Programming Language and compiler
Benchmarks

Lua VS Python benchmarks

Current benchmark data was generated on Mon Apr 14 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 1213ms 9.6ms 96.3MB 1153ms 47ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 1.lua 3698ms 5.1ms 172.9MB 3550ms 133ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 105.0MB 4950ms 37ms lua 5.4.7
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 40.9MB 4967ms 17ms cpython 3.13.3
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 40.5MB 4760ms 227ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
python 1.py 97ms 0.7ms 68.7MB 70ms 20ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 1.lua 305ms 9.6ms 15.8MB 283ms 10ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 1.py 477ms 2.7ms 11.9MB 450ms 10ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 732ms 10.0ms 12.8MB 720ms 0ms cpython 3.13.3
lua 1.lua 819ms 2.0ms 16.9MB 803ms 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 0.3ms 2.4MB 0ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 1.py 11ms 0.9ms 7.8MB 0ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 14ms 1.3ms 8.6MB 10ms 0ms cpython 3.13.3
python 1.py 28ms 0.4ms 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 2227ms 9.2ms 202.8MB 2113ms 100ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 107.4MB 4947ms 37ms lua 5.4.7
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 149.3MB 4937ms 50ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 94.0MB 4960ms 27ms cpython 3.13.3
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 130.4MB 4937ms 47ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
python 1.py 384ms 2.6ms 105.2MB 327ms 43ms pypy 3.10.16
lua 1.lua 1626ms 22ms 31.1MB 1600ms 13ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua 2403ms 68ms 28.8MB 2380ms 10ms lua 5.4.7
python 1.py 3481ms 73ms 37.3MB 3450ms 20ms cpython 3.13.3
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 48.9MB 4957ms 30ms pyston 3.8.12

nbody

Input: 5000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 4.lua 711ms 0.5ms 2.4MB 700ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 2.py 1350ms 3.5ms 57.9MB 1327ms 10ms pypy 3.10.16
python 1.py 2654ms 20ms 57.2MB 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 8.9MB 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 75ms 2.0ms 2.3MB 70ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 2.py 177ms 2.0ms 57.9MB 157ms 10ms pypy 3.10.16
python 1.py 309ms 11ms 57.1MB 287ms 7ms pypy 3.10.16
python 1.py 1009ms 134ms 8.3MB 997ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
lua 4.lua 1133ms 38ms 2.3MB 1123ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 2.py 1304ms 5.0ms 8.3MB 1293ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 2984ms 72ms 8.8MB 2970ms 0ms cpython 3.13.3
python 2.py 3398ms 9.8ms 8.9MB 3387ms 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 4064ms 3.3ms 2.5MB 4053ms 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 14.8MB 40ms 7ms cpython 3.13.3
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 96.8MB 803ms 73ms pypy 3.10.16
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.1MB 33ms 10ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 1022ms 2.6ms 2.4MB 1013ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.3MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.6MB 50ms 10ms cpython 3.13.3
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 96.2MB 1303ms 180ms pypy 3.10.16
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 13.7MB 57ms 20ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 260ms 3.0ms 2.3MB 250ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 8-m.py 1955ms 10ms 93.2MB 6330ms 253ms 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 90ms 13ms cpython 3.13.3
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 13.1MB 127ms 37ms pyston 3.8.12