Ruby versus PHP 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 PHP #2 188.01 19,392 447 188.00 PHP #3 54.65 19,392 1166 217.72 PHP #4 55.26 19,520 1168 219.72 PHP 225.18 19,392 488 225.17 Ruby #2 139.77 21,120 1462 536.11 Ruby 1,380.34 20,992 391 1,380.29 n-body source secs mem gz cpu secs PHP #3 66.45 19,396 1088 66.43 Ruby #3 188.71 21,248 1169 188.71 Ruby #2 215.31 21,248 1143 215.31 spectral-norm source secs mem gz cpu secs PHP 6.85 19,396 1157 27.12 PHP #2 56.73 19,396 403 56.73 PHP #3 16.19 19,396 1214 63.39 Ruby 126.55 22,144 299 126.54 Ruby #4 129.16 22,912 333 129.16 Ruby #5 64.82 27,520 764 236.48 mandelbrot source secs mem gz cpu secs PHP 86.84 19,396 452 86.84 PHP #3 23.33 48,384 881 92.86 Ruby #5 151.07 86,272 978 603.13 Ruby #4 661.22 136,132 862 661.94 Ruby #2 259.17 94,336 887 1,034.44 Ruby #3 1,538.89 21,120 313 1,538.80 Ruby #6 Failed Ruby #7 Failed pidigits source secs mem gz cpu secs PHP #5 1.02 19,396 405 1.02 PHP #4 1.04 19,396 396 1.04 PHP #3 1.05 19,396 510 1.04 PHP #2 1.47 19,396 552 1.46 Ruby #5 1.56 850,304 494 1.55 Ruby #2 3.22 2,271,624 666 3.22 Ruby 16.56 104,192 524 16.55 PHP 330.35 19,396 756 330.33 regex-redux source secs mem gz cpu secs PHP 1.87 194,876 822 3.72 Ruby #2 23.19 216,576 444 23.19 Ruby #3 11.84 216,576 730 24.21 Ruby #9 30.10 216,576 327 30.09 fasta source secs mem gz cpu secs PHP #3 21.34 19,396 1065 21.33 Ruby #6 23.07 120,064 1070 23.07 PHP #2 28.90 19,396 1054 28.90 Ruby #3 35.52 120,064 1004 35.52 Ruby #5 91.70 22,784 1000 91.69 Ruby #2 93.97 147,548 747 93.97 Ruby #4 95.74 266,496 864 95.73 k-nucleotide source secs mem gz cpu secs PHP #4 20.89 260,560 1084 69.85 Ruby #7 256.92 393,216 792 255.31 Ruby #2 255.78 181,700 426 255.60 Ruby #3 272.84 203,672 546 273.06 Ruby 84.88 172,436 583 300.65 reverse-complement source secs mem gz cpu secs PHP 9.76 1,489,428 323 9.76 Ruby #5 10.77 1,624,300 301 10.76 PHP #2 11.67 1,787,276 288 11.67 PHP #3 7.59 536,536 452 11.93 Ruby #4 6.88 2,510,956 608 12.51 Ruby #3 9.57 4,232,604 490 17.72 Ruby #2 24.46 1,001,852 272 24.46 Ruby 18.75 5,147,124 521 36.24 binary-trees source secs mem gz cpu secs PHP #3 45.78 921,600 434 45.78 Ruby #4 46.87 478,848 371 46.86 Ruby 48.73 478,976 383 48.72 Ruby #2 48.78 478,976 385 48.76 Ruby #3 50.16 515,924 407 50.14 Ruby #5 18.96 521,984 1016 53.93 PHP #7 15.25 948,480 767 54.73 PHP #4 18.02 918,400 786 55.68 PHP 62.31 748,808 457 62.30 PHP #2 62.55 748,812 429 62.54 PHP #5 32.58 805,504 1048 83.64 PHP #6 26.90 805,396 877 88.00 Ruby ruby 3.3.0 (2023-12-25 revision 5124f9ac75) +YJIT [x86_64-linux] PHP PHP 8.3.3 (cli) (built: Mar 3 2024 08:47:21) (NTS) Copyright (c) The PHP Group Zend Engine v4.3.3, with Zend OPcache v8.3.3, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies all Ruby programs & measurements all PHP programs & measurements