Goodbye GIL: Exploring the Free-threaded mode in Python 3.13 and Beyond

Python 3.13 was the first Python version released with a free-threaded mode. Although the default interpreter still utilizes the GIL, it provides provisions that enable us to run a free-threaded version of the interpreter with the GIL disabled.

Through this talk, we’ll set up and run the free-threaded interpreter, benchmarking it against the GIL-enabled version for various tasks. We'll assess the impact on single-threaded vs multithreaded code and test the performance across CPU-bound and I/O-bound tasks, aiming to identify scenarios where free-threaded Python excels.

The free-threaded interpreter is a significant step toward removing the GIL, yet it's still underexplored in the Python community. It introduces true multi-threading as an optional feature in 3.13, and understanding its impact early will help developers prepare for what’s to come next.

• Setting up and using the free-thread Python interpreter
• Choosing between GIL-enabled/disabled interpreters based on the task at hand

Experience using concurrency primitives in Python like multiprocessing and threading.