Member Avatar for nouth

First am I missing any other notable ones? I only want to know about crossplatform standalone source-based modules, so no Gui IDEs.

Tkinter
Pyjamas
wxPython
PyGObject (Gtk's successor)
Qt

I already know that Tkinter is the default so it is the obvious choice for crossplatform because of its licensing and availability, with the obvious exception of Apple.
And Pyjamas is for web apps, although Grail did it first.

But which one is has the best speed for performance-wise efficiency?
And what about speed as in Rapid Application Developments?
And ease of use?
And most feature rich and powerful? Which would you use to do 3D rendering? Is there such a thing as a complex and highly evolved 3D game written or rewritten in python?

Also I want to know what each of they are best used for, like if you have no choice and you have to use each of them then what would you do with them based on what you know they are optimized to handle for?

Since this is all visually out in the open, what about the aesthetics? Tkinter now has theming, although much is still left to be desired.

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A brief, practical summary to sit on top of this thread and help choose by need rather than familiarity.

Match the toolkit to the job. If the requirement is simple, fast-to-write desktop utilities or teaching examples, the smallest-surface-area option wins. If you need a polished, full-featured desktop product with a designer and a large widget set, pick the toolset with a mature native backend and form designer. If the target is mobile or multitouch, pick a GPU-backed framework that targets OpenGL ES. ’s and ’s preferences reflect exactly that trade-off: simplicity versus platform/feature coverage; ’s classroom note explains why beginners often start small.

Performance and responsiveness are mostly about where heavy work runs. Native C/C++ backends (Qt, wx, GTK) do widget drawing in compiled code, so Python overhead is rarely the UI bottleneck; use worker threads, processes, or C extensions for CPU-heavy tasks. GPU-accelerated frameworks (Kivy, or an OpenGL widget hosted inside Qt) are best when you need smooth animations or high frame rates.

Rapid development and tooling differ: Qt has a mature visual designer and a clear signal/slot pattern; GTK has Glade; wx has form builders. Tkinter is the simplest to teach and prototype with but has fewer advanced widgets out of the box. Keep licensing in mind — bindings have historically differed in terms of GPL/LGPL/commercial options, which affects redistribution.

For 3D or games, treat GUI toolkits as shells rather than engines. Embed an OpenGL context (Qt, Kivy) or use a Python-capable engine/library (Panda3D, pyglet + PyOpenGL, or a dedicated game engine) for real 3D work. Finally, consider aesthetics and platform fit: Qt gives the most consistent polished look, GTK feels most native on Linux, wx tries to be native on each OS, and Kivy gives a consistent custom look across devices. Choose by target platform, deployment constraints, and which compromises you can live with.

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Member Avatar for Gribouillis

Here are the answers.

Member Avatar for Hiroshe

I personally like Tkinter. There is also which also works on tablets.

Member Avatar for nouth

I will continue to use Tkinter for the simplicity even though it doesn't have that natural pythonic feel to its writing style.
And Kivy if I ever think of something that needs multitouch, since everything I write works with singletouch.
But Pyjamas will always be my choice for websites.

Qt is heavy.
Gtk is barely crossplatform.

Edited by nouth
Member Avatar for steveb25

I teach tkinter to my students in the second phase of the course. They seems to get to grips with it from the beginning.

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