Benchmarking SnaxVim's Startup Performance Against Popular Neovim Distros

glmlm — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:29:00 +0000

Fast startup is a small but important part of a pleasant Neovim experience. This benchmark examines how SnaxVim compares with several popular Neovim distros¹ using multiple measurement methods.

For an overview of SnaxVim's design goals and philosophy, see the previous article: SnaxVim – A Minimal, Blazingly Fast Neovim Setup (Only 10 Plugins Included).

📋 1. Prerequisites

Target Distros & Commit Hashes

Distro Name	Repository	Pinned Commit	Core Configuration Repository²
SnaxVim	SnaxVim/SnaxVim	`81fc9f7`	N/A
AstroNvim	AstroNvim/template	`49a7161`	AstroNvim/AstroNvim (`aa0545f`)
kickstart.nvim	nvim-lua/kickstart.nvim	`80743df`	N/A
LazyVim	LazyVim/starter	`803bc18`	LazyVim/LazyVim (`9997009`)
NvChad	NvChad/starter	`e3572e1`	NvChad/NvChad (`add44b9`), NvChad/ui (`6ced113`)

System Environment

Neovim Version: NVIM v0.12.5
OS / Kernel: Linux 6.18.52 x86_64 GNU/Linux
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10510U CPU @ 1.80GHz
Storage: Western Digital PC SN520 NVMe SSD 512GB
Benchmark Tools: hyperfine v1.20.0, vim-startuptime v1.3.2

🚀 2. Methodology

Neovim startup measurements vary by tool because each approach uses a different measurement boundary. Although they often show similar broad trends, their absolute values are not directly interchangeable. Startup time is therefore measured using multiple methods to provide a multidimensional view of each Neovim distribution's startup performance.

Method A: External Process Lifecycle

Measures wall-clock time externally from process launch until the nvim +qa command exits. This includes Neovim initialization and exit processing, as well as effects from the operating system and execution environment.

hyperfine --min-runs 100 --warmup 10

Method B: Neovim Startup Timeline

Uses vim-startuptime, which repeatedly launches Neovim with its built-in --startuptime option. It focuses on initialization work recorded by Neovim and should not be interpreted as the complete wall-clock time until the editor is visibly ready.

NVIM_APPNAME="DistroName" vim-startuptime -vimpath nvim -count 100 -script | head -n 8 | grep "Total";

Method C: Plugin Initialization to UI Readiness

Measures lazy.nvim's reported startup time. lazy.nvim calculates stats().startuptime up to the UIEnter event; the script waits for the subsequent LazyVimStarted user event and then records the already-calculated value. In this setup, the value is based on Neovim process CPU time rather than external wall-clock time.

for i in {1..100}; do \
  NVIM_APPNAME="DistroName" nvim -c "autocmd User LazyVimStarted lua local h, l = pcall(require, 'lazy'); local f = io.open('/tmp/lazy_runs.txt', 'a'); if f and h then f:write(tostring(l.stats().startuptime) .. '\n'); f:close() end; vim.cmd('qa')"; \
done; \
awk '{if(NR==1){min=$1;max=$1};sum+=$1;if($1>max)max=$1;if($1<min)min=$1} END {if(NR>0) printf "Total Average: %.6f msec\nTotal Max:     %.6f msec\nTotal Min:     %.6f msec\n", sum/NR, max, min; else print "Failed to capture."}' /tmp/lazy_runs.txt; \

📊 3. Results

The chart below provides an overview of the startup performance measured by each benchmark. Lower values indicate faster startup.

The table below includes the measured averages and ranges for each benchmark.

Distro	Method A (hyperfine)	Method B (vim-startuptime)	Method C (lazy.nvim)
Vanilla Neovim	18.4 ± 0.2 ms 17.7–19.0 ms	10.2 ms 9.9–10.4 ms	N/A
SnaxVim	22.0 ± 0.7 ms 17.5–23.3 ms	11.0 ms 10.4–12.4 ms	14.2 ms 12.9–18.6 ms
NvChad	23.6 ± 0.6 ms 22.2–25.2 ms	14.1 ms 13.3–15.6 ms	16.8 ms 15.7–21.4 ms
LazyVim	31.9 ± 1.0 ms 30.1–37.7 ms	20.7 ms 17.8–23.2 ms	26.6 ms 24.6–47.6 ms
AstroNvim	46.0 ± 2.4 ms 43.2–67.5 ms	36.7 ms 34.2–39.7 ms	43.3 ms 40.7–46.4 ms
kickstart.nvim	82.3 ± 1.2 ms 79.1–85.3 ms	59.6 ms 55.8–65.7 ms	N/A³

Raw benchmark output

$ hyperfine --min-runs 100 --warmup 10 \
"nvim +qa" \
"NVIM_APPNAME=SnaxVim nvim +qa" \
"NVIM_APPNAME=AstroNvim nvim +qa" \
"NVIM_APPNAME=kickstart.nvim nvim +qa" \
"NVIM_APPNAME=LazyVim nvim +qa" \
"NVIM_APPNAME=NvChad nvim +qa"
Benchmark 1: nvim +qa
  Time (mean ± σ):      18.4 ms ±   0.2 ms    [User: 11.5 ms, System: 5.5 ms]
  Range (min … max):    17.7 ms …  19.0 ms    132 runs

Benchmark 2: NVIM_APPNAME=SnaxVim nvim +qa
  Time (mean ± σ):      22.0 ms ±   0.7 ms    [User: 14.1 ms, System: 6.3 ms]
  Range (min … max):    17.5 ms …  23.3 ms    137 runs

Benchmark 3: NVIM_APPNAME=AstroNvim nvim +qa
  Time (mean ± σ):      46.0 ms ±   2.4 ms    [User: 33.0 ms, System: 10.3 ms]
  Range (min … max):    43.2 ms …  67.5 ms    100 runs

Benchmark 4: NVIM_APPNAME=kickstart.nvim nvim +qa
  Time (mean ± σ):      82.3 ms ±   1.2 ms    [User: 63.2 ms, System: 17.3 ms]
  Range (min … max):    79.1 ms …  85.3 ms    100 runs

Benchmark 5: NVIM_APPNAME=LazyVim nvim +qa
  Time (mean ± σ):      31.9 ms ±   1.0 ms    [User: 21.8 ms, System: 8.4 ms]
  Range (min … max):    30.1 ms …  37.7 ms    100 runs

Benchmark 6: NVIM_APPNAME=NvChad nvim +qa
  Time (mean ± σ):      23.6 ms ±   0.6 ms    [User: 15.7 ms, System: 6.5 ms]
  Range (min … max):    22.2 ms …  25.2 ms    106 runs

Summary
  nvim +qa ran
    1.19 ± 0.04 times faster than NVIM_APPNAME=SnaxVim nvim +qa
    1.28 ± 0.04 times faster than NVIM_APPNAME=NvChad nvim +qa
    1.73 ± 0.06 times faster than NVIM_APPNAME=LazyVim nvim +qa
    2.50 ± 0.13 times faster than NVIM_APPNAME=AstroNvim nvim +qa
    4.46 ± 0.09 times faster than NVIM_APPNAME=kickstart.nvim nvim +qa

$ for d in "" SnaxVim AstroNvim kickstart.nvim LazyVim NvChad; do \
  echo "=== ${d:-Vanilla Neovim} ==="; \
  NVIM_APPNAME=$d vim-startuptime -vimpath nvim -count 100 -script | head -n 8 | grep "Total"; \
done
=== Vanilla Neovim ===
Total Average: 10.187930 msec
Total Max:     10.385000 msec
Total Min:     9.876000 msec
=== SnaxVim ===
Total Average: 10.951630 msec
Total Max:     12.351000 msec
Total Min:     10.382000 msec
=== AstroNvim ===
Total Average: 36.675830 msec
Total Max:     39.715000 msec
Total Min:     34.211000 msec
=== kickstart.nvim ===
Total Average: 59.649840 msec
Total Max:     65.697000 msec
Total Min:     55.834000 msec
=== LazyVim ===
Total Average: 20.696580 msec
Total Max:     23.166000 msec
Total Min:     17.756000 msec
=== NvChad ===
Total Average: 14.090530 msec
Total Max:     15.648000 msec
Total Min:     13.320000 msec

$ for d in SnaxVim AstroNvim LazyVim NvChad; do \
  echo "=== $d ==="; \
  rm -f /tmp/lazy_runs.txt; \
  for i in {1..100}; do \
    NVIM_APPNAME=$d nvim -c "autocmd User LazyVimStarted lua local h, l = pcall(require, 'lazy'); local f = io.open('/tmp/lazy_runs.txt', 'a'); if f and h then f:write(tostri
ng(l.stats().startuptime) .. '\n'); f:close() end; vim.cmd('qa')"; \
  done; \
  awk '{if(NR==1){min=$1;max=$1};sum+=$1;if($1>max)max=$1;if($1<min)min=$1} END {if(NR>0) printf "Total Average: %.6f msec\nTotal Max:     %.6f msec\nTotal Min:     %.6f msec\n", sum/NR, max, min; else print "Failed to capture."}' /tmp/lazy_runs.txt; \
done
=== SnaxVim ===
Total Average: 14.243575 msec
Total Max:     18.558509 msec
Total Min:     12.912106 msec
=== AstroNvim ===
Total Average: 43.304165 msec
Total Max:     46.438125 msec
Total Min:     40.733614 msec
=== LazyVim ===
Total Average: 26.630609 msec
Total Max:     47.604416 msec
Total Min:     24.621206 msec
=== NvChad ===
Total Average: 16.785274 msec
Total Max:     21.369776 msec
Total Min:     15.704555 msec

📝 4. Summary

SnaxVim was the fastest among the tested distributions in all three benchmarks, outperforming every other distribution in each applicable measurement.
Its advantage over NvChad ranged from approximately 7% to 22%, depending on the measurement method.

LazyVim ranked third overall, while AstroNvim and kickstart.nvim recorded the highest startup times.
In the benchmarks that allowed a direct comparison, the distribution ranking was consistent: SnaxVim was followed by NvChad, LazyVim, AstroNvim, and kickstart.nvim.

The three methods measure different parts of the startup process, so their absolute values should not be compared directly. However, the consistent results across the available measurements suggest that SnaxVim's performance was not specific to a single benchmarking approach.

If fast startup is important to your Neovim workflow, consider giving SnaxVim a try.

🔗 GitHub: https://github.com/SnaxVim/SnaxVim

In this article, "Neovim distro" is used broadly to include preconfigured Neovim setups and starter templates. ↩
"Core Configuration Repository" refers to the separate repository or repositories that provide the core configuration framework for a starter template. "N/A" indicates that the configuration is self-contained. ↩
lazy.nvim startup statistics were not available for kickstart.nvim because it does not use lazy.nvim as its plugin manager. ↩

🚀 SnaxVim – A Minimal, Blazingly Fast Neovim Setup (Only 10 Plugins Included)

glmlm — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Overview

SnaxVim is a minimal starting point for building your own Neovim setup. It’s aimed at those who want just the essentials for a fast, IDE-like experience — with a startup time that seems noticeably faster than many other distros I’ve tried.

It includes only 10 well-chosen plugins and avoids layers of abstraction, making it easier to learn and customise — similar in spirit to kickstart.nvim, but designed to be even more minimal and curated in its plugin selection.

🔗 GitHub: https://github.com/SnaxVim/SnaxVim

Gallery

My Journey to Neovim

Before I started using Neovim, I wasn't even aware of things like LSP or DAP. In VSCode, everything just worked as soon as I installed a few extensions, so I never had to think about how it all fit together. When I tried to turn Neovim into an IDE, I struggled to gather the necessary information. Fortunately, discovering the existence of Neovim Distros helped me a lot.

The Problem with Most Distros

However, when I tried to introduce Neovim to others, I ran into a different kind of problem.

Many Neovim Distros deploy their configurations in locations separate from the standard configuration directory. As a result, it's often difficult for beginners to tell whether a particular behaviour comes from Neovim itself or from customisations. On the other hand, there are setups like kickstart.nvim that are easy to follow, but the plugins they include tend to be somewhat excessive for the goal of providing just the minimum IDE-like functionality. In addition, their focus on beginner-friendliness often comes at the cost of performance.

I thought that a setup with a configuration that’s not hidden behind layers of abstraction, a minimal set of plugins to enable IDE-like functionality, and proper use of lazy-loading would be a useful starting point for people new to Neovim. But I wasn’t able to find anything like that, so I decided to create one myself — and that’s how SnaxVim was born.

Plugin Selection Philosophy

SnaxVim selects plugins based on two main criteria: they must be essential for an IDE-like setup and difficult for beginners to configure correctly on their own.

Some widely used plugins may meet the first criterion but not the second, and are therefore intentionally excluded. gitsigns.nvim is a good example: while it’s a common and practical tool for today’s development needs, it works reliably with minimal configuration — often just opts = {} — and provides immediate visual feedback when active, making it unlikely to cause confusion for beginners.

Currently, SnaxVim includes 10 plugins, and there are no plans to increase this number. However, I will continue to monitor the maintenance status and alternatives for each plugin and revise the lineup only if a better-maintained or more appropriate plugin emerges for the same purpose.

Try It Out

If you're interested in Neovim but unsure where to begin, or if you prefer configuring things yourself but would like to leave the selection and upkeep of essential plugins to the community, SnaxVim is intended to be a solid starting point.

🔗 GitHub: https://github.com/SnaxVim/SnaxVim

If you find it helpful, I’d appreciate a ⭐ on GitHub!

DEV Community: glmlm

Benchmarking SnaxVim's Startup Performance Against Popular Neovim Distros

📋 1. Prerequisites

Target Distros & Commit Hashes

System Environment

🚀 2. Methodology

Method A: External Process Lifecycle

Method B: Neovim Startup Timeline

Method C: Plugin Initialization to UI Readiness

📊 3. Results

📝 4. Summary

🚀 SnaxVim – A Minimal, Blazingly Fast Neovim Setup (Only 10 Plugins Included)

Overview

Gallery

My Journey to Neovim

The Problem with Most Distros

Plugin Selection Philosophy

Try It Out