Programming Language and compiler
Benchmarks

Nim VS C benchmarks

Current benchmark data was generated on Tue Jul 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
nim 2.nim 819ms 29ms 34.4MB 800ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 968ms 6.2ms 35.2MB 950ms 3ms nim/clang 2.2.4

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 77ms 2.5ms 5.5MB 70ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 93ms 2.5ms 5.8MB 80ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

coro-prime-sieve

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim timeout 0.0ms 572.1MB 2667ms 1857ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim timeout 0.0ms 574.6MB 2610ms 1913ms nim/clang 2.2.4

Input: 1000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 4108ms 3.9ms 518.6MB 2127ms 1553ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 4147ms 34ms 519.4MB 2150ms 1567ms nim 2.2.4

fasta

Input: 2500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 189ms 1.3ms 1.5MB 180ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 242ms 1.4ms 1.8MB 230ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 539ms 0.9ms 1.8MB 447ms 80ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 562ms 2.0ms 1.5MB 467ms 77ms nim 2.2.4

Input: 250000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 21ms 1.0ms 1.5MB 10ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 26ms 0.3ms 1.6MB 20ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 56ms 0.7ms 1.9MB 40ms 7ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 58ms 0.5ms 1.5MB 43ms 0ms nim 2.2.4

helloworld

Input: QwQ

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 1.0ms 0.0ms 1.5MB 0ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 1.1ms 0.0ms 1.8MB 0ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
c 1.c 1.2ms 0.0ms 2.1MB 0ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 1.c 1.3ms 0.1ms 2.1MB 0ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 1.c 1.3ms 0.2ms 1.3MB 0ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1

lru

Input: 1000 1000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 111ms 2.3ms 1.9MB 103ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 114ms 1.1ms 1.6MB 110ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim timeout 0.0ms 1.3MB 4990ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim timeout 0.0ms 1.5MB 4990ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

Input: 1000 3000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 326ms 1.8ms 1.6MB 317ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 335ms 2.3ms 1.6MB 327ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim timeout 0.0ms 1.3MB 4990ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim timeout 0.0ms 1.5MB 4990ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

Input: 100 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 49ms 0.7ms 1.5MB 40ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 51ms 2.1ms 1.5MB 43ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 477ms 2.9ms 1.3MB 470ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 486ms 13ms 1.5MB 477ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

mandelbrot

Input: 5000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 1-mffi.c 231ms 18ms 7.6MB 853ms 10ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 1-mffi.c 264ms 0.4ms 6.6MB 820ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 1-mffi.c 331ms 2.3ms 6.0MB 320ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 1-ffi.c 332ms 1.4ms 6.1MB 320ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
nim 1.nim 387ms 1.2ms 4.8MB 380ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
c 1-ffi.c 455ms 3.6ms 6.5MB 443ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 1-ffi.c 542ms 0.4ms 6.8MB 530ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
nim 1.nim 578ms 3.9ms 4.5MB 567ms 0ms nim 2.2.4

Input: 1000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 1-mffi.c 16ms 0.8ms 4.5MB 40ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 1-ffi.c 16ms 0.2ms 3.0MB 10ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 1-mffi.c 16ms 0.2ms 3.0MB 10ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 1-mffi.c 18ms 0.4ms 3.6MB 43ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
nim 1.nim 19ms 0.4ms 1.9MB 10ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
c 1-ffi.c 24ms 5.3ms 3.6MB 13ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 1-ffi.c 26ms 0.9ms 3.9MB 20ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
nim 1.nim 26ms 0.6ms 1.6MB 20ms 0ms nim 2.2.4

merkletrees

Input: 17

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 550ms 7.5ms 34.9MB 533ms 7ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 626ms 13ms 35.2MB 607ms 3ms nim/clang 2.2.4

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 117ms 1.4ms 9.6MB 107ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 133ms 1.2ms 9.9MB 120ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

nbody

Input: 5000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 8-i.c 269ms 3.0ms 1.5MB 260ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 8-i.c 300ms 0.9ms 2.1MB 290ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 2.c 309ms 1.8ms 2.3MB 300ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 2.c 313ms 2.3ms 1.5MB 300ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 5.c 313ms 0.7ms 2.3MB 300ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 5.c 315ms 0.5ms 1.5MB 307ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 5.c 317ms 2.1ms 2.1MB 310ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 2.c 318ms 2.8ms 2.1MB 310ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
nim 2.nim 319ms 1.6ms 1.8MB 310ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
c 8-i.c 337ms 0.8ms 2.3MB 330ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
nim 2.nim 341ms 1.3ms 2.0MB 330ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

Input: 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 8-i.c 29ms 0.5ms 1.5MB 20ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 8-i.c 33ms 0.5ms 2.1MB 27ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 2.c 33ms 0.3ms 1.5MB 30ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 2.c 34ms 0.5ms 2.3MB 23ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 5.c 34ms 0.6ms 2.3MB 30ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 5.c 34ms 0.1ms 1.5MB 30ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 2.c 34ms 0.9ms 2.1MB 30ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 5.c 35ms 0.9ms 2.1MB 30ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
nim 2.nim 35ms 0.5ms 1.8MB 30ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
c 8-i.c 36ms 0.4ms 2.3MB 30ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
nim 2.nim 37ms 0.7ms 2.0MB 30ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

nsieve

Input: 12

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 1.c 280ms 23ms 41.1MB 263ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
nim 1.nim 281ms 9.2ms 41.5MB 270ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
c 1.c 300ms 13ms 40.3MB 283ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
c 1.c 311ms 7.1ms 40.8MB 293ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
nim 1.nim 314ms 3.5ms 41.8MB 303ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

Input: 10

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 51ms 1.7ms 11.5MB 40ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
c 1.c 52ms 3.9ms 11.8MB 43ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 1.c 53ms 3.3ms 11.7MB 43ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 1.c 58ms 2.4ms 11.0MB 50ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.1
nim 1.nim 64ms 3.6ms 11.8MB 53ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

regex-redux

Input: 2500000_in

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 1641ms 6.1ms 151.9MB 1607ms 20ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 1674ms 9.9ms 152.1MB 1640ms 20ms nim 2.2.4

Input: 250000_in

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 173ms 1.8ms 16.8MB 160ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 177ms 3.9ms 16.5MB 163ms 0ms nim 2.2.4

spectral-norm

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 3-m.c 737ms 1.3ms 2.0MB 2893ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 6-im.c 953ms 1.8ms 2.0MB 3750ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 4-m.c 988ms 1.5ms 2.0MB 3890ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 6-im.c 1003ms 2.1ms 3.3MB 3940ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 4-m.c 1120ms 3.0ms 3.3MB 4407ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 5-im.c 1161ms 30ms 2.0MB 4523ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 5-im.c 1334ms 14ms 3.3MB 5230ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 3-m.c 1836ms 7.3ms 3.3MB 7223ms 7ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
nim 1.nim 3588ms 2.7ms 1.6MB 3580ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 3609ms 14ms 1.4MB 3603ms 0ms nim 2.2.4

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 3-m.c 194ms 0.6ms 2.0MB 737ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 6-im.c 245ms 0.6ms 2.0MB 940ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 6-im.c 258ms 0.7ms 3.3MB 990ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 4-m.c 258ms 0.4ms 2.0MB 997ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 4-m.c 287ms 0.2ms 3.3MB 1103ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 5-im.c 295ms 3.4ms 2.0MB 1137ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 5-im.c 342ms 1.7ms 3.3MB 1310ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 3-m.c 464ms 1.1ms 3.3MB 1803ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
nim 1.nim 899ms 0.7ms 1.5MB 890ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 904ms 2.9ms 1.3MB 893ms 0ms nim 2.2.4

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 3-m.c 56ms 0.8ms 2.0MB 197ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 6-im.c 68ms 0.4ms 2.3MB 247ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 6-im.c 71ms 0.2ms 3.4MB 250ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 4-m.c 72ms 0.5ms 2.0MB 260ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 4-m.c 78ms 0.6ms 3.3MB 280ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 5-im.c 80ms 0.4ms 2.0MB 293ms 0ms gcc 15.1.0
c 5-im.c 93ms 1.9ms 3.3MB 333ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 3-m.c 123ms 0.4ms 3.3MB 453ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
nim 1.nim 226ms 0.3ms 1.5MB 220ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 229ms 0.9ms 1.3MB 220ms 0ms nim 2.2.4