Programming Language and compiler
Benchmarks

Results for 38 of 40 languages from this run on actest1.

Unavailable in this run: Hack, Lisp. Follow the run link for failure details.

Zig VS Nim benchmarks

Current benchmark data was generated on Sun Sep 27 2026, full log can be found HERE

CONTRIBUTIONS are WELCOME!

[x86_64][4 cores] Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3687U CPU @ 2.10GHz (Model 58)

* -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 1224ms 7.0ms 35.9MB 1200ms 7ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 1502ms 17ms 35.0MB 1483ms 3ms nim/clang 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 2945ms 28ms 49.1MB 2920ms 7ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 2.nim 117ms 20ms 7.3MB 95ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 124ms 5.3ms 5.9MB 110ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 280ms 53ms 7.1MB 240ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

edigits

Input: 250001

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 5068ms 18ms 2.4MB 5030ms 20ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 100000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 841ms 12ms 2.0MB 823ms 3ms 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 833ms 6.5ms 1.5MB 3140ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 3-i.zig 1413ms 43ms 1.1MB 1400ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 1.zig 2763ms 12ms 1.1MB 2753ms 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 77ms 2.6ms 1.5MB 243ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 3-i.zig 124ms 4.7ms 1.1MB 113ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 1.zig 239ms 3.8ms 1.1MB 227ms 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 138ms 0.5ms 1.1MB 127ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
nim 2.nim 252ms 0.3ms 1.4MB 240ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 252ms 8.0ms 2.0MB 233ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 606ms 6.1ms 1.3MB 500ms 90ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 644ms 18ms 2.1MB 523ms 107ms nim 2.2.4

Input: 250000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 17ms 1.2ms 1.1MB 10ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
nim 2.nim 29ms 2.1ms 1.4MB 20ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 31ms 3.8ms 2.1MB 23ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 66ms 1.5ms 2.1MB 50ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 76ms 15ms 1.3MB 57ms 7ms nim/clang 2.2.4

helloworld

Input: QwQ

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 1.3ms 0.5ms 1.1MB 0ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
nim 1.nim 1.5ms 0.1ms 1.3MB 0ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 2.5ms 0.5ms 2.1MB 0ms 0ms nim 2.2.4

knucleotide

Input: 2500000_in

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1-m.zig 798ms 15ms 66.9MB 2580ms 27ms zig 0.14.1
zig 1.zig 1043ms 10ms 26.3MB 1013ms 7ms 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 117ms 4.2ms 55.0MB 293ms 43ms zig 0.14.1
zig 1.zig 130ms 6.2ms 15.5MB 107ms 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 51ms 1.5ms 2.7MB 40ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
nim 2.nim 152ms 2.4ms 1.4MB 143ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 154ms 7.7ms 3.5MB 143ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 10570ms 78ms 2.1MB 10560ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 14012ms 275ms 1.4MB 13997ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

Input: 1000 3000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 143ms 5.9ms 2.7MB 133ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
nim 2.nim 446ms 5.0ms 3.5MB 437ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 449ms 4.0ms 1.3MB 437ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 31568ms 105ms 2.1MB 31553ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 42854ms 1115ms 1.4MB 42840ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

Input: 100 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 26ms 0.9ms 1.1MB 13ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
nim 2.nim 67ms 0.6ms 1.4MB 60ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 2.nim 68ms 2.3ms 2.1MB 60ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 535ms 9.4ms 2.1MB 523ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 689ms 8.3ms 1.3MB 677ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

mandelbrot

Input: 5000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 350ms 2.1ms 4.2MB 340ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
nim 1.nim 557ms 8.5ms 4.5MB 543ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 1366ms 3.0ms 6.4MB 1350ms 0ms nim 2.2.4

Input: 1000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 17ms 0.6ms 1.1MB 10ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
nim 1.nim 26ms 0.4ms 1.4MB 20ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 62ms 2.4ms 3.7MB 50ms 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 790ms 8.4ms 36.7MB 777ms 3ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 970ms 6.2ms 35.1MB 950ms 7ms nim/clang 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 1494ms 63ms 41.2MB 1463ms 13ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 15

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 143ms 4.6ms 11.5MB 123ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 183ms 6.8ms 9.5MB 170ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 267ms 4.3ms 11.0MB 253ms 3ms zig 0.14.1

nbody

Input: 5000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 3.zig 379ms 3.1ms 1.1MB 370ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 2.zig 470ms 2.9ms 1.1MB 457ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
nim 2.nim 494ms 1.4ms 2.1MB 480ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 510ms 3.2ms 1.1MB 500ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
nim 2.nim 542ms 9.6ms 1.4MB 530ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

Input: 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 3.zig 42ms 3.2ms 1.1MB 33ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
zig 2.zig 50ms 2.1ms 1.1MB 40ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
nim 2.nim 55ms 2.9ms 2.1MB 47ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 56ms 2.3ms 1.1MB 47ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
nim 2.nim 58ms 1.0ms 1.3MB 50ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

nsieve

Input: 12

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 2.zig 552ms 15ms 6.0MB 543ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
nim 1.nim 954ms 6.1ms 42.7MB 937ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 958ms 9.6ms 40.1MB 940ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
nim 1.nim 965ms 5.0ms 40.8MB 943ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

Input: 10

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 2.zig 107ms 1.3ms 2.2MB 100ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
nim 1.nim 168ms 0.9ms 12.9MB 160ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 170ms 4.1ms 11.0MB 160ms 0ms zig 0.14.1
nim 1.nim 175ms 5.7ms 11.8MB 163ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4

pidigits

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 3461ms 6.4ms 2.3MB 3433ms 13ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
zig 1.zig 854ms 121ms 1.9MB 837ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

spectral-norm

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 11029ms 35ms 1.3MB 11017ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 11039ms 7.6ms 3.4MB 11027ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 11057ms 6.2ms 1.1MB 11043ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 2764ms 2.5ms 1.4MB 2753ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 2767ms 4.2ms 2.1MB 2753ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 2773ms 1.4ms 1.1MB 2757ms 0ms zig 0.14.1

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 695ms 0.3ms 1.3MB 683ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.4
nim 1.nim 696ms 2.1ms 2.1MB 687ms 0ms nim 2.2.4
zig 1.zig 697ms 1.0ms 1.1MB 690ms 0ms zig 0.14.1