Top 12 Python GUI Frameworks for Developers

Python makes for a compelling programming language to learn due to its smooth learning curve and widespread adoption across the world. Once you gain a firm grasp on the basics of Python programming, the next challenge you’ll face is building the graphical user interface (GUI). Luckily, many Python GUI frameworks specialize in helping developers build intuitive user interfaces to go with modern applications.

What Is a Graphical User Interface (GUI)?

A graphical user interface is the first thing users interact with when they open your application or website. It includes visual elements like icons, buttons, graphics, display text and other forms of input like checkboxes and text input boxes. Input to these visual elements can be from the usual mediums, such as keyboards, mouses and touchscreens. Together, these elements make up a vital part of the user experience.

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Importance of Choosing the Right Python GUI Framework

Not all Python GUI frameworks are created equal, so picking the right one is crucial to successfully building your application. Some frameworks are unique to a specific operating system (OS), some have more community-based support than others and some may not have the capabilities to design the GUI features you need. When you find the ideal Python GUI framework for your project, it results in a simpler, more efficient development process and a product that’s easy for users to understand and engage with.  

What to Consider When Choosing a Python GUI Framework

To select a Python GUI framework that fits the needs of your application, keep in mind several factors: 

• Platform compatibility: Some GUI frameworks are tied to a specific OS while others can work with different platforms. Make sure the one you choose is compatible with all OSs involved. 
• GUI requirements: GUI frameworks have different capacities for handling less and more demanding tasks. When considering a Python GUI framework, ensure it can create and manage all the features you need for your application. 
• Versions and extensions: You may be using a certain version of Python and multiple extensions to handle project needs. The right Python GUI framework will be able to support your preferred version of Python and any extensions. 
• Community support: A broad and active community signals that a GUI framework is popular and likely to stick around long-term. Be sure the framework you choose has a community of developers to turn to for technical support. 
• License terms: While some Python GUI frameworks are open-source, others are licensed. If you’re developing an application for commercial purposes, check if a GUI framework has any terms and conditions to follow.  

Best Python GUI Frameworks for Developers

Python has plenty of frameworks for developing GUIs that deliver a high-quality user experience — without a hefty price tag. Here are some of the most popular Python GUI frameworks used by developers. 

1. PyQt5

Riverbank Computing’s PyQt package is built around the Qt framework, which is a cross-platform framework used for creating a plethora of applications for various platforms. The PyQt5 package includes a detailed set of bindings for Python based on the V5 version of the Qt application framework. Similar to the Qt5 framework, PyQt5 is also fully cross-platform and supports applications for platforms like Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android and more.

When it comes to creating GUIs, the PyQt5 arsenal offers the QtGui and QtDesigner module, which provide numerous visual elements that you can implement with a simple drag and drop. You can also create these elements with code, allowing you to build both small-scale and large-scale applications with ease. Python’s modularity trickles down to PyQt5 in the form of extensions, giving you a lot more features than just GUI building. You can give PyQt5 a try with the command pip install PyQt5.

Key features:

• Compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android platforms. 
• QtGui and QtDesigner modules support drag-and-drop features. 
• Includes over 35 extension modules for additional capabilities. 
• Online documentation and resources available due to PyQt5’s popularity. 

2. Tkinter

Often referred to as the go-to GUI toolkit by a majority of Python developers, Python contributor Fredrik Lundh created Tkinter to equip modern developers with a standard interface to the Tk GUI toolkit with its Python bindings. In Tkinter’s world, most of the visual elements that we’re familiar with are called widgets, and each of these widgets offers a different level of customizability.

Tkinter comes baked into current Python installers for all major operating systems and offers a host of commonly used elements that include:

• Frame: Provides a structure to your application.
• Buttons: Used for taking input from the user.
• Checkbuttons: Used for making selections.
• Labels: Displays textual information.
• File dialogs: Uploads or downloads files to and from the application.
• Canvas: Provides a space for drawing and painting things like graphs and plots.

Key features: 

• Pre-installed in Python, so no installation is required. 
• Contains a range of visual elements, including buttons, frames and canvases.
• Easy to pick up for beginners, just like Python. 
• Compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux platforms.   

3. Kivy

Written using a mix of Python and Cython, Kivy is an open-source GUI framework for building user interfaces encompassing multi-touch applications. It implements a natural user interface (NUI) — a kind of interface where the user naturally learns about the various interactions provided by a user interface that’s usually kept invisible.

With Kivy, interface designers can code once and deploy to multiple platforms, while the built-in support for OpenGL ES 2 allows them to use modern and powerful graphics and design techniques. The most common use of the Kivy GUI framework can be seen in Android and iOS applications. Other widespread implementations of the framework can be seen in the user interfaces of Linux, Windows, Raspberry Pi and macOS devices. 

Key features: 

• Free and open-source, despite being under the MIT license. 
• Ideal for building touch-based devices and applications. 
• Provides built-in support for OpenGL ES 2 to create powerful graphics. 
• Compatible with Linux, Windows, Raspberry Pi and macOS devices. 

4. wxPython

Developed by programmer Robin Dunn, wxPython is a Python extension module that acts as a wrapper for the wxWidgets API. wxPython allows Python developers to create native user interfaces that add zero additional overhead to the application. The cross-platform capabilities of wxPython allow deployment to platforms like Windows, macOS, Linux, and Unix-based systems with little to no modifications.

The developer later released Project Phoenix as the successor to wxPython with support for Python 3. It has been built from the ground-up to offer a cleaner Python implementation of the wxWidgets toolkit. If you’re interested in trying this framework, the update v4.1.1 has added it to the Python Package Index. With its addition to PyPI, the downloads have become much smoother with the command pip install wxPython==4.1.1.

Key features:

• Supports the development of native user interfaces. 
• Designed to make the wxWidgets toolkit easier to use. 
• Compatible with Windows, macOS and Linux platforms. 
• Available in Python Package Index for faster downloads. 

5. Libavg

This open-source Libavg GUI framework is great for developing user interfaces for modern touch-based devices. On the graphics-intensive side, video decoding, visual effects and compositing are all handled by the hardware acceleration achieved via OpenGL and GPU shaders to deliver smooth and graphic-rich visuals.

Libavg supports a majority of commonly used touch drivers and offers a range of features, such as camera support, text alignment, animation support and GPU effects like blur and shadows. There’s also an advanced screen layout engine that offers rotation, scaling, cropping, blending modes and other manipulation techniques for visual elements. And because it’s built with C++, it ensures incredibly fast execution times. 

Key features: 

• Ideal for building touch-based devices. 
• Displays fast execution times due to being built with C++. 
• Uses OpenGL to support video decoding, compositing and other capabilities. 
• Possesses features like text alignment, animation support and GPU effects.  

6. PySimpleGUI

PySimpleGUI is designed for Python newbies to get into GUI development without spending too much time getting into the intricacies of the more advanced GUI development options available. PySimpleGUI takes four of the widely popular Python GUI frameworks — Qt, Tkinter, wxPython and Remi — and turns down their difficulty a few notches by implementing most of the boilerplate code. 

Beginners get to pick the GUI framework of their choice, along with easy access to the various visual elements that come with it to create intuitive user interfaces without diving deep into the frameworks. In addition, full native functionality still exists for more seasoned developers.

Key features:

• Caters to beginners looking to learn GUI development in Python. 
• Handles boilerplate code for Qt, Tkinter, wxPython and Remi. 
• Compatible with macOS, Windows and Linux platforms. 
• Full native functionality available for experienced developers.  

7. PyForms

PyForms is a Python software layer at its core for the widely famous Windows Forms, which allows developers to create highly interactive user interfaces. PyForms’ cross-platform capabilities make it easier to create applications for multiple platforms with little changes to the code, eliminating unnecessary slowdowns. PyForms provides several popular graphic-centric libraries, such as PyQt and OpenGL, to help developers create user interfaces for their applications.

The PyForms library is split into three different sections that include PyForms-GUI, PyForms-Web and PyForms-Terminal. Each of these layers allows the execution of the PyForms application in web, terminal and Windows GUI. With a focus on modularity, PyForms is perfect for quickly creating prototypes, and it can also support maintenance at later stages of the application. Installation is handled with the command pip install pyforms, which adds all three libraries. You can also use the libraries individually.

Key features: 

• Offers popular libraries like PyQt and OpenGL for building user interfaces. 
• Can be executed in web, terminal and Windows GUI. 
• Ideal for quickly building prototypes and supporting application maintenance.
• PyForms’ three libraries can be used together or individually.  

8. Wax

Just like wxPython was a wrapper for the wxWidgets GUI toolkit, the Wax GUI framework is a more developer-friendly wrapper of wxPython. Like other popular frameworks, Wax is implemented as an extension module for Python. And it also supports building cross-platform applications.

The idea behind Wax is to offer developers simpler access to the Python elements and objects for building GUIs by removing the low-level aspects of wxPython. While the underlying platform wxWindows is extremely efficient, the Wax GUI framework enjoys the same level of efficiency and speed since it uses the native widgets provided by the platform.

Key features:

• Serves as a user-friendly wrapper of wxPython.  
• Enables developers to build cross-platform applications. 
• Uses native widgets, matching the speed and efficiency of wxWindows. 
• Open-source for anyone to use.  

9. PySide2

PySide2 is built by the same company that created Qt and is part of the Qt for Python project, which is nothing but the task of porting PySide to support Qt5. Whereas the framework itself is now being called PySide2. The project provides Python developers access to a proven collection of tools and libraries for the fast and flexible creation of user interface tools that Qt5 and above has to offer.

PySide2 also offers powerful community support. PySide2’s documentation section has been divided into areas like tutorials, video guides, examples, API docs and more to extensively cover the variety of topics included in the framework. AMD’s Radeon Control Software, cockpit entertainment solutions for Mercedes Mini Cooper and TomTom’s Navigation Systems are just some of the high-tech and modern examples running on Qt.

Key features: 

• Supports fast and versatile development of user interface tools. 
• Provides a large and customizable GUI library. 
• Offers strong community support for developers. 
• Extensive documentation that includes tutorials, API docs and video guides.

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10. PyGUI

The Python GUI Project, or the PyGUI framework as it is more commonly known, is a simple API that enables developers to create user interfaces using native elements for Python applications. Being a fairly lightweight API, the PyGUI framework adds very little additional code between the Python application and the target platform. PyGUI currently supports creating applications for Unix-based systems, Windows machines and macOS devices.

To make application development even easier for developers, the documentation for the entire library is in Python, eliminating the need to refer to other GUI libraries. PyGUI is available for Python two and three and comes with support for extensions that let you use OpenGL and GTK.

Key features:

• Lets developers build Python applications with native elements. 
• Supports applications for Windows, macOS and Unix-based platforms.
• Documentation is entirely in Python for developers’ convenience. 
• Supports extensions like OpenGL and GTK. 

11. Streamlit

Streamlit is an open-source Python framework that caters to data scientists and artificial intelligence and machine learning engineers. In addition to being installed on Windows, macOS and Linux platforms, Streamlit is compatible with the cloud platform Snowflake. Once Streamlit is set up, users can design charts, maps, pages and other app elements.   

Developers who choose this framework receive plenty of support from Streamlit’s online community, which contains a network of creators, advocates and moderators. Streamlit’s online documentation also covers topics like installation, basic and advanced concepts and how to use Streamlit in Snowflake.   

Key features:

• Compatible with Windows, macOS and Linux platforms. 
• Works well with cloud platform Snowflake for additional security. 
• Features an extensive online community of creators, advocates and moderators.
• Online documentation and knowledge base cover various topics. 

12. Dear PyGui 

Dear PyGui is a Python framework that is built on the foundation of another Python GUI, Dear ImGui, and other extensions. Users can access over 70 widgets with hundreds of combinations, crafting features like buttons, menus, pop-ups, tables and plots. The framework is also equipped with developer tools like runtime metrics and resource inspection, making it easier to design both simple and more complicated applications. 

To make the framework even more accessible, the project provides online documentation that includes an API reference page and step-by-step tutorials. If you want more engagement, you can view YouTube tutorials through Dear PyGui’s documentation. 

Key features: 

• Compatible with Windows 10, macOS, Linux and Raspberry Pi 4 platforms. 
• Includes over 70 widgets for building buttons, menus and other features. 
• Possesses built-in developer tools like resource inspection and runtime metrics. 
• Provides online documentation with an API reference page and multimedia tutorials.

Frequently Asked Questions