Programming Language and compiler
Benchmarks

Lua VS Python benchmarks

Current benchmark data was generated on Fri Aug 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 1165ms 6.5ms 96.8MB 1107ms 47ms pypy 3.11.13
lua 1.lua 3513ms 23ms 173.0MB 3370ms 130ms 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 41.0MB 4967ms 23ms cpython 3.13.5
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 40.5MB 4733ms 253ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
python 1.py 95ms 3.5ms 68.3MB 63ms 17ms pypy 3.11.13
lua 1.lua 290ms 1.7ms 15.9MB 270ms 7ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 1.py 492ms 6.9ms 11.9MB 470ms 10ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 734ms 16ms 12.9MB 723ms 0ms cpython 3.13.5
lua 1.lua 817ms 0.3ms 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 1.4ms 0.1ms 2.4MB 0ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua 1.4ms 0.2ms 2.1MB 0ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 1.py 11ms 0.9ms 7.8MB 0ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 13ms 0.8ms 8.8MB 0ms 0ms cpython 3.13.5
python 1.py 29ms 0.8ms 52.2MB 10ms 10ms pypy 3.11.13

merkletrees

Input: 17

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
python 1.py 2182ms 14ms 204.7MB 2060ms 107ms pypy 3.11.13
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 107.4MB 4947ms 40ms lua 5.4.7
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 149.4MB 4923ms 63ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 94.1MB 4957ms 33ms cpython 3.13.5
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 130.4MB 4937ms 53ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
python 1.py 375ms 1.4ms 105.3MB 317ms 43ms pypy 3.11.13
lua 1.lua 1101ms 8.1ms 31.1MB 1073ms 17ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua 2192ms 63ms 28.8MB 2170ms 10ms lua 5.4.7
python 1.py 3001ms 36ms 37.4MB 2973ms 13ms cpython 3.13.5
python 1.py timeout 0.0ms 48.9MB 4940ms 47ms 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 0.9ms 2.4MB 700ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 2.py 1342ms 2.7ms 60.5MB 1317ms 13ms pypy 3.11.13
python 1.py 2650ms 17ms 57.8MB 2627ms 10ms pypy 3.11.13
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 3.13.5
python 2.py timeout 0.0ms 9.0MB 4990ms 0ms cpython 3.13.5
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 77ms 1.2ms 2.3MB 70ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 2.py 176ms 4.7ms 58.5MB 153ms 10ms pypy 3.11.13
python 1.py 305ms 1.6ms 57.8MB 283ms 7ms pypy 3.11.13
python 1.py 940ms 29ms 8.3MB 927ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
lua 4.lua 1145ms 12ms 2.3MB 1137ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 2.py 1345ms 52ms 8.1MB 1330ms 0ms pyston 3.8.12
python 1.py 2971ms 99ms 8.9MB 2960ms 0ms cpython 3.13.5
python 2.py 2989ms 51ms 9.0MB 2977ms 0ms cpython 3.13.5

spectral-norm

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 4064ms 5.2ms 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 10ms cpython 3.13.5
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 94.2MB 653ms 73ms pypy 3.11.13
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.3MB 40ms 10ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 1018ms 0.4ms 2.4MB 1010ms 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 14.4MB 50ms 7ms cpython 3.13.5
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 96.2MB 1180ms 140ms pypy 3.11.13
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 13.6MB 63ms 13ms pyston 3.8.12

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 258ms 0.6ms 2.3MB 250ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
python 8-m.py 2147ms 28ms 94.2MB 7087ms 240ms pypy 3.11.13
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.1MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 14.3MB 90ms 13ms cpython 3.13.5
python 8.py timeout 0.0ms 13.1MB 133ms 37ms pyston 3.8.12