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 33.24 24,100 1152 128.43 95% 98% 98% 95% Python 3 170.10 49,484 417 670.83 99% 98% 98% 99% n-body source secs mem gz busy cpu load PHP 329.52 7,716 1082 348.91 21% 4% 43% 37% Python 3 891.12 8,416 1196 924.03 1% 53% 47% 2% mandelbrot source secs mem gz busy cpu load PHP 105.40 122,084 875 418.58 99% 99% 100% 99% Python 3 263.87 48,268 688 1,054.07 100% 100% 100% 100% fannkuch-redux source secs mem gz busy cpu load PHP 219.15 21,724 1160 870.05 99% 99% 99% 100% Python 3 494.58 47,432 950 1,956.79 98% 99% 98% 100% k-nucleotide source secs mem gz busy cpu load PHP 41.32 169,460 1079 134.99 88% 75% 84% 79% Python 3 72.58 183,484 1967 276.33 95% 95% 94% 97% binary-trees source secs mem gz busy cpu load PHP 51.13 1,584,360 751 187.68 90% 92% 95% 90% Python 3 80.82 448,104 589 288.23 91% 88% 91% 86% fasta source secs mem gz busy cpu load PHP 53.24 7,888 1062 56.38 88% 3% 2% 12% Python 3 63.63 841,056 1947 127.80 58% 61% 44% 37% reverse-complement source secs mem gz busy cpu load PHP 14.19 529,416 438 22.75 35% 54% 49% 21% Python 3 16.41 1,772,696 434 17.57 1% 78% 28% 0% pidigits source secs mem gz busy cpu load PHP 2.11 9,064 399 2.14 100% 1% 0% 0% Python 3 2.39 12,200 567 2.55 64% 37% 5% 1% regex-redux source secs mem gz busy cpu load PHP 2.88 155,276 816 5.63 44% 79% 33% 38% Python 3 2.67 111,864 1403 4.86 87% 30% 29% 35% PHP PHP 7.4.5 (cli) (built: May 11 2020 13:25:48) ( NTS ) Copyright (c) The PHP Group Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies Python 3 Python 3.8.0 all PHP programs & measurements all Python 3 programs & measurements