PHP 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 PHP 17.84 24,120 1152 71.08 100% 100% 100% 100% Python 3 124.52 49,872 417 484.76 97% 97% 97% 97% fannkuch-redux source secs mem gz busy cpu load PHP 129.48 22,468 1160 514.90 99% 99% 100% 99% Python 3 366.43 47,608 950 1,448.16 100% 99% 100% 97% n-body source secs mem gz busy cpu load PHP 221.47 7,836 1082 226.63 1% 100% 1% 1% Python 3 545.25 8,160 1196 558.88 1% 1% 1% 100% mandelbrot source secs mem gz busy cpu load PHP 73.71 123,856 875 294.40 100% 100% 100% 100% Python 3 170.25 47,568 688 680.12 100% 100% 100% 100% k-nucleotide source secs mem gz busy cpu load PHP 24.68 215,640 1079 88.67 93% 81% 96% 89% Python 3 48.51 134,372 1967 185.66 94% 100% 94% 95% binary-trees source secs mem gz busy cpu load PHP 26.46 1,584,436 751 96.67 89% 90% 100% 87% Python 3 48.45 448,980 589 171.58 86% 86% 87% 94% pidigits source secs mem gz busy cpu load PHP 0.99 9,116 399 1.01 1% 0% 1% 100% Python 3 1.29 11,976 567 1.30 0% 100% 1% 0% fasta source secs mem gz busy cpu load PHP 32.86 8,004 1062 33.02 0% 100% 0% 0% Python 3 38.07 845,888 1947 75.85 23% 63% 66% 47% reverse-complement source secs mem gz busy cpu load PHP 7.30 508,064 438 11.41 2% 30% 55% 69% Python 3 7.15 1,005,204 814 10.62 81% 1% 47% 20% regex-redux source secs mem gz busy cpu load PHP 1.71 271,952 816 3.50 37% 75% 43% 50% Python 3 1.37 404,320 1403 2.65 32% 41% 33% 88% PHP PHP 7.4.7 (cli) (built: Jun 25 2020 16:42:51) ( NTS ) Copyright (c) The PHP Group Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies Python 3 Python 3.8.3 all PHP programs & measurements all Python 3 programs & measurements