Available IBM Quantum simulators

IBM Quantum features a collection of high-performance simulators for prototyping quantum circuits and algorithms.

To view available simulators, on the upper right corner of the screen, click the Application switcher ( ), select Compute resources to view the Compute resources page,(opens in a new tab) then click All simulators.

The following simulation methods support a maximum of 300 circuits and 8192 shots per job. Find more information on each simulator below, including its type, a description, the number of qubits it simulates, whether it includes noise modeling, a list of supported gates, and how to call it using Qiskit Runtime. The simulator_statevector is a good default choice since it is a general-purpose solution method.

Statevector simulator

Type: Schrödinger wavefunction

Name: simulator_statevector

Simulates a quantum circuit by computing the wavefunction of the qubit’s statevector as gates and instructions are applied. Supports general noise modeling.

Qubits: 32

Noise modeling: Yes

Supported gates / instructions

['u1', 'u2', 'u3', 'u', 'p', 'r', 'rx', 'ry', 'rz', 'id',
'x', 'y', 'z', 'h', 's', 'sdg', 'sx', 't', 'tdg', 'swap',
'cx', 'cy', 'cz', 'csx', 'cp', 'cu1', 'cu2', 'cu3', 'rxx',
'ryy', 'rzz', 'rzx', 'ccx', 'cswap', 'mcx', 'mcy', 'mcz',
'mcsx', 'mcp', 'mcu1', 'mcu2', 'mcu3', 'mcrx', 'mcry',
'mcrz', 'mcr', 'mcswap', 'unitary', 'diagonal',
'multiplexer', 'initialize', 'kraus', 'roerror', 'delay']

Code example

from qiskit_ibm_runtime import QiskitRuntimeService
service = QiskitRuntimeService()
backend = service.get_backend("simulator_statevector")

Stabilizer simulator

Type: Clifford

Name: simulator_stabilizer

An efficient simulator of Clifford circuits. Can simulate noisy evolution if the noise operators are also Clifford gates.

Qubits: 5000

Noise modeling: Yes (Clifford only)

Supported gates / instructions

['cx', 'cy', 'cz', 'id', 'x', 'y', 'z', 'h',
's', 'sdg', 'sx', 'swap', 'delay', 'roerror']

Code example

from qiskit_ibm_runtime import QiskitRuntimeService
service = QiskitRuntimeService()
backend = service.get_backend("simulator_stabilizer")

Extended stabilizer simulator

Type: Extended Clifford (e.g., Clifford+T)

Name: simulator_extended_stabilizer

Approximates the action of a quantum circuit using a ranked-stabilizer decomposition. The number of non-Clifford gates determines the number of stabilizer terms.

Qubits: 63

Noise modeling: No

Supported gates / instructions

['u0', 'u1', 'cx', 'cz', 'id', 'x', 'y', 'z', 'h',
't', 'tdg', 's', 'sdg', 'sx', 'swap', 'p', 'ccx', 'ccz',
'delay', 'roerror']

Code example

from qiskit_ibm_runtime import QiskitRuntimeService
service = QiskitRuntimeService()
backend = service.get_backend("simulator_extended_stabilizer")

MPS simulator

Type: Matrix Product State

Name: simulator_mps

A tensor-network simulator that uses a Matrix Product State (MPS) representation for states. This representation is often more efficient for states with weak entanglement.

Qubits: 100

Noise modeling: No

Supported gates / instructions

['unitary', 't', 'tdg', 'id', 'cp', 'u1', 'u2', 'u3', 'u',
'cx', 'cz', 'x', 'y', 'z', 'h', 's', 'sdg', 'sx', 'swap',
'p', 'ccx', 'delay', 'roerror']

Code example

from qiskit_ibm_runtime import QiskitRuntimeService
service = QiskitRuntimeService()
backend = service.get_backend("simulator_mps")

QASM simulator

Type: General, context-aware

Name: ibmq_qasm_simulator

A general-purpose simulator for simulating quantum circuits both ideally and subject to noise modeling. The simulation method is automatically selected based on the input circuits and parameters.

Qubits: 32

Noise modeling: Yes

Supported gates / instructions

['u1', 'u2', 'u3', 'u', 'p', 'r', 'rx', 'ry', 'rz', 'id',
'x', 'y', 'z', 'h', 's', 'sdg', 'sx', 't', 'tdg', 'swap',
'cx', 'cy', 'cz', 'csx', 'cp', 'cu1', 'cu2', 'cu3', 'rxx',
'ryy', 'rzz', 'rzx', 'ccx', 'cswap', 'mcx', 'mcy', 'mcz',
'mcsx', 'mcp', 'mcu1', 'mcu2', 'mcu3', 'mcrx', 'mcry',
'mcrz', 'mcr', 'mcswap', 'unitary', 'diagonal',
'multiplexer', 'initialize', 'kraus', 'roerror', 'delay']

Code example

from qiskit_ibm_runtime import QiskitRuntimeService
service = QiskitRuntimeService()
backend = service.get_backend("ibmq_qasm_simulator")

Qiskit built-in simulator, see the Python-based simulators API reference.

Next steps