PHP versus Node js fastest performance Always look at the source code. If the fastest programs are hand-written vector instructions, does the host language matter? You might be more interested in the less optimised programs — more seconds, less gz source code. fannkuch-redux source secs mem gz cpu secs Node js #5 11.08 81,124 1313 43.87 PHP #2 187.39 12,976 441 187.38 PHP #4 54.97 13,440 1162 217.94 PHP #3 55.84 13,500 1160 222.26 PHP 223.52 12,988 482 223.42 n-body source secs mem gz cpu secs Node js #6 8.41 45,908 1268 9.39 PHP #3 65.75 13,100 1082 65.74 spectral-norm source secs mem gz cpu secs Node js #7 5.36 46,704 414 5.37 Node js 5.44 47,212 319 5.45 Node js #6 1.66 88,700 999 6.10 PHP 6.81 14,120 1152 26.92 PHP #2 57.19 13,528 397 57.19 PHP #3 16.17 14,188 1210 63.74 mandelbrot source secs mem gz cpu secs Node js #3 4.03 118,432 1122 15.92 Node js #2 28.20 53,644 416 28.23 PHP 86.88 13,016 449 86.87 PHP #3 23.25 48,484 875 92.76 Node js 130.80 49,372 373 130.71 pidigits source secs mem gz cpu secs PHP #5 0.90 14,248 399 0.90 PHP #4 0.91 14,216 389 0.91 PHP #3 0.92 14,324 504 0.92 Node js #4 1.26 49,328 481 1.28 PHP #2 1.38 14,636 545 1.38 Node js #2 12.95 78,356 397 12.97 Node js #3 13.09 78,112 424 13.11 PHP 334.16 15,344 750 334.14 regex-redux source secs mem gz cpu secs PHP 1.82 194,824 816 3.60 Node js #3 4.51 768,724 668 5.58 Node js #4 5.76 991,704 463 5.93 fasta source secs mem gz cpu secs Node js #5 2.20 94,408 2047 6.32 PHP #3 21.34 13,084 1062 21.34 PHP #2 28.62 13,048 1050 28.61 Node js 33.14 54,432 809 33.43 k-nucleotide source secs mem gz cpu secs Node js #3 15.72 416,500 1812 43.32 PHP #4 20.80 260,644 1079 70.63 Node js #2 37.55 486,856 935 116.51 Node js 40.21 518,808 1008 117.96 reverse-complement source secs mem gz cpu secs PHP 9.25 1,489,448 318 9.24 PHP #2 10.91 1,787,268 281 10.91 PHP #3 7.09 536,544 446 11.20 Node js #2 15.94 731,396 1221 16.58 Node js #7 Bad Output binary-trees source secs mem gz cpu secs Node js 6.37 1,295,776 711 19.51 Node js #6 8.22 1,257,276 744 24.87 Node js #7 33.78 1,135,992 451 38.12 PHP #3 45.39 921,556 428 45.38 PHP #7 15.05 948,676 760 53.85 PHP #4 17.63 918,536 779 54.47 PHP #2 61.41 748,808 423 61.39 PHP 61.61 748,832 451 61.60 PHP #5 32.52 805,504 1040 84.00 PHP #6 26.81 805,532 868 88.08 PHP PHP 8.2.1 (cli) (built: Jan 13 2023 15:31:11) (NTS) Copyright (c) The PHP Group Zend Engine v4.2.1, with Zend OPcache v8.2.1, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies Node js build 19.0.1+10-21 all PHP programs & measurements all Node js programs & measurements