{
  "type": "question",
  "question": "Should I write a circuit by hand or use a zkVM?",
  "answer": "Hand-written circuits give the smallest proving cost and the tightest control, at the price of specialist engineering and a large underconstrained-bug surface that only circuit-literate reviewers can assess. A zkVM lets you prove ordinary programs, shrinking the code your team must get right and shifting much of the soundness burden onto the zkVM's own audited implementation — but proving costs are typically orders of magnitude higher, and you inherit the zkVM's trust assumptions and bugs. Choose the zkVM when engineering time and correctness risk dominate; choose the hand-written circuit when proving cost dominates and the statement is small and stable. See Section 02.",
  "url": "https://zkpick.com/faq/should-i-write-a-circuit-by-hand-or-use-a-zkvm/",
  "markdown": "https://zkpick.com/md/faq/should-i-write-a-circuit-by-hand-or-use-a-zkvm.md",
  "section": {
    "number": "02",
    "url": "https://zkpick.com/frameworks/"
  },
  "updated": "2026-09-12",
  "version": "1.3",
  "canonical": "https://zkpick.com/faq/should-i-write-a-circuit-by-hand-or-use-a-zkvm/",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "authors": [
    "MarketComp"
  ]
}