Zig VS Kotlin 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
kotlin 1.kt 488ms 8.7ms 575.8MB 583ms 93ms kotlin/jvm 21
zig 1.zig 2079ms 56ms 49.0MB 2047ms 17ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 1.kt 3941ms 160ms 145.0MB 4120ms 63ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 1.kt 121ms 2.9ms 159.3MB 143ms 33ms kotlin/jvm 21
zig 1.zig 152ms 1.7ms 7.0MB 140ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 1.kt 210ms 3.5ms 17.7MB 217ms 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 2256ms 12ms 2.5MB 2227ms 17ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 100000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 380ms 2.7ms 1.9MB 363ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

fannkuch-redux

Input: 11

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 2-m.zig 634ms 3.4ms 1.4MB 2393ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 3-i.zig 1791ms 48ms 1.0MB 1780ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 1.zig 2728ms 20ms 1.0MB 2720ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 10

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 2-m.zig 60ms 0.4ms 1.4MB 200ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 3-i.zig 147ms 0.3ms 1.0MB 140ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 1.zig 228ms 1.0ms 1.0MB 220ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

fasta

Input: 2500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 88ms 0.6ms 1.0MB 80ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 250000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 10ms 0.1ms 1.0MB 0ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

helloworld

Input: QwQ

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 0.9ms 0.0ms 1.1MB 0ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 1.kt 2.2ms 0.1ms 3.0MB 0ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt 65ms 2.5ms 47.7MB 76ms 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 321ms 1.7ms 67.1MB 853ms 20ms zig 0.14.1
zig 1.zig 504ms 4.0ms 27.9MB 480ms 13ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 250000_in

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1-m.zig 65ms 0.5ms 54.4MB 127ms 37ms zig 0.14.1
zig 1.zig 67ms 2.4ms 15.4MB 50ms 3ms zig 0.14.1

lru

Input: 1000 1000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 36ms 0.2ms 2.8MB 30ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 2.kt 173ms 14ms 12.4MB 180ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1-m.kt 193ms 3.9ms 94.9MB 320ms 27ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 2-m.kt 207ms 8.3ms 101.0MB 433ms 37ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1.kt 359ms 8.0ms 12.5MB 360ms 0ms 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 90ms 0.4ms 2.8MB 80ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 2-m.kt 318ms 3.4ms 212.1MB 533ms 57ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1.kt 341ms 3.1ms 202.9MB 460ms 37ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 2.kt 475ms 5.0ms 12.4MB 503ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt 1030ms 1.3ms 12.4MB 1057ms 7ms 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 14ms 0.1ms 1.3MB 10ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 2.kt 95ms 0.7ms 12.8MB 90ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt 121ms 0.6ms 12.8MB 117ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1-m.kt 153ms 1.1ms 90.5MB 293ms 23ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 2-m.kt 170ms 13ms 96.5MB 367ms 33ms kotlin/jvm 21

mandelbrot

Input: 5000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 249ms 1.1ms 4.1MB 240ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 1000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 12ms 0.3ms 1.1MB 0ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

merkletrees

Input: 17

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
kotlin 1.kt 389ms 8.7ms 680.7MB 447ms 90ms kotlin/jvm 21
zig 1.zig 877ms 11ms 41.0MB 850ms 13ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 1.kt 1857ms 13ms 89.9MB 1940ms 43ms 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 159ms 6.4ms 207.2MB 217ms 37ms kotlin/jvm 21
zig 1.zig 178ms 3.0ms 11.0MB 163ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 1.kt 258ms 3.7ms 25.7MB 263ms 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 1.0ms 1.0MB 190ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 2.zig 279ms 0.3ms 1.0MB 270ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 1.zig 315ms 1.5ms 1.1MB 307ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 1n.kt 351ms 1.9ms 3.5MB 340ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1.kt 443ms 2.0ms 49.2MB 487ms 17ms kotlin/jvm 21

Input: 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 3.zig 22ms 0.1ms 1.0MB 10ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 2.zig 30ms 0.0ms 1.0MB 20ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 1.zig 33ms 0.1ms 1.1MB 30ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 1n.kt 38ms 0.7ms 3.6MB 30ms 0ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 1-m.kt 118ms 1.1ms 49.4MB 167ms 13ms kotlin/jvm 21

nsieve

Input: 12

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 274ms 3.8ms 40.2MB 257ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 2.zig 325ms 2.5ms 6.0MB 313ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 10

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 50ms 2.9ms 10.9MB 40ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 2.zig 81ms 0.8ms 2.3MB 70ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

pidigits

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 2453ms 3.5ms 2.2MB 2427ms 17ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 1.kt 3717ms 19ms 358.9MB 4580ms 100ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1n.kt timeout 0.0ms 26.9MB 3970ms 1520ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 2n.kt timeout 0.0ms 30.9MB 5110ms 127ms kotlin/native 2.1.20

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 564ms 2.2ms 1.8MB 553ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
kotlin 1-m.kt 983ms 36ms 353.7MB 1773ms 90ms kotlin/jvm 21
kotlin 1n.kt timeout 0.0ms 27.0MB 4003ms 1517ms kotlin/native 2.1.20
kotlin 2n.kt timeout 0.0ms 30.4MB 5110ms 123ms 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 3691ms 6.4ms 1.4MB 3683ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 925ms 2.3ms 1.3MB 913ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 233ms 1.3ms 1.3MB 223ms 0ms zig 0.14.1