The ability to independently control the expression of different genes is important for quantitative biology. Using budding yeast, we characterizeGAL1pr,GALL,MET3pr,CUP1pr,PHO5pr,tetOpr,terminator-tetOpr, Z3EV, blue-light inducible optogenetic systems El222-LIP, El222-GLIP, and red-light inducible PhyB-PIF3. We report kinetic parameters, noise scaling, impact on growth, and the fundamental leakiness of each system using an intuitive unit, maxGAL1. We uncover disadvantages of widely used tools, e.g., nonmonotonic activity ofMET3prandGALL, slow off kinetics of the doxycycline- and estradiol-inducible systemstetOprand Z3EV, and high variability ofPHO5prand red-light activated PhyB-PIF3 system. We introduce two previously uncharacterized systems: strongLOV, a more light-sensitive El222 mutant, andARG3pr, which is induced in the absence of arginine or presence of methionine. To demonstrate fine control over gene circuits, we experimentally tune the time between cell cycle Start and mitosis, artificially simulating near-wild-type timing. All strains, constructs, code, and data (https://promoter-benchmark.epfl.ch/) are made available.