The 2021 study titled "An Analysis of the Performance of WebSockets in Various Programming Languages" benchmarks multiple WebSocket implementations to determine which offers the best performance. Key findings include:

Node.js emerged as the fastest option, primarily due to its asynchronous capabilities, allowing for higher throughput during concurrent requests.

Java and C# closely followed Node.js, demonstrating strong performance in handling requests.

C++ and rust performed moderately well, while PHP lagged behind them.

Python and C struggled significantly, with Python's websocket library proving particularly inefficient, leading to high failures during stress tests.

The analysis emphasises the importance of using asynchronous libraries and suggests avoiding Python for web socket implementations due to its performance limitations. The study serves as a valuable resource for developers looking to select the optimal programming language for WebSocket applications.