When comparing Java / SWT vs Tkinter, the Slant community recommends Tkinter for most people. In the question“What are the best cross-platform GUI toolkits?” Tkinter is ranked 20th while Java / SWT is ranked 30th.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Open source
Pro Actively developed
Pro Native controls
Pro Free for commercial use
Pro Included in the standard Python library
You probably already have it, since it's included in the standard Python distributions.
Pro Easy to learn and get productive with
TkInter is a small library with a gentle learning curve compared to what’s out there. It has a straightforward API and is often the go-to choice for building quick GUIs for Python scripts.
Pro Building executables is less complicated
Compared to other GUI libraries, building executables for TkInter applications are simpler because TkInter is included in Python and has no other dependencies. This results in less complicated packaging requirements and smaller binary size.
Pro Fast
Cons
Con Only works in Java or JRE based software
Con Inherits limitation of native controls
E.g. slow handling of tables with a lot of rows on Linux.
Con No elegant abstraction
As in Swing; no models.
Con Needs separate libraries for each platform
Con No advanced widgets
TkInter does not come with advanced widgets out of the box (e.g. date picker).
Con Not good looking
You need a lot of code to make it look good.
Con No reliable UI builder available
There is no tool in the same league as Qt Designer (PyQt) for TkInter.