Zig VS Kotlin 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
kotlin 1.kt 513ms 4.4ms 577.8MB 603ms 107ms kotlin/jvm 21
zig 1.zig 1894ms 41ms 49.0MB 1867ms 17ms zig 0.14.0
kotlin 1.kt 4515ms 38ms 146.1MB 4703ms 67ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 1.kt 126ms 1.8ms 161.2MB 150ms 37ms kotlin/jvm 21
zig 1.zig 152ms 2.5ms 7.0MB 140ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
kotlin 1.kt 318ms 32ms 17.9MB 327ms 7ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

edigits

Input: 250001

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 2266ms 7.9ms 2.5MB 2240ms 17ms zig 0.14.0

Input: 100000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 382ms 1.2ms 1.9MB 367ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

fannkuch-redux

Input: 11

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 2-m.zig 631ms 8.0ms 1.4MB 2400ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
zig 3-i.zig 1768ms 2.0ms 1.0MB 1760ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
zig 1.zig 2714ms 7.8ms 1.1MB 2707ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

Input: 10

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 2-m.zig 60ms 1.2ms 1.4MB 200ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
zig 3-i.zig 148ms 1.0ms 1.0MB 140ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
zig 1.zig 229ms 0.7ms 1.0MB 220ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

fasta

Input: 2500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 87ms 0.7ms 1.0MB 80ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

Input: 250000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 11ms 0.8ms 1.0MB 0ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

helloworld

Input: QwQ

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 1.0ms 0.0ms 1.0MB 0ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
kotlin 1.kt 2.1ms 0.1ms 3.1MB 0ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt 67ms 2.3ms 47.7MB 82ms 16ms kotlin/jvm 21

knucleotide

Input: 2500000_in

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1-m.zig 338ms 12ms 65.3MB 910ms 23ms zig 0.14.0
zig 1.zig 506ms 2.3ms 26.2MB 487ms 7ms zig 0.14.0

Input: 250000_in

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1-m.zig 66ms 2.0ms 54.3MB 140ms 27ms zig 0.14.0
zig 1.zig 67ms 2.4ms 15.3MB 53ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

lru

Input: 1000 1000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 34ms 1.8ms 2.8MB 23ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
kotlin 2.kt 171ms 2.7ms 12.4MB 173ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1-m.kt 200ms 3.0ms 96.7MB 333ms 27ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 2-m.kt 212ms 8.2ms 105.3MB 453ms 40ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1.kt 357ms 2.2ms 12.5MB 363ms 3ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

Input: 1000 3000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 93ms 2.6ms 2.8MB 87ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
kotlin 2-m.kt 325ms 2.7ms 215.9MB 557ms 50ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1.kt 344ms 2.7ms 204.8MB 463ms 40ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 2.kt 476ms 6.0ms 12.6MB 507ms 3ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt 1043ms 15ms 12.6MB 1080ms 3ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

Input: 100 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 15ms 0.2ms 1.3MB 10ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
kotlin 2.kt 94ms 0.7ms 12.8MB 87ms 3ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt 122ms 2.7ms 12.9MB 117ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1-m.kt 159ms 1.4ms 92.7MB 320ms 20ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 2-m.kt 167ms 2.2ms 98.3MB 350ms 37ms kotlin/jvm 21

mandelbrot

Input: 5000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 247ms 0.1ms 4.0MB 240ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

Input: 1000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 12ms 0.2ms 1.1MB 10ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

merkletrees

Input: 17

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 1.kt 391ms 4.1ms 682.5MB 453ms 93ms kotlin/jvm 21
zig 1.zig 905ms 67ms 41.0MB 880ms 10ms zig 0.14.0
kotlin 1.kt 2170ms 19ms 88.8MB 2273ms 40ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 1-m.kt 163ms 0.8ms 209.4MB 213ms 50ms kotlin/jvm 21
zig 1.zig 178ms 2.5ms 11.0MB 170ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
kotlin 1.kt 426ms 7.1ms 25.7MB 437ms 10ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

nbody

Input: 5000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 3.zig 198ms 0.4ms 1.0MB 190ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
zig 2.zig 280ms 0.3ms 1.0MB 270ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
zig 1.zig 315ms 0.5ms 1.1MB 307ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
kotlin 1n.kt 352ms 1.7ms 3.5MB 340ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt 448ms 1.3ms 49.3MB 493ms 17ms kotlin/jvm 21

Input: 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 3.zig 22ms 0.2ms 1.0MB 10ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
zig 2.zig 30ms 0.1ms 1.0MB 20ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
zig 1.zig 34ms 0.4ms 1.1MB 30ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
kotlin 1n.kt 39ms 0.9ms 3.5MB 30ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1-m.kt 126ms 3.5ms 49.4MB 173ms 20ms kotlin/jvm 21

nsieve

Input: 12

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 263ms 1.3ms 40.1MB 250ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
zig 2.zig 328ms 2.0ms 6.0MB 320ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

Input: 10

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 50ms 1.1ms 10.8MB 40ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
zig 2.zig 80ms 0.0ms 2.3MB 70ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

pidigits

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 2458ms 14ms 2.2MB 2430ms 13ms zig 0.14.0
kotlin 1.kt 3792ms 49ms 385.9MB 4713ms 107ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1n.kt timeout 0.0ms 27.0MB 4077ms 1520ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 2n.kt timeout 0.0ms 30.4MB 5163ms 130ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 568ms 5.0ms 1.8MB 557ms 0ms zig 0.14.0
kotlin 1-m.kt 992ms 27ms 355.5MB 1823ms 100ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1n.kt timeout 0.0ms 26.6MB 4110ms 1483ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 2n.kt timeout 0.0ms 30.9MB 5130ms 163ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

spectral-norm

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 3690ms 5.3ms 1.4MB 3680ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 923ms 2.2ms 1.3MB 913ms 0ms zig 0.14.0

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 234ms 1.1ms 1.3MB 230ms 0ms zig 0.14.0