Programming Language and compiler
Benchmarks

Nim VS Kotlin benchmarks

Current benchmark data was generated on Sun Jul 13 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
kotlin 1.kt 502ms 0.9ms 575.9MB 597ms 100ms kotlin/jvm 21
nim 2.nim 786ms 11ms 34.9MB 770ms 3ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 947ms 6.3ms 35.2MB 923ms 10ms nim/clang 2.2.4
kotlin 1.kt 4076ms 141ms 134.1MB 4270ms 63ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 73ms 0.2ms 5.5MB 60ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 93ms 1.5ms 5.8MB 80ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
kotlin 1.kt 122ms 1.3ms 159.4MB 143ms 30ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1.kt 232ms 38ms 17.6MB 243ms 3ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

coro-prime-sieve

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 2-m.kt 1827ms 163ms 237.7MB 6800ms 107ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1.kt 2186ms 6.6ms 220.6MB 2997ms 70ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 2-m.kt 4215ms 20ms 21.1MB 14100ms 557ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt timeout 0.0ms 17.3MB 5513ms 27ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
nim 1.nim timeout 0.0ms 574.4MB 2647ms 1873ms nim 2.2.4
nim 3.nim timeout 0.0ms 6.6MB 4990ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim timeout 0.0ms 574.8MB 2590ms 1930ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 3.nim timeout 0.0ms 6.9MB 4983ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

Input: 1000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 2-m.kt 247ms 1.2ms 21.4MB 833ms 37ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt 402ms 30ms 17.5MB 410ms 7ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1-m.kt 479ms 3.4ms 75.2MB 1080ms 47ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 2-m.kt 877ms 85ms 99.4MB 3073ms 70ms kotlin/jvm 21
nim 3.nim 903ms 4.5ms 4.0MB 893ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 3.nim 905ms 4.9ms 3.6MB 893ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 4097ms 6.6ms 518.7MB 2123ms 1547ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 4111ms 9.9ms 518.2MB 2133ms 1553ms nim 2.2.4

fasta

Input: 2500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 188ms 2.6ms 1.5MB 177ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 243ms 2.2ms 1.8MB 233ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 537ms 2.6ms 1.8MB 447ms 73ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 560ms 2.7ms 1.5MB 470ms 73ms nim 2.2.4

Input: 250000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 21ms 0.8ms 1.5MB 10ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 27ms 1.0ms 1.8MB 20ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 57ms 0.9ms 1.8MB 40ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 59ms 0.7ms 1.5MB 47ms 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 1.6MB 0ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 1.1ms 0.0ms 1.8MB 0ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
kotlin 1.kt 2.2ms 0.1ms 3.0MB 0ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt 62ms 0.6ms 47.7MB 74ms 18ms kotlin/jvm 21

lru

Input: 1000 1000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 112ms 1.7ms 1.6MB 103ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 114ms 2.9ms 1.4MB 110ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
kotlin 2.kt 166ms 1.3ms 12.4MB 170ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1-m.kt 192ms 1.4ms 95.1MB 327ms 27ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 2-m.kt 201ms 1.3ms 101.4MB 460ms 30ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1.kt 355ms 2.2ms 12.5MB 360ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
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
kotlin 2-m.kt 315ms 3.2ms 213.2MB 557ms 47ms kotlin/jvm 21
nim 2.nim 324ms 2.4ms 1.9MB 317ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 338ms 4.4ms 1.4MB 330ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
kotlin 1.kt 344ms 7.7ms 202.9MB 473ms 37ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 2.kt 477ms 5.7ms 12.4MB 507ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt 1032ms 3.9ms 12.5MB 1060ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
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 48ms 0.2ms 1.5MB 40ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 51ms 1.6ms 1.3MB 40ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
kotlin 2.kt 94ms 0.6ms 12.8MB 87ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt 120ms 1.0ms 12.8MB 120ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1-m.kt 153ms 2.7ms 91.1MB 290ms 30ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 2-m.kt 167ms 13ms 96.2MB 343ms 33ms kotlin/jvm 21
nim 1.nim 476ms 2.4ms 1.3MB 467ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 479ms 9.7ms 1.5MB 470ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

mandelbrot

Input: 5000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 387ms 0.9ms 4.8MB 380ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 576ms 1.6ms 4.5MB 567ms 0ms nim 2.2.4

Input: 1000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 19ms 0.4ms 1.9MB 10ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 27ms 0.2ms 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
kotlin 1.kt 387ms 9.9ms 680.6MB 443ms 93ms kotlin/jvm 21
nim 1.nim 547ms 6.1ms 33.9MB 527ms 3ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 645ms 20ms 34.7MB 623ms 7ms nim/clang 2.2.4
kotlin 1.kt 1895ms 31ms 90.1MB 1967ms 43ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 116ms 3.2ms 9.6MB 103ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 136ms 5.6ms 9.9MB 123ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
kotlin 1-m.kt 155ms 0.4ms 207.1MB 213ms 40ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1.kt 267ms 13ms 25.5MB 270ms 13ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

nbody

Input: 5000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 320ms 1.7ms 1.8MB 310ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 343ms 3.6ms 2.0MB 337ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
kotlin 1n.kt 354ms 5.0ms 3.6MB 343ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt 443ms 0.3ms 49.2MB 487ms 13ms kotlin/jvm 21

Input: 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 35ms 0.8ms 1.8MB 30ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 36ms 0.6ms 2.0MB 30ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
kotlin 1n.kt 39ms 1.6ms 3.6MB 30ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1-m.kt 119ms 1.7ms 49.5MB 170ms 13ms kotlin/jvm 21

nsieve

Input: 12

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 271ms 4.0ms 41.5MB 263ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 322ms 6.8ms 41.8MB 313ms 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 52ms 2.4ms 11.5MB 43ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 66ms 4.2ms 11.8MB 57ms 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 1646ms 10ms 152.3MB 1613ms 20ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 1673ms 4.5ms 151.5MB 1643ms 13ms nim 2.2.4
kotlin 1.kt timeout 0.0ms 173.5MB 5407ms 40ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1n.kt timeout 0.0ms 226.8MB 5060ms 130ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

Input: 250000_in

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 173ms 2.5ms 17.5MB 160ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 177ms 0.6ms 17.4MB 160ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
kotlin 1-m.kt 830ms 6.8ms 134.5MB 1273ms 37ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1n.kt 3212ms 16ms 51.0MB 3280ms 80ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

spectral-norm

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 3589ms 2.6ms 1.6MB 3580ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 3610ms 3.4ms 1.4MB 3600ms 0ms nim 2.2.4

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 899ms 0.6ms 1.5MB 890ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 904ms 3.3ms 1.3MB 893ms 0ms nim 2.2.4

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 226ms 0.2ms 1.5MB 220ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 228ms 1.1ms 1.3MB 220ms 0ms nim 2.2.4