Packaging tools comparisons

Use cases

	Install Python	Install packages	Build distributions	Upload distributions	Manage virtual environments	Lock files
build	no	no	yes	no	no	no
Flit	no	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Hatch	no	yes	yes	yes	yes	no
PDM	no	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
pip	no	yes	yes	no	no	yes
pip-tools	no	yes	no	no	no	yes
Pipenv	no	yes	no	no	yes	yes
pipx	no	yes	no	no	no	no
Poetry	no	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
pyenv	yes	no	no	no	no	no
Pyflow	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
setuptools	no	yes	yes	no	no	no
twine	no	no	no	yes	no	no
venv	no	no	no	no	yes	no
virtualenv	no	no	no	no	yes	no
virtualenvwrapper	no	no	no	no	yes	no
wheel	no	no	yes	no	no	no

Build back-ends are not listed here, but they are in a dedicated section below.

Comparisons

Development workflow tools

	[build-system] (PEP-517)	Build	Upload	Manage virtual environments	Interchangeable build back-end	Plugins	Lock file
Flit	yes	yes	yes	no	no	no	no
Hatch	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no
PDM	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Poetry	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	yes
Pyflow	no	yes	yes	yes	no	no	yes

See also build back-end features in dedicated section.

There is no standard for lock files.

Install Python interpreters

	Install Python interpreters
pyenv	yes
Pyflow	yes

Install packages

	Dependency resolution	Editable
pip	yes	yes
pip-tools	yes	yes
Pipenv	yes	yes
pipx	yes	no

pipx is intended to be used to install standalone applications rather than to install packages in a virtual environment.

Build distributions

These tools are also called “build front-ends”.

	[build-system] (PEP-517)	sdist	wheel
build	yes	yes	yes
pip	yes	no	yes
wheel	no	no	yes
dev workflow tools (Hatch, Flit, PDM, Poetry, etc.)	yes	yes	yes

Build back-ends

	[build-system] (PEP-517)	[project] (PEP-621)	Editable installation (PEP-660)	Extensions configuration
enscons	yes	yes	yes	SCONS
flit-core	yes	yes	yes	no
hatchling	yes	yes	yes	via plug-ins
maturin	yes	yes	yes	Cargo (Rust)
meson-python	yes	yes	yes	Meson
pdm-backend	yes	yes	yes	no
poetry-core	yes	no	yes	build.py [1]
pymsbuild	yes	no	no	_msbuild.py
scikit-build-core	yes	yes	no	CMake
setuptools	yes	yes	yes	setup.py
trampolim	yes	yes	no	no
whey	yes	yes	yes	no

[1]

Poetry has an undocumented feature allowing the customization of the build process via a build.py file, which indirectly allows the handling of C extensions (this is comparable to setuptools own setup.py).

Upload distributions

	Upload
Flit	yes
Hatch	yes
PDM	yes
Poetry	yes
twine	yes

Manage virtual environments

	For any Python interpreter	Description in file
Hatch	yes	yes [2]
nox	yes	yes [3]
PDM	yes	no
Pipenv	yes	no
Poetry	yes	no
tox	yes	yes [4]
venv	no	no
virtualenv	yes	no
virtualenvwrapper	yes	no

Unlike the other tools presented in this section, venv is part of Python’s own standard library, it should be always available without having to be installed separately. But note that some Linux distributions (e.g. Debian, Ubuntu, and derivatives) made the decision to package venv separately from the rest of the Python distribution and consequently it might be necessary to install venv explicitly (typically with a command such as apt install python3-venv, consult the documentation of the Linux distribution for exact details).

[2]

[tool.hatch.envs] section of pyproject.toml

[3]

noxfile.py

[4]

tox.ini

Lock files

There is no PyPA standard for the concept of “lock files”. There is some kind of a de facto convention around pip’s requirements.txt file format but it can not be considered a good enough lock file format.

	Format
pip	requirements.txt
pip-tools	requirements.txt
Pipenv	Pipfile.lock
poetry	poetry.lock
PDM	pdm.lock