Perl versus Python 3 fastest programs Always look at the source code. These are only the fastest programs. Look at the other programs. They may seem more-like a fair comparison to you. spectral-norm source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 24.69 12,188 555 96.59 97% 99% 98% 97% Python 3 118.40 22,912 407 470.86 99% 99% 99% 100% n-body source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 419.75 6,388 1429 429.50 1% 1% 1% 100% Python 3 586.17 8,012 1196 589.84 0% 0% 0% 100% k-nucleotide source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 37.72 1,255,884 652 131.45 88% 89% 87% 85% Python 3 46.37 239,472 1967 176.69 94% 95% 98% 94% reverse-complement source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 6.36 1,495,132 287 6.52 0% 0% 2% 100% Python 3 7.16 1,005,968 814 10.65 20% 53% 47% 29% fannkuch-redux source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 392.54 12,116 570 1,568.84 100% 100% 100% 100% Python 3 367.49 12,288 950 1,454.68 100% 98% 99% 98% binary-trees source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 53.02 1,048,568 797 195.75 91% 88% 100% 90% Python 3 49.35 278,628 589 174.26 95% 86% 86% 86% pidigits source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 1.90 8,268 261 2.16 100% 2% 3% 9% Python 3 1.28 12,336 567 1.30 1% 0% 1% 100% fasta source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 58.08 55,188 871 59.16 1% 100% 1% 0% Python 3 39.10 846,628 1947 70.52 43% 8% 61% 69% mandelbrot source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 542.82 45,036 586 2,169.30 100% 100% 100% 100% Python 3 172.58 12,216 688 689.62 100% 100% 100% 100% regex-redux source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 10.10 157,208 820 31.98 96% 67% 93% 61% Python 3 1.36 112,052 1403 2.64 40% 88% 32% 33% Perl This is perl 5, version 32, subversion 0 (v5.32.0) built for x86_64-linux-thread-multi Python 3 Python 3.9.0 all Perl programs & measurements all Python 3 programs & measurements