Direct answer · §02 Framework

Should I write a circuit by hand or use a zkVM?

Short 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.

By MarketComp Updated 2026-09-12 v1.3 About the authors Changelog

Cite this page

MarketComp (2026). Should I write a circuit by hand or use a zkVM?. The ZK Field Manual (Version 1.3). MarketComp. https://zkpick.com/faq/should-i-write-a-circuit-by-hand-or-use-a-zkvm/

@misc{zkfieldmanual-should-i-write-a-circuit-by-hand-or-use-,
  title        = {Should I write a circuit by hand or use a zkVM? — The ZK Field Manual},
  author       = {MarketComp},
  year         = {2026},
  version      = {1.3},
  howpublished = {\url{https://zkpick.com/faq/should-i-write-a-circuit-by-hand-or-use-a-zkvm/}},
  note         = {Accessed: YYYY-MM-DD}
}