DEV Community

hub
hub

Posted on

if we compare Conda and Pip - what are the differences?

Conda and Pip are two popular package managers used in Python development. While both are used to install and manage packages, there are some key differences between the two:

Environment management: Conda can create and manage isolated environments, which means you can have different versions of Python and packages installed in each environment. Pip does not have this functionality and only installs packages globally or within a specific user environment.

Cross-platform compatibility: Conda is designed to be cross-platform and can manage packages for different operating systems. Pip is limited to the Python packages that are available on the Python Package Index (PyPI).

Package availability: Conda has its own package repository, called Anaconda, which includes many scientific and data-oriented packages. Pip is limited to the packages available on PyPI, which may not include certain specialized packages.

Dependency resolution: Conda has a more robust dependency resolution system than Pip, which can be important when working with complex software stacks that have many dependencies.

Package installation: Conda installs pre-built binary packages, which can be faster and more reliable than Pip's source-based installations. However, Pip can install packages from source, which can be useful if you need to modify the package source code.

In summary, Conda is a more powerful package manager that includes environment management and cross-platform compatibility, while Pip is simpler and more limited in scope, but can still be a useful tool for installing and managing packages.

Top comments (0)