Lua versus Node js fastest programs Always look at the source code. These are only the fastest programs. Look at the other programs. They may seem more-like a fair comparison to you. regex-redux source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lua 4.36 339,520 482 4.43 0% 0% 1% 100% Node js 9.53 756,856 668 12.74 71% 24% 13% 26% pidigits source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lua 1.94 4,056 479 2.02 2% 2% 100% 1% Node js 2.58 36,368 599 2.97 100% 6% 7% 2% k-nucleotide source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lua 189.90 521,716 613 191.07 1% 0% 99% 1% Node js 26.32 397,472 1812 77.28 74% 71% 62% 87% binary-trees source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lua 154.13 1,084,256 664 485.35 76% 71% 87% 81% Node js 19.22 1,000,628 711 61.94 80% 82% 82% 79% fasta source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lua 51.34 3,056 1061 51.87 0% 0% 1% 100% Node js 3.62 67,488 2047 10.61 72% 75% 72% 74% n-body source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lua 406.77 1,368 1305 412.06 0% 0% 1% 100% Node js 26.28 35,412 1268 28.03 2% 0% 4% 100% reverse-complement source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lua 77.65 2,932,848 553 77.85 26% 1% 4% 69% Node js 4.10 1,340,368 1480 8.58 52% 56% 73% 28% mandelbrot source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lua 256.77 22,712 623 899.10 99% 86% 87% 78% Node js 6.84 88,016 1122 26.99 98% 98% 99% 98% spectral-norm source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lua 192.80 2,872 329 199.44 15% 85% 1% 2% Node js 4.40 61,768 999 16.63 93% 97% 95% 93% fannkuch-redux source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lua 1,317.39 1,340 462 1,339.50 0% 100% 1% 1% Node js 19.48 58,152 1313 77.05 99% 99% 99% 99% Lua Lua 5.3.5 Copyright (C) 1994-2018 Lua.org, PUC-Rio Node js v14.2.0 all Lua programs & measurements all Node js programs & measurements