When comparing Thonny vs IDLE, the Slant community recommends Thonny for most people. In the question“What are the best Python IDEs or editors?” Thonny is ranked 13th while IDLE is ranked 35th. The most important reason people chose Thonny is:
Easy to get started. You can step through your code in the first lesson.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Great for beginners
Easy to get started. You can step through your code in the first lesson.
Pro Integrated Debugger
It explains Python semantics really well
Pro Integrated pip packages installer
Pro Dark Theme available
Pro Sometimes simple is best
For short scripts, a heavyweight IDE just gets in the way. It's also easier for beginners to understand.
Pro Written in pure Python/tkinter
You can dig in and change how it works.
Pro Included in standard Python distributions
You probably already have it.
Pro Debugger
It has one.
Cons
Con No Tabbing for Files or Shell instances
Idle's Interactive Python Shell and the Python Text Editor are separate window applications. Many would expect them to be unified together within a single window. To create a python program file, or module, the user first opens Idle (It's Interactive Shell), then the user goes to [File] and [New File] to open the Idle Text Editor. Plus, every time a new python file is opened, a new instance of Idle runs separately. So, there are no tabbed modules. That's clumsy approach that adds the complexity of juggling around many Idle instances.