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Published on May 23, 2022

The evolution of the language or tool depends on the problem statement and advancement of hardware.With the emergence of cloud computing few languages like Java, PHP, .NET, Python, JS and their respective tool sets are in trend. In this article we shall concentrate on three technologies i.e Java, Node JS and Python and see a comparative study of them.

The internal workings

Here I want to present the working principle of the three. One thing is clear, Java is the only compiled language but Node JS and Python are interpreted languages.

Working Principle of Java, NodeJs, Python

For beginners that may not be a big deal, but this may change the whole discourse. When we compile the code, it is ready to consume by the hardware but when it’s interpreted the code is converted to byte code on the runtime, it may turn out to 10X performance improvement depending upon the situation.

Following is the table which will depict execution time, CPU, memory utilization and the code size for some standard algorithms. Credit goes to benchmarksgame-team. For details of the unit, you can refer here.

Algorithm Comparison Table: NodeJs vs Java vs Python

The following table depicts the comparison between on the basis of speed, performance, scalability and more:

Parameters	NodeJs	Python	Java
Speed	Faster	Fast	Fastest
Performance	Low	High	High
Scalability	Highest	Medium	High
Simplicity	Medium	Very Simple	Simple
Community	Strong	Strong	Strong
Library	Excellent	Good	Good
Cost	Free	Free	Paid
Cross-functionality	High	High	High

Speed

As Java is compiled as bytecode and statically linked code the performance is always faster, in most of the cases ten times faster than the other two. There are a few odd cases where Java falls short of speed. In those cases, it boils down to mismatched use cases, legacy code, and wrong coding practices.

NodeJs speed is better than Python thanks to the V8 engine. The V8 engine interprets the javascript code to machine language and optimizes the solution to reduce load time. NodeJs programs run on a single thread. However, you can easily find multi-threaded libraries. The libraries were used to create a thread pool and used multiple CPU cores simultaneously in the background.

Performance

Computer performance is the amount of useful work accomplished by the computer system. So the performance of a system depends on the right kind of technology picked for a particular workload. Java naturally supports multithreading hence if an application does heavy parallel processing, it will be really a great choice. If an application makes lots of networks, it calls Node JS which will be the winner as it naturally supports event-driven programming and hence asynchronous programming. Python is mostly evolving as a middle ground to achieve a decent performance and it always has the advantage of being a simple language to learn.

Scalability

Looking at the current evolution of cloud infrastructure, to achieve scalability using infrastructure tricks for stateless web applications is a norm. The real challenge is to scale a stateful application. The scalability depends on the purpose of the application and the technology we pick.

Node.js is quite scalable, owing to microservices, event-driven architecture, and non-blocking I/O. It allows the creation of microservices and modules. Whenever the solution expands, these microservices and modules resort to dynamic process runs and keep the performance and speed in check.

Java being garbage collected by the resource optimized JVM, it becomes a decent choice to scale.

Python is hard to scale as it’s dynamically typed it’s always slower. As the code goes the system also gets slower and the system gets too tangled.

Simplicity

It is measured as the amount of time one needs to spend learning the language and using it. So it boils down to the familiarity with syntax, expressions and concepts. Also with ease, a developer adapts an existing project and starts contributing.

Java is object-oriented programming and memory management is taken care of by the JVM hence its learning curve is small.

Python on the other hand is a high-level language and its syntax is more intuitive. Hence the learning curve is even smaller than Java and that is definitely the factor used in most non-software industries like data science and others.

The learning curve of the NodeJs is simple too, but the inner workings of the run time environment like async programming, hook, and patterns are difficult to grasp.

Community

All of them established themself in their own markets. Both Java and Python have been around for quite a long time and have healthy communities. NodeJs is a relatively new technology still looking at the adaptation and as its open-source, it has a sizable community.

Library

All three have a voluminous library to support various functions and they are well documented.

When working with NodeJs, you will find NPM (NodeJs Package Manager.) It is a free online repository that fuels and simplifies JavaScript development by storing NodeJs packages.

Cost

Python comes with lots of open source libraries and frameworks that help to reduce the cost of python. Whereas Java is now owned by Oracle and it’s licensed and to get the support we need to pay the license cost. The cost involved for NodeJs using the NPM packages is cost-free, there will be a cost involved for the paid library for payment gateway and third-party integration.

Cross-Functional

All of the above work seamlessly across different environments. As Java is meant for code once and it will run everywhere hence it’s suitable for network application, parallel processing, and web application development. Python can easily run as far as the runtime remains the same, it’s suitable for web applications and data science applications. NodeJs works for multiple OS and devices hence it’s good for web applications and cloud-based IoT solutions.

Conclusion

There is no winner or loser in these comparisons, many factors depend on the tools or language that we use, it depends on the problem we are resolving, the performance criteria, the compatibility to the existing framework and toolsets. Finally the learning curve of the team who will use this.

About the author:

Manoj is Solution Architect at Mantra Labs working on cloud native solutions. He loves to follow emerging trends in Software technology. Currently, he is working on Cloud Native tools and technologies.

Let’s take a trip back in time—2008. Netflix was nothing like the media juggernaut it is today. Back then, they were a DVD-rental-by-mail service trying to go digital. But here’s the kicker: they hit a major pitfall. The internet was booming, and people were binge-watching shows like never before, but Netflix’s infrastructure couldn’t handle the load. Their single, massive system—what techies call a “monolith”—was creaking under pressure. Slow load times and buffering wheels plagued the experience, a nightmare for any platform or app development company trying to scale

That’s when Netflix decided to do something wild—they broke their monolith into smaller pieces. It was microservices, the tech equivalent of turning one giant pizza into bite-sized slices. Instead of one colossal system doing everything from streaming to recommendations, each piece of Netflix’s architecture became a specialist—one service handled streaming, another handled recommendations, another managed user data, and so on.

But microservices alone weren’t enough. What if one slice of pizza burns? Would the rest of the meal be ruined? Netflix wasn’t about to let a burnt crust take down the whole operation. That’s when they introduced the Circuit Breaker Pattern—just like a home electrical circuit that prevents a total blackout when one fuse blows. Their famous Hystrix tool allowed services to fail without taking down the entire platform.

Fast-forward to today: Netflix isn’t just serving you movie marathons, it’s a digital powerhouse, an icon in platform engineering; it’s deploying new code thousands of times per day without breaking a sweat. They handle 208 million subscribers streaming over 1 billion hours of content every week. Trends in Platform engineering transformed Netflix into an application dev platform with self-service capabilities, supporting app developers and fostering a culture of continuous deployment.

Did Netflix bring order to chaos?

Netflix didn’t just solve its own problem. They blazed the trail for a movement: platform engineering. Now, every company wants a piece of that action. What Netflix did was essentially build an internal platform that developers could innovate without dealing with infrastructure headaches, a dream scenario for any application developer or app development company seeking seamless workflows.

And it’s not just for the big players like Netflix anymore. Across industries, companies are using platform engineering to create Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs)—one-stop shops for mobile application developers to create, test, and deploy apps without waiting on traditional IT. According to Gartner, 80% of organizations will adopt platform engineering by 2025 because it makes everything faster and more efficient, a game-changer for any mobile app developer or development software firm.

All anybody has to do is to make sure the tools are actually connected and working together. To make the most of it. That’s where modern trends like self-service platforms and composable architectures come in. You build, you scale, you innovate.achieving what mobile app dev and web-based development needs And all without breaking a sweat.

Is Mantra Labs Redefining Platform Engineering?

We didn’t just learn from Netflix’s playbook; we’re writing our own chapters in platform engineering. One example of this? Our work with one of India’s leading private-sector general insurance companies.

Their existing DevOps system was like Netflix’s old monolith: complex, clunky, and slowing them down. Multiple teams, diverse workflows, and a lack of standardization were crippling their ability to innovate. Worse yet, they were stuck in a ticket-driven approach, which led to reactive fixes rather than proactive growth. Observability gaps meant they were often solving the wrong problems, without any real insight into what was happening under the hood.

That’s where Mantra Labs stepped in. Mantra Labs brought in the pillars of platform engineering:

Standardization: We unified their workflows, creating a single source of truth for teams across the board.

Customization: Our tailored platform engineering approach addressed the unique demands of their various application development teams.

Traceability: With better observability tools, they could now track their workflows, giving them real-time insights into system health and potential bottlenecks—an essential feature for web and app development and agile software development.

We didn’t just slap a band-aid on the problem; we overhauled their entire infrastructure. By centralizing infrastructure management and removing the ticket-driven chaos, we gave them a self-service platform—where teams could deploy new code without waiting in line. The results? Faster workflows, better adoption of tools, and an infrastructure ready for future growth.

But we didn’t stop there. We solved the critical observability gaps—providing real-time data that helped the insurance giant avoid potential pitfalls before they happened. With our approach, they no longer had to “hope” that things would go right. They could see it happening in real-time which is a major advantage in cross-platform mobile application development and cloud-based web hosting.

The Future of Platform Engineering: What’s Next?

As we look forward, platform engineering will continue to drive innovation, enabling companies to build scalable, resilient systems that adapt to future challenges—whether it’s AI-driven automation or self-healing platforms.

If you’re ready to make the leap into platform engineering, Mantra Labs is here to guide you. Whether you’re aiming for smoother workflows, enhanced observability, or scalable infrastructure, we’ve got the tools and expertise to get you there.

NodeJS vs Java vs Python