Industrial gas leakages require real-time, fault-tolerant detection systems to mitigate severe risks to safety and the environment. This paper presents and evaluates an Internet of Things (IoT) solution that uses an edge server implemented in the Elixir programming language, running on the BEAM virtual machine. We developed a complete system with a physical layer of sensors and actuators and benchmarked its performance against a functionally equivalent Python-based server. Key metrics, including CPU and RAM usage, runtime stability, and developer experience, were assessed. The results show that the Elixir implementation is significantly more efficient and reliable. It demonstrated a 32.14% reduction in CPU usage and a 40.85% reduction in RAM usage compared to the Python server. Critically, the Elixir server operated without any downtime, whereas the Python implementation failed mid-benchmark. While Elixir’s steeper learning curve and less mature ecosystem present challenges, its lightweight concurrency model and built-in fault tolerance make it a compelling platform for building highly resilient, safety-critical IoT applications.