What are the best drawing libraries for Python?

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4

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55

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Nov 11, 2020

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

4 Options Considered

Best drawing libraries for Python	Price	License	Last Updated
-- Pygame	-	LGPL	Nov 11, 2020
-- pyglet	-	BSD	May 11, 2020
-- PyCairo	-	-	Aug 23, 2019
-- SFML for Python	-	-	Oct 13, 2020

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score 31 · Answer 1

Pygame

Top Pro

Rich platform support

Support of Linux, Windows, BSDs, and Mac OS X makes pygame a great option for any user. Installation can be done via package manager on Linux and by binary installers for OS X and Windows. See More

Top Con

Messy documentation

The docs are messy, and some basic functions are infuriating to work out. There's even some places in the documentation where it's clearly wrong about how a method is called/what the arguments really do. See More

Specs

License:LGPL

Top Pro

Very easy to understand

The API is very straightforward. See More

Top Con

Does not scale well to large games

Pygame does well with small games and hobby projects, but to use it and scale it out for a large project will result in a lot of performance issues. See More

Top Pro

Great documentation and tutorials

With a wealth of tutorials, examples and instruction on the API there should be little to no extra support needed to get started. See More

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score 12 · Answer 2

pyglet

Top Pro

3D support

Since pyglet is so tightly woven with OpenGL it allows the support of drawing in 3D. See More

Top Con

Small community/popularity

There is a decent amount of documentation and API to go along with pyglet, but in terms of community support there seems to be very little. See More

UnderstandingIstanu's Experience

Great! See More

Specs

License:BSD

Top Pro

Cross-platform

Works with Windows, Linux, and OS X. See More

Top Pro

Written in pure Python

A small advantage, but being a core Python developer, it may be the best to stick to the roots and develop with pyglet as it is able to compile using other Python interpreters. See More

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score 4 · Answer 3

PyCairo

Top Pro

Good tutorials and documentation

With a plethora of documentation on the core Cairo library and the bindings for Python, users will be able to turn to the documentation, API, or translate examples from other languages to work with PyCairo. See More

Top Con

No 3D support

Due to PyCairo being built off the 2D graphics library cairo, there is no 3D support for any graphics. See More

Top Pro

Supports rich set of platforms

Support includes Linux, BSDs, Microsoft Windows, and OS X. With all these supported platforms the PyCairo library will be able to complete the job. See More

See All

score 2 · Answer 4

SFML for Python

WorthyAmatsuMikaboshi's Experience

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What are the best drawing libraries for Python?

4 Options Considered

Pygame

My Recommendation for Pygame

My Recommendation for Pygame

Rich platform support

Messy documentation

Very easy to understand

Does not scale well to large games

Great documentation and tutorials

pyglet

My Recommendation for pyglet

My Recommendation for pyglet

3D support

Small community/popularity

Cross-platform

Written in pure Python

PyCairo

My Recommendation for PyCairo

My Recommendation for PyCairo

Good tutorials and documentation

No 3D support

Supports rich set of platforms

SFML for Python

My Recommendation for SFML for Python

My Recommendation for SFML for Python

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