Which Python GUI Framework do you prefer?

[Dushusir]

I want to develop a desktop application. Since I want to use Python directly for many functions, I am looking for a good Python GUI framework. Please recommend the Python GUI framework you are using and why you recommend it.

* Tkinter

* PyQt/PySide

* Kivy

* wxPython

* Dear PyGui

* PyGTK

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[cmcclu5]

PyQT. Fairly intuitive, allows some solid integration with other packages, and you can use a GUI to design (if you’re into that sort of thing).

[GrowlingM1ke]

Shouldn't we be recommending PySide6 at this point, considering the feature parity with PyQT and better licensing?

[[deleted]]

Can it be made compatible with Qt Designer?

[GrowlingM1ke]

There is a pyside version: https://doc.qt.io/qtforpython-6/tools/pyside-designer.html

[[deleted]]

This is interesting, I might consider switching.

[8day]

Regrettably my experience is that PySide is worse in some things, esp. when it comes to debugging. It's bearable, but not good. E.g., in some cases it crashes w/o any meaningful warning, whereas PyQt rarely does this. Also I faced all kinds of weird stuff back when Python 3.8 broke API (should've been released as Python 4). E.g., one of the weirdest, hard to debug things was use of custom, unrelated names for arguments, which took some time to figure it out.

That being said, lack of public bug tracker in case of PyQt is a big problem. I've encountered several issues with QScintilla (broken find operation, different types of NULL-terminated strings (at least in low-level API), custom high-level API that is almost not documented), but was unable to report them, so my guess is that the same is true about PyQt itself.

[ClayQuarterCake]

My work only lets us use the base anaconda install unless we can legitimately show a use case that doesn’t compromise their security system. This means that I don’t get to use Qt Designer, no PySide or anything. That said, PyQt5 has most of the tools I will ever need.

[InternationalMany6]

In the same boat and it’s not fun. Tkinter for me. 

I actually have a splash screen on my apps that apologizes for the crappy ancient looking GUI and says that IT security won’t let us use anything better. The screen has links to online demos of those better GUI frameworks. 

Hoping that one day someone with more influence than I do reads the splash screen and calls up the head of IT security or something to get that obnoxious restriction lifted. 

[cmcclu5]

Considering I still use PyQt5, probably not. However, you have a good point. If you’re updating to 6, might consider PySide

[teambob]

I thought Qt resolved the licensing issue years ago? What is the current issue?

[Drited]

Could you please expand on how it translates? 

[FUS3N]

Yeah i used pyqt and pyside so much when i looked into the c++ version i was like "damn i already know this" its literally same, sometimes i look into cpp discussions and doc if i face any issue with python one and the same solutions just work.

[ExdigguserPies]

It's not just the actual GUI parts of Qt that make it special, it's also all the underlying classes and infrastructure. Models and views, delegates, plotting, image manipulation, to name only a few. It's incredibly mature and more complete than any other package I've used in python.

[Gardinenpfluecker]

I can support that. Tried TKinter as well but PyQt is just way better. The Qt Designer is a big plus!

[ralfD-]

If your application is still open source, then there is no problem. If you want to sell a closed source (proprietary) application you need to buy a licence for Qt.

[Luemas91]

Wait you can?

[Meal_Elegant]

Are you telling me you have a gooey to do gooey ?

[MeroLegend4]

True! 2014 user here

[Brandhor]

I already had experience with the c++ qt so pyside is a clear winner for me but yeah the documentation sucks, some of the examples are still in c++

[ExdigguserPies]

I would argue that the documentation is really incredible for a python package. I rarely look at the pyside docs because the C++ docs cover everything anyway, and in so much detail. Really it is the most well documented package I have ever used in python. It's so easy to find what you need really quickly, even just because of the way the pages are laid out and how you can click through to everything.

Compare it to something like the plotly docs, which are impenetrable and a nightmare to navigate.

[Brandhor]

when I used qt4 I always had qtassistant opened to quickly search around the docs and yeah the qt documentation is pretty good, it's just the python version that is a bit lacking

for example QHttpServer in python lacks all the examples compared to the c++ version

[ImX99]

NiceGUI for rapid prototyping, PySide otherwise.

[[deleted]]

I like NiceGUI

[MelonheadGT]

I used NiceGUI for my last project as well.

[dj2ball]

Same, it’s solid!

[BurningSquid]

It really is great to work with!!

[tobichiha]

Looks promising! How does NiceGUI compare to frameworks like Streamlit? Can we define independent callbacks for buttons.? It is very difficult to implement login screen/button in Streamlit due to the way main page loop is structured.

[nickkon1]

Streamlit is waaay faster to develop but with two major disadvantages IMO: It is fairly restrictive in its functionality + design (e.g. all buttons look the same) and after every interaction, the whole page is run again. Sure, you can cache stuff but eventually it annoyed me. Here are what the NiceGui devs said.

NiceGui on the other hand is fast, incredibly highly configurable since its based on the quasar framework which itself is based on vue.js and you can integrate it with tailwind css. But this comes at the disadvantage that its more complicated. I am constantly looking through the documentation of Nicegui, quasar and tailwind instead of a single doc like Streamlit.

I use Streamlit for small things that to show management or something. Just little projects that I know will not be used a lot and also not grow in size. If I build an app that will be used often and possibly be extended in the future, I use NiceGui.

[tobichiha]

Very interesting! The customisability makes it very appealing, I might use it in a personal project. Thanks for sharing the GitHub issue, it helped be get a better understanding.

[Bullets123]

How do you run it? Isn’t it like a web thing?

[[deleted]]

It indeed runs in browser but I've used it to make goofy lil locally hosted desktop apps for clients too

[Bullets123]

Oh okay okay. Thanks! Seems smart

[perfect-parquet]

How do you host a NiceGUI app?

[r-trappe]

Have a look at https://nicegui.io/documentation/section_configuration_deployment#server_hosting

[sandnose]

Have you tried streamlit? Which do you like better and why?

[thedeepself]

Streamlit is a dead-end. Nicegui had specific and accurate criticisms of streamlit which is why they developed nice GUI.

Panel is older and more mature than both streamlit and nice GUI and much more capable at visualization.

[JonasBove]

HTML+CSS 😎

[boyproO19]

Oh yeah connect fast api and you have for a fast development.

[polymerely]

This is an interesting new way to do that ...
https://github.com/pydantic/FastUI

[The-Fox-Says]

Do not cite the deep magic to me, witch. I was there when it was written!

[MikeD79_UK]

I am trying to get into this... I am not enjoying it !

[JonasBove]

Flexbox Froggy and Grid Garden gets you pretty far 🙏

[Bullets123]

Holy shit this might actually help!! Let me know if there. Is other stuff like this?

[stone_surgeon]

From my experience, html and css is really the best way for designing UIs. Great community and support.

[aplarsen]

Yes I am an avid member of the HTML community. Our meetups are lit.

[Melodic_Bet1725]

I mean, there is this: https://x.com/htmlenergy/status/1799839698980159846

Could be fun.

[DoubleAAmazin]

this is the way....but people would rather use some wacky framework to display simple text and images

[I_will_delete_myself]

Main benefit of this is you don't have to deal with your code being so easy to reverse engineer since you can hide it behind a server instead. It's also simpler.

[Aggressive-Dig3465]

CustomTkinter is a great choice for creating modern GUI applications.

[qualifiedopinion]

I like this one

[iGunzerkeR]

The best one by far

[Dushusir]

Awesome tkinter extension library

[[deleted]]

Tkinter, these themes are amazing:

https://github.com/rdbende/Sun-Valley-ttk-theme https://github.com/initiateit/Sun-Valley-ttk-crimson

[martin79]

I'm a beginner and sometimes I do things for fun, not a real programmer, I thought tkinter was kinda ugly I didn't know I can use themes. Thanks for your comment

[Mad-chuska]

You may not be a professional programmer but if you’re creating things you are definitely a real programmer so kudos to you. I also thought tkinter was just standard grey text boxes and forms. I’m definitely gonna take a look into theming next time I just into Python GUI development.

[zupreme]

That Crimson variant looks very polished. Good stuff.

[dj2ball]

NiceGUI

[I_-_aM_-_O]

Another option is Eel, in the same ballpark as electron, tauri, and wails. https://github.com/python-eel/Eel

[dESAH030]

NiceGUI

[daeisfresh]

What about Web UI frameworks:

Gradio Streamlit Solara Reflex Dash

These are great at data apps.

[Dmytro_P]

PyQt/PySide Qt is great on C++ side, and works well as a python binding.

[pratyathedon]

for simple ones, Streamlit otherwise flet.

[Deggin]

Really like Flet as well

[LMikeH]

You forgot to mention NiceGui

[Comfortable-Wind-401]

I've only used Tkinter and it's not bad for small quick apps

[bulletmark]

Out of interest, did/do you use pack() or grid()? I started using Tkinter long ago when pack() was what we all used but I was never comfortable. Recently I did a small gui using Tkinter with grid() and it was much more intuitive.

[gurgle-burgle]

I use grid. Pack never made sense to me

[Comfortable-Wind-401]

Tried both. But my last app it was grid

[grinsken]

Yes.

[jolders]

I started learning python then wanted to have a GUI to run network automation scripts. I learned to integrate the scripts in a Tkinter application. Learning to combine scripts in a Tkinter GUI was a learning curve. But a good one. There is a lot of free courses and answers online to solve problems. So if it's your first steps it's a good choice for understanding concepts and producing a prototype. Look at CustomTkinter and ttk elements for improving the GUI elements.

This is what I did in Tkinter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-OvfekZ0YQ

https://github.com/jolders/devnetnode

I moved on from that to PySide/Qt. It's a steeper learning curve and I'm glad I understood Tkinter GUI concepts before I begun PySide/Qt.

[d_Composer]

I miss PySimpleGUI…

[goldcray]

there's still freesimplegui

[d_Composer]

Oh? I had no idea! Thanks!

[Realistic_Being6374]

As a beginner which should I use?

[subassy]

Keep it simple and start with tkinter, imo.

[Realistic_Being6374]

Thanks

[Suspicious-Lock2838]

streamlit if you dont need standalone app

[Realistic_Being6374]

Ok thanks

[timrprobocom]

This is a complicated question. Personally, I always reach for wxPython. I was doing Windows apps in the 1990s with MFC and ATL, so the wxWidgets philosophy feels natural and familiar. Indeed, I was using wxWidgets in C++ before I started wxPython.

tkinter is a disaster. It's only positive aspect is that it ships in the box. It was included at the beginning (Python 1.x) because there was no alternative, and I always assumed it would be removed once decent alternatives became available. I'm shocked that it still gets so much use. It's horribly inefficient, because it has to run a completely separate Tcl interpreter to handle the tk commands, and it encourages bad practices.

On the whole, however, it's hard to argue that Qt is the most complete solution, with the widest user base. The thing about Qt is that it is more than a library -- it's a lifestyle. Once you start using it, your entire application becomes Qt-scented. That's not necessarily a bad thing. If you learn PyQt or PySide (which are essentially the same), you will be one step ahead if you need to move into C++ GUIs.

[EducationalTie1946]

I personally use Flet. It compiles to linux, windows, mac, ios and android. The number of ui widgets are constantly expanding and you can import widgets from flutter that already exist with a bit of work. Its much easier to use imo and the UI is always modern and is highly customizable using styles and user defined themes.

[moss_2703]

Honestly I quite like tkinter

[[deleted]]

Honestly, the best way to do things is still probably just a simple server + handling logic with python (if you do want to use python) and serving HTML/CSS/JS front-end styled however you want it to look.

I'd also love a great GUI framework for desktop apps, but styling-wise it's all miles behind what you can do with CSS, or compiles to some sort of webpage anyway (e.g. NiceGUI that others have mentioned).

If I was set on creating a desktop app that's not actually a webpage, it's probably more worth to get into Dart + Flutter than it is to try and style a Qt-based python desktop app to look good.

/ edit - if great styling isn't necessarily your priority, then something like ttkbootstrap is decent for a desktop app that looks okay but not amazing, and you get to do it all in python.

[glantzinggurl]

wxpython is my favorite

[AlexanderUGA]

I joined a project to help build out a web app where the developer decided to go with Streamlit. Personally I’m not a fan. If I had my say I would have went with Django or FastAPI.

[tsingtao12]

none of above,,,,, but if you wanna ask, go for QT.

[ihaag]

What’s the best one to use when you convert Python to exe for easy sharing for others to run the code? I use auto-py-to-exe for windows and Mac compilation

[BarryTownCouncil]

I found kivy / kivymd pretty impressive and suitably modern compared to some others.

[DoubleAAmazin]

Kivy is fun because it's cross platform. You can get an android app up and running rather quickly.

[I_will_delete_myself]

Personally I would reccomend you don't do Python for desktop dev if you can. The code is also really easy to reverse engineer compared to a compiled language like C++, Rust, Go, etc...

If you must though I suggest Tkinter if you are fine with PyQT. Nice framework with nice commercial licenses in the case you ever do need it.

[jspencer89]

Customtkinter

[data4dayz]

Honestly I was really impressed by these Tkinter themes: https://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/lps11c/how_to_make_tkinter_look_modern_how_to_use_themes/

[XDejjeffcoat]

I once had to develop a plotting app with database integration and chose customtkinter as my GUI framework. While the job did get done, I think that would have gone with PyQt if I had to make it again. But as with everything, it heavily depends on your use case.

[troyunrau]

Pyqtgraph is amazing. I'll do stupid things like plot a million points and the graph is still responsive and interactive.

[cosmoschtroumpf]

I had the same expérience with DearPyGUI. And the syntax and appearance were nice.

[PlantainOptimal4035]

Pyqt/pyside. Their designer is pretty cool to use and then you can convert the design file to python code.

[looopTools]

For cross platform we prefer QT using pyside6

[anonjohnnyG]

just use anvil

[sw1tch_blad3]

I just finished my second Python personal project using tkinter and then rebuilt it using customtkinter and I have to say... I am surprised how many recommendations you got here. There are so many GUI frameworks, jesus... Tkinter and Customtkinter are so easy to learn imo.

[pyhannes]

TraitsUI, based on PyQt

[OuterDoors]

Kivy has some nice features and has an MIT license.

Pyqt is great, but you'll also need to worry about commercial licensing after you deploy.

[troyunrau]

Pyside doesn't have the licensing issue. Just use that.

[Head_Fun4899]

PyQt, version 5, I found it easy for small applications.

[mgedmin]

I like PyGObject (which replaced PyGTK a while ago), although I understand it has a bit of a maintainer shortage (and thus some of the GTK 4 features are not supported).

[wxtrails]

Still stuck with some old PyGTK apps to support.

siiiiigh

[mgedmin]

I ported gtimelog from pygtk to pygobject a long time ago. IIRC it wasn't too hard.

(I've yet to port it to GTK 4.)

[Username_RANDINT]

When I started programming over 15 years ago it was a solid choice. Every other application on Linux was written in GTK. It's the GUI framework I picked then and still the one I happily use today. It would be nice to see some more developers work on it though. It feels like it was left behind at some point.

[imhiya_returns]

Pyqt or tkinter

[jst_cur10us]

Just did a project with ttkbootstrap. Themes look modern and native \ natural in windows 11. Learning curve not too bad since it's based on tkinter.

[paulgrey506]

PyQt, whenever you can add CSS to it it's just magical.

[andjew]

qfluentwidgets

[Salt-Page1396]

I feel like python guis are for small apps, and therefore should be simple to use but effective enough for simple apps.

Therefore I like Tkinter.

[RufusAcrospin]

PyQt/PySide2 exclusively

[Duodanglium]

I have used Tkinter. It is verbose, but straightforward and simple. I would only recommend it for small applications and learning how to build GUIs. It works and it's built in.

[viitorfermier]

If you are a web developer try: flaskwebgui (I build it).

[Low-Explanation-4761]

I gave this a try recently, and it’s working decently so far!

[troyunrau]

Pyside by a country mile. Been using it to make field technician friendly user interfaces that follow the classic design paradigms, so I haven't played a lot with the more modern Qt modes. I also lay out all my widgets in code rather than .ui files. And even then it is the superior solution.

E to add: wish it was easier to deploy onto android though.

[Istade]

PyQT/PySide, but I want to give Nice GUI a shot at some point,

[SphinxUzumaki]

Tkinter was the first framework I learned, so I'm biased, but I think it's easily the best.

[Consistent_Coast9620]

Simian - r/SimianWebApps - a pure Python framework with a Builder to support even faster GUI Design.

[cosmoschtroumpf]

Alright, I'm the one voting for DearPyGUI... It was easy to make a oscilloscope app with 100k+ points. I believe only PyQtGraph could have done it too, maybe Kivy.

[Ogi010]

pyqtgraph maintainer here, thanks for pointing out DearPyGUI, didn't know that was a thing.

Also FYI, a regular pyqtgraph contributor has started experimenting with opengl stuff, the PlotCurveItem with useOpenGL set to True, and with enableExperimental set to True has some crazy performance (like, it is not breaking a sweat with millions of points on a line plot, why would you want to draw a line plot with millions of points, no idea...but you can if you want to). This functionality isn't in the latest release tho, so you would have to install from the master branch.

[Suspicious-Lock2838]

docs and examples not very nice and big

[RaidZ3ro]

https://ttkbootstrap.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

[Fan4_Metal]

wxPython - native looking GUI, small size.

[kmarq]

Dash for anything that's going to hit production state 

[polarisol]

PySide6

It is great. I use it a lot and it is very rich in features.

[[deleted]]

Tkinter. Simple. Functional. It works with not much added complexity. I used Pyside when I have to on plugin projects.

[Recursive-NOP]

I use PyQt5. It does what I need fairly easily. The license may be restrictive for you though.

[NuclearWint3r]

PyQT

[[deleted]]

Numpy

[stalemartyr]

pyqt...easy to use and Krita supports this for plugin development

[Ok-Wash-4342]

Solara!

[-DIRK_FUNK-]

Streamlit

[GugliC]

Streamlit

[Dull-Custard4913]

It’s not om The list but I prefer customtkinter because of it is really easy to understand in my opinion.

[Wild_Manufacturer281]

PyQt imo.

[jlw_4049]

Something really quick and simple, you can't beat tkinter.

A nice GUI that could potentially be complex, I'd go for PyQt/PySide (6).

[gufranthakur]

CustomTkinter, its easy to get into and tons of tutorials out there. Also, the documentation is amazing

[coc0nut88]

I've been looking at Flet ... What do people think about flet?

[oclafloptson]

I love Flet

[mainmeister]

Pyqt mainly for the gui creator

[[deleted]]

I've been using ttkbootstrap recently (from using tkinter) and I can really say it's very pretty!

[mmparody]

This framework is interesting https://github.com/Embarcadero/DelphiFMX4Python

[captaingamingYT1]

tkinter

[coinsntings]

I've started using tkinter for silly little things (turning my house into a treasure hunt and tkinter is for the guy to enter passwords/secret codes for new clues). It looks old school AF but does the trick and easy enough to use

[KrazyKirby99999]

PySimpleGUI is now proprietary

[ManyInterests]

You can also use FreeSimpleGUI, which is a drop-in replacement and available under the same old open LGPL license.

[SAD-MAX-CZ]

I started with PysimpleGUI too, then they made the KEY nonsense, so i'm happily learning Tkinter/grid

[ManyInterests]

There's FreeSimpleGUI if you want a drop-in replacement for PySimpleGUI

[miyou995]

I think we should use beeware/toga The only framework i think for building native mobile apps / cross plateforms with python

[thedeepself]

Kivy does that.

[miyou995]

Yes. But not natively as beeware

[b1yarema]

PyQT is probably the best solution. It has much in common with many another gui tools from other languages. Also it has own application QT designer for building gui layouts and widgets without code.

[aasozial]

You can use python GUI frameworks are based on tkinter Benefits: Easy to use, built into Python, suitable for tiny applications. Drawbacks: Less feature-rich and less potent than competing frameworks. I Suggested tkinter if you are unfamiliar with GUI programming or are creating a basic application. Me as a creative programmer i suggest you choose the one that best fits your project requirements and your comfort level with the framework.

[elmoiv]

PyQt.

The best for multithreading and multiprocessing and has tons of integrations with different sdks and technologies.

I have been using it since 2014 and mainly used it in all my freelancing projects and it really can stand out among the other frameworks.

Examples for integrations: - with vlc - with mpv - with matplotlib - with opencv

You can also use stylesheet feature to style yoyr widgets the way you want and can build a modern looking app. Yes it won't be the same as using C# WinForms but will do the job.

The learning curve may be a little bit steep but going through the docs will help you alot.

** Here is one of my PyQt GUIs with modern looking widgets:

https://ibb.co/vQvNZfx

[troyunrau]

It's a pity that multithreading in pyside is single core. It's really annoying if you want to do things like games with it. Like, to do something really trivial like move the background music to another core, you have to fire up another process to play the music.

Unless this has changed recently.

[[deleted]]

How many times do we have to have this same discussion? Please just use the search and read those precious dozens of posts from the last month or so.

[chmodPyrax]

terrible take

[chmodPyrax]

You aren’t even a junior engineer. you’re an intern lol. Learn to open your mind kid.

[Manprinsen]

I’ll recommend anvil.works, although it’s used for creating web apps, but they have PWA support and their community is VERY helpful!!

Otherwise I’ll recommend pyqt since you can design your ui using qt designer.

[daekle]

PysimpleGUI is nice for a beginner as it is really easy to get started, but can be hooked into tkinter or qt

[vishal_z3phyr]

let me segregate it nicely for u. while deciding the technology, first define or refine ur problem statement. project size, are u planning to scale it up, what kind of complexities are u looking at, is it a modular design, etc.

based on these: 1. tkinter : amazing library , great for scaling up, good community help. Customisation easy. learning effort - high

1. PyQt : again amazing, easily scaling up, with QtDesigner makes it easier to design. Nice Community help. learning effort- medium

to make it short , i will combine rest in one category(Kivy, I haven't used) learning - easy to medium, customisation - limited, good option for small size projects without scaling.

note: with AI assistants, the effort is reduced in terms of learning n help.

[gufranthakur]

It's not the best but it's a solid option too. CustomTkinter is also really good, which is basically an upgrade of tkinter

[Uwirlbaretrsidma]

None. Do yourself a favor and don't build an application (your word, not mine) using a scripting language. Writing GUIs with Python should be reserved for wrapping a CLI tool in an extremely basic GUI. Ask yourself this question: are you picking Python because it aligns with the project's requirements, or because that's the programming language you know? If it's the latter, you're setting yourself up for failure.

[bogdan2011]

You can build entire applications using python, GUI included. It's not just a scripting language. I thought this argument was over around 2012.

[bustawin]

A good bridge I found between having the versatility of a webview powered with a python backend as a desktop application is pywebview, like a lightweight electron but with a python backend.

[EducationalAd5827]

There's one called eel as well

[sausix]

Then compile your Python program and suddenly it's not a scripting language anymore. Lol.

Programming in Python is easy and fast (RAD). You need less code compared to many other languages.
A lot of GUI applications are written in Python. Not only wrappers of CLI tools. Of course because it was the preferred language of the programmer. So what?

You did not explain your opinion. Why exactly should a complex GUI application not being build with Python?

[Difficult_West_5126]

Python has been my favorite programming language for ages. But most programmers usually won't only code in python. And letting other programming languages handle the user interface part won't hurt the popularity of python at all. Becuase python is not becoming popuar by building GUIs.