In 2025, which backend environment—Node.js or Python—excels for high-concurrency, real-time workloads?

Compares throughput, latency, concurrency model, and ideal architectural use cases for realtime systems.

• Node.js thrives in I/O-bound, real-time applications, handling around 90,000 req/sec with ~31 ms latency using a non-blocking event loop and V8 engine optimizations. • Python, although inherently slower due to GIL, performs well in data-intensive or ML scenarios. Async frameworks like FastAPI or asyncio, combined with JIT compilers (Python 3.13, Codon), help Python compete strongly in modern backend workloads. Tags: nodejs, python, backend, performance, scalability, real-time