"Rust becomes Python's performance co-pilot"

Rust is becoming increasingly important in the Python ecosystem. The latest State of Python 2025 report from the Python Software Foundation (PSF) and JetBrains shows that Rust is increasingly replacing C as the native code for modules and extensions when performance is required.

According to the report, the share of Rust as a language for binary extensions rose from 27 to 33 percent, which represents an increase of 22 percent. In a blog post on the study, PSF member Michael Kennedy adds that a quarter to a third of the native code for new projects uploaded to PyPI uses Rust. He quotes David Hewitt from the Python Language Summit 2025: "People who start new projects use Rust".

Kennedy summarizes: "Rust is becoming Python's performance co-pilot" and provides a number of examples in his article:

• Polars manages dataframes and is based on the Apache Arrows format. In many respects, it is five to ten times faster than Pandas and uses less memory.
• Pydantic is used for data validation and is a useful extension in all areas of Python.
• Granian is an HTTP server for Python applications
• ty, the very fast Python type checker, has its own language server (LSP).
• Pyrefly from Meta offers similar functions to ty, also with a language server.
• uv, as a package and project manager for Python, has made an upswing from 0 to 11 percent in the tools for code isolation (packaging and virtualization) in the current study – in the year of its publication –. According to Kennedy, this trend is continuing this year. Next year's study will show.

At the end of his article, Kennedy recommends that Python users try out the package manager uv and acquire a basic knowledge of Rust, among other things – not to replace Python, but to supplement it: "Rust is becoming increasingly important in the most important parts of the Python ecosystem."

The online conference on Rust

The betterCode() Rust 2025 will take place on November 10. The fifth edition of the online conference organized by iX and dpunkt.verlag will focus on industrial applications with Rust.

The conference program offers the following presentations:

• Rust in the automotive industry at Volvo
• High-performance programming with Rust
• Asynchronous Rust: All concepts for the start
• On a hero's journey with Rust
• AI for Rust development
• Interaction of Rust with C++

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