Try out libxml2 for faster XML & HTML parsing

[uogbuji]

Possibly via Cython? Check on cross-platform deployment issues in any such case.

libxml API docs

Idea popped into my head when I stumbled across this thread.

[uogbuji]

Actually, this library might be a better option: html5-parser

Historical reference: The now defunct gumbo-parser

Worth noting that the WHATWG html5 parser has some recent updates, though it's still not heavily maintained (perhaps no need).