Lua versus Node js fastest performance Always look at the source code. If the fastest programs are hand-written vector instructions, does the host language matter? You might be more interested in the less optimised programs — more seconds, less gz source code. fannkuch-redux source secs mem gz cpu secs Node js #5 11.08 81,124 1313 43.87 Lua 682.73 10,804 462 682.65 n-body source secs mem gz cpu secs Node js #6 8.41 45,908 1268 9.39 Lua #2 229.78 10,808 1193 229.75 Lua #4 232.46 10,808 1305 232.43 Lua 254.76 10,808 1201 254.73 spectral-norm source secs mem gz cpu secs Node js #7 5.36 46,704 414 5.37 Node js 5.44 47,212 319 5.45 Node js #6 1.66 88,700 999 6.10 Lua 80.44 10,812 329 80.43 mandelbrot source secs mem gz cpu secs Node js #3 4.03 118,432 1122 15.92 Node js #2 28.20 53,644 416 28.23 Node js 130.80 49,372 373 130.71 Lua 248.57 10,804 359 248.45 Lua #3 248.71 10,804 358 248.58 Lua #2 278.69 10,804 367 278.60 Lua #6 83.70 282,188 623 291.04 pidigits source secs mem gz cpu secs Node js #4 1.26 49,328 481 1.28 Node js #2 12.95 78,356 397 12.97 Node js #3 13.09 78,112 424 13.11 Lua Failed Lua #5 Failed Lua #7 Failed regex-redux source secs mem gz cpu secs Node js #3 4.51 768,724 668 5.58 Node js #4 5.76 991,704 463 5.93 Lua Failed fasta source secs mem gz cpu secs Node js #5 2.20 94,408 2047 6.32 Lua #2 26.26 10,804 1061 26.26 Lua #3 26.28 10,804 1061 26.27 Node js 33.14 54,432 809 33.43 k-nucleotide source secs mem gz cpu secs Node js #3 15.72 416,500 1812 43.32 Lua #2 113.00 596,368 613 112.94 Node js #2 37.55 486,856 935 116.51 Node js 40.21 518,808 1008 117.96 reverse-complement source secs mem gz cpu secs Node js #2 15.94 731,396 1221 16.58 Lua #2 42.06 2,654,608 553 42.05 Lua #5 43.98 2,169,452 719 43.97 Lua #4 53.18 1,029,636 594 53.12 Node js #7 Bad Output binary-trees source secs mem gz cpu secs Node js 6.37 1,295,776 711 19.51 Node js #6 8.22 1,257,276 744 24.87 Node js #7 33.78 1,135,992 451 38.12 Lua #2 142.37 963,576 412 142.35 Lua #3 83.64 927,420 684 166.50 Lua #4 49.08 927,412 664 180.68 Lua Lua 5.4.4 Copyright (C) 1994-2022 Lua.org, PUC-Rio Node js build 19.0.1+10-21 all Lua programs & measurements all Node js programs & measurements