Lua VS Ruby benchmarks

Current benchmark data was generated on Sun Jun 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
lua 1.lua 3411ms 55ms 172.9MB 3287ms 110ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
ruby 1-m.rb 4549ms 73ms 838.0MB 6403ms 490ms truffleruby 24.2.1
ruby 1.rb 4697ms 113ms 110.0MB 4607ms 77ms ruby/yjit 3.4.4
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 104.9MB 4947ms 37ms lua 5.4.7
ruby 1.rb timeout 0.0ms 70.4MB 4953ms 37ms ruby 3.4.4

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 287ms 0.8ms 15.8MB 267ms 7ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
ruby 1.rb 489ms 7.3ms 20.3MB 463ms 10ms ruby/yjit 3.4.4
ruby 1-m.rb 502ms 12ms 405.6MB 983ms 153ms truffleruby 24.2.1
lua 1.lua 818ms 12ms 16.9MB 803ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
ruby 1.rb 948ms 7.8ms 19.5MB 927ms 10ms ruby 3.4.4

helloworld

Input: QwQ

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 1.3ms 0.1ms 2.1MB 0ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
lua 1.lua 1.4ms 0.2ms 2.4MB 0ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
ruby 1.rb 34ms 0.5ms 141.5MB 10ms 26ms truffleruby 24.2.1
ruby 1.rb 50ms 1.4ms 12.9MB 38ms 2ms ruby/yjit 3.4.4
ruby 1.rb 51ms 1.7ms 12.8MB 36ms 2ms ruby 3.4.4

merkletrees

Input: 17

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
ruby 1-m.rb 4042ms 349ms 544.7MB 10327ms 353ms truffleruby 24.2.1
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 107.4MB 4947ms 37ms lua 5.4.7
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 149.3MB 4927ms 57ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
ruby 1.rb timeout 0.0ms 93.5MB 4940ms 47ms ruby 3.4.4
ruby 1.rb timeout 0.0ms 97.4MB 4940ms 47ms ruby/yjit 3.4.4

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 1103ms 2.6ms 31.0MB 1073ms 17ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
ruby 1-m.rb 2018ms 52ms 569.1MB 5267ms 243ms truffleruby 24.2.1
lua 1.lua 2131ms 17ms 28.6MB 2113ms 7ms lua 5.4.7
ruby 1.rb 3259ms 25ms 38.3MB 3220ms 20ms ruby/yjit 3.4.4
ruby 1.rb 4347ms 35ms 37.6MB 4310ms 20ms ruby 3.4.4

nbody

Input: 5000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 4.lua 713ms 2.3ms 2.3MB 707ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
ruby 2.rb 823ms 8.8ms 310.2MB 1070ms 110ms truffleruby 24.2.1
lua 4.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.3MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
ruby 2.rb timeout 0.0ms 12.8MB 4983ms 3ms ruby 3.4.4
ruby 2.rb timeout 0.0ms 13.5MB 4983ms 3ms ruby/yjit 3.4.4

Input: 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 4.lua 75ms 0.3ms 2.3MB 70ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
ruby 2-m.rb 323ms 5.2ms 325.5MB 593ms 110ms truffleruby 24.2.1
ruby 2.rb 1025ms 6.4ms 13.5MB 1010ms 3ms ruby/yjit 3.4.4
lua 4.lua 1123ms 35ms 2.3MB 1117ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
ruby 2.rb 2919ms 94ms 12.8MB 2903ms 3ms ruby 3.4.4

spectral-norm

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 4062ms 9.7ms 2.5MB 4053ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.5MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
ruby 4.rb timeout 0.0ms 12.9MB 4983ms 3ms ruby 3.4.4
ruby 4.rb timeout 0.0ms 13.5MB 4980ms 3ms ruby/yjit 3.4.4
ruby 4.rb timeout 0.0ms 436.2MB 5167ms 233ms truffleruby 24.2.1

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 1019ms 1.0ms 2.4MB 1010ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
ruby 4.rb 4820ms 15ms 423.5MB 5103ms 203ms truffleruby 24.2.1
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.1MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
ruby 4.rb timeout 0.0ms 12.9MB 4987ms 3ms ruby 3.4.4
ruby 4.rb timeout 0.0ms 13.5MB 4980ms 0ms ruby/yjit 3.4.4

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
lua 1.lua 259ms 2.2ms 2.3MB 250ms 0ms luajit 2.1.0-beta3
ruby 4.rb 1453ms 19ms 405.2MB 1797ms 150ms truffleruby 24.2.1
lua 1.lua timeout 0.0ms 2.0MB 4990ms 0ms lua 5.4.7
ruby 4.rb timeout 0.0ms 12.9MB 4983ms 7ms ruby 3.4.4
ruby 4.rb timeout 0.0ms 13.6MB 4980ms 7ms ruby/yjit 3.4.4