Programming Language and compiler
Benchmarks

Lua VS Python benchmarks

Current benchmark data was generated on Mon May 19 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 1208ms 7.9ms 96.1MB 1143ms 53ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 1.lua 3557ms 39ms 172.9MB 3410ms 133ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 104.9MB 4953ms 37ms lua 5.4.7
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 40.9MB 4963ms 20ms cpython 3.13.3
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 40.5MB 4757ms 230ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
python 1.py 97ms 2.2ms 68.8MB 70ms 13ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 1.lua 292ms 2.5ms 15.8MB 270ms 7ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 1.py 476ms 3.5ms 11.9MB 453ms 10ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 736ms 14ms 12.8MB 723ms 0ms cpython 3.13.3
lua 1.lua 818ms 6.5ms 17.0MB 800ms 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 0.1ms 2.1MB 0ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
lua 1.lua 1.5ms 0.1ms 2.4MB 0ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 1.py 11ms 0.3ms 7.6MB 0ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 13ms 0.5ms 8.8MB 10ms 0ms cpython 3.13.3
python 1.py 29ms 1.2ms 51.7MB 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 2218ms 7.5ms 202.7MB 2107ms 100ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 107.4MB 4950ms 33ms lua 5.4.7
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 149.3MB 4930ms 57ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 94.0MB 4950ms 33ms cpython 3.13.3
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 130.3MB 4933ms 50ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
python 1.py 379ms 3.2ms 104.7MB 323ms 47ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 1.lua 1219ms 43ms 31.1MB 1187ms 17ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua 2203ms 7.2ms 28.6MB 2187ms 7ms lua 5.4.7
python 1.py 3095ms 22ms 37.3MB 3067ms 10ms cpython 3.13.3
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 48.9MB 4950ms 33ms pyston 3.8.12

nbody

Input: 5000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 4.lua 714ms 3.6ms 2.3MB 703ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 2.py 1353ms 3.9ms 58.1MB 1330ms 10ms pypy 3.10.16
python 1.py 2669ms 18ms 57.1MB 2643ms 10ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 4.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.3MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 8.9MB 4990ms 0ms cpython 3.13.3
python 2.py timeout 0.0ms 8.9MB 4987ms 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 4983ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 4.lua 75ms 1.4ms 2.4MB 67ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 2.py 177ms 1.3ms 58.1MB 157ms 10ms pypy 3.10.16
python 1.py 305ms 3.3ms 57.0MB 280ms 10ms pypy 3.10.16
python 1.py 928ms 11ms 8.3MB 917ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
lua 4.lua 1124ms 44ms 2.3MB 1113ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 2.py 1294ms 2.1ms 8.1MB 1280ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 2942ms 8.2ms 8.8MB 2930ms 0ms cpython 3.13.3
python 2.py 3274ms 97ms 8.9MB 3263ms 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 4074ms 26ms 2.5MB 4067ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.4MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.9MB 37ms 10ms cpython 3.13.3
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 95.9MB 810ms 90ms pypy 3.10.16
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.1MB 30ms 13ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 1025ms 6.0ms 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 14.6MB 47ms 10ms cpython 3.13.3
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 96.4MB 1343ms 187ms pypy 3.10.16
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 13.6MB 57ms 10ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 259ms 1.6ms 2.3MB 250ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 8-m.py 1983ms 24ms 93.1MB 6417ms 257ms 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 87ms 23ms cpython 3.13.3
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 13.4MB 140ms 33ms pyston 3.8.12