Abstract
Quantum state preparation is a fundamental primitive in quantum algorithms for encoding classical data into quantum amplitudes. We compare the cost of preparing general -qubit states with real amplitudes using two common paradigms: rotation-based methods, based on controlled rotations, and sampling-based methods, based on a structured representation of the target state. Although these approaches are often theoretically compared using CNOT count and -count, their relative performance in total gate count remains less well understood practically. We compare representative rotation-based and sampling-based methods using -count and total gate count, and analyze how compilation overhead affects their relative performance. We also develop a software package for compiling state preparation circuits, designed as a practical subroutine for more general quantum computations. Numerical experiments on resource states and quantum states related to quantum chemistry, condensed matter physics, and simulation via Magnus expansion over a range of target accuracies support the analysis. Our results show that sampling-based methods achieve asymptotically lower -count and retain an overall advantage after accounting for total gate count and compilation overhead.