76ms 0.9ms 2.3MB 70ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 2.py 180ms 3.6ms 57.9MB 153ms 10ms pypy 3.10.16
python 1.py 303ms 3.1ms 57.2MB 280ms 10ms pypy 3.10.16
python 1.py 926ms 7.5ms 8.3MB 910ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
lua 4.lua 1142ms 41ms 2.3MB 1133ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 2.py 1300ms 5.2ms 8.3MB 1293ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 2952ms 2.0ms 8.9MB 2940ms 0ms cpython 3.13.3
python 2.py 3262ms 188ms 8.9MB 3250ms 0ms cpython 3.13.3

spectral-norm

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 4063ms 2.9ms 2.5MB 4053ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.5MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.9MB 40ms 7ms cpython 3.13.3
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 95.8MB 763ms 77ms pypy 3.10.16
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.1MB 30ms 10ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 1023ms 1.2ms 2.4MB 1013ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.1MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.5MB 43ms 10ms cpython 3.13.3
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 96.4MB 1267ms 177ms pypy 3.10.16
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 13.7MB 53ms 17ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 262ms 0.6ms 2.3MB 250ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 8-m.py 1935ms 16ms 93.6MB 6317ms 250ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.0MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.3MB 83ms 17ms cpython 3.13.3
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 13.1MB 137ms 30ms pyston 3.8.12