Startup times seem to be the same and also negligible:
time python3 nothing.py
0.011s
time php nothing.php
0.011s time python3 nothing.py
0.011s
time php nothing.php
0.011sSimilar for the PHP version.
python3 loop.py
3.450s
time php loop.php
0.469s
So PHP is 7x faster for the longer loop.