---
title: "Which came first, Netflix or Python?"
description: "Netflix vs Python: Python came first, by 6 years — 1991 against 1997. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/netflix-vs-python/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, Netflix or Python?

**Which came first, Netflix or Python?: Python**

1991 — 6 years before Netflix

Python came first, by 6 years. Guido van Rossum released version 0.9.0 publicly.

## Side by side

|  | Netflix | Python |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1997 | 1991 |
| Date | 1997-08-29 | 1991-02-20 |
| Category | technology | technology |
| What happened | Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph founded a DVD rental-by-post company. | Guido van Rossum released version 0.9.0 publicly. |

## Netflix

Netflix was founded in August 1997, a year before Google, and posted DVDs for a decade before streaming launched in January 2007. The famous origin story — Hastings founding it after a $40 late fee on Apollo 13 — has been called a useful myth by co-founder Marc Randolph. Blockbuster declined to buy the company for $50 million in 2000.

## Python

Python was started as a hobby project over Christmas 1989 and first released publicly in February 1991 — four years before Java, JavaScript, PHP and Ruby, all of which arrived in 1995. Most people assume it is much newer because its popularity arrived twenty years after it did. It is named after Monty Python, not the snake.

## Common questions

### Which came first, Netflix or Python?

Python, by 6 years — 1991 against 1997.

### When did Netflix start?

1997. Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph founded a DVD rental-by-post company.

### When did Python start?

1991. Guido van Rossum released version 0.9.0 publicly.

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## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]