A comprehensive list and comparison of the most popular Python Compilers along with their features, pricing, pros, and cons to select the best Python Compiler:
A compiler is nothing but a special program written in a specific programming language that converts the source programs from a human-readable language (high-level language) to a machine-readable language (low-level language) without changing the meaning of the source program.
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Python is an interpreted programming language and has various execution environments. It has a variety of compilers to execute the Python programs. For example, PyCharm, PyDev, Spyder, Atom, Visual Studio Code, Jupyter Notebook, etc.
Table of Contents:
Python Compilers
Python Compilation Process
The Python Compilation process is divided into two steps.
- First, the human-readable source program goes through the assembler to produce the object program. In Python, the extension for the Python program source file is “ .py ” which gets converted into “ .pyc ”.
- In the second step, the object program goes through the interpreter to produce the machine-readable language and is done with the execution.
Suggested reading =>> Understand the differences between Compiler Vs Interpreter
How To Select A Python Compiler
Selecting the perfect Python Compiler depends upon many factors.
For example:
- What are the needs of the project?
- Which compiler is used by the team in the company?
- Which type of features, one should require while programming?
The main thing while selecting the compiler is the individual programming level.
Let’s discuss the selection of Python Compiler based on coding level:
- For beginners “Thonny” and “IDLE” are the best and are easy to understand.
- For beginners who are in the field of data science can use “Jupyter Notebook”, it will help in the learning process.
- For the professionals “Vim”, “PyCharm”, and “Visual Studio Code” are the best. Other than that it depends upon the capability and interest of the individual.
Most Popular Python Compilers
Here is the list of commonly used Python Compilers:
- Programiz
- PyDev
- PyCharm
- Sublime Text
- Thonny
- Visual Studio Code
- Jupyter Notebook
- Vim
- Atom
- Spyder
- IDLE
- Eric
- GNU/Emacs
Comparison of the Best Python Compilers
| Python Compilers | User Rating | User Satisfaction | Learning Curve Scale | Syntax highlighting | Performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Programiz | 4.6/5 | 0.9 | Easy | No | Average |
| PyDev | 4.7/5 | 0.94 | Medium | Yes | Good |
| PyCharm | 4.6/5 | 0.92 | Easy | Yes | Good |
| Sublime Text | 4.5/5 | 0.9 | Easy | Yes | Good |
| Thonny | 4.7/5 | 0.94 | Easy | Yes | Good |
| Visual Studio Code | 4.6/7 | 0.9 | Medium | Yes | Good |
| Jupyter Notebook | 4.5/5 | 0.95 | Medium | Yes | Good |
| Vim | 5/5 | 1 | Hard | Yes | Excellent |
| Atom | 4.5/5 | 0.8 | Easy | Yes | Average |
| Spyder | 4.4/5 | 0.88 | Easy | Yes | Average |
| IDLE | 3.7/5 | 0.74 | Easy | Yes | Average |
| Eric | 5/5 | 1 | Medium | Yes | Good |
| GNU/Emacs | 4.5 | 0.8 | Medium | Yes | Good |
#1) Programiz
Programiz is an application that is used to compile Python programs. We can use it online in the web browser or download the application on our local system. Millions of programmers use it to learn Python.
It also compiles the other languages code like C, C++, Java, etc, and not only Python. This compiler is completely free and one just needs good internet connectivity to get started.
Price: Free
Developed By: Guido van Rossum
Platform Supported: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac.
Language Supported: English
Features
- It is very easy and simple to understand.
- It is free and open-source i.e. it does not need any cost to get started.
- It is Flexible, Extendible, and Immerse.
- It is a high-level interpreted language.
- It has a rich library and a large community to maintain continuous work to make it more useful for programmers.
Pros
- It can be used in the web browser, and there is no need to install the application.
- Can be used on mobile phones.
Cons
- It takes time while execute the code.
- With the online version, one cannot do work on large programs.
Website: Programiz
#2) PyDev
PyDev is an IDE for Eclipse and is used in the development of Python, JPython, and IronPython. It is currently the best Python environment for coding. For the past 8 years, the community is working on it to make it better for Python users.
PyDev is free and open-source, individuals can install it from the internet and start using it.
Price: Free
Developed By: Appcelerator
Platform Supported: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac
Language Supported: English
Features
- It has powerful specifications like refactoring, debugging, code analysis, etc.
- It supports remote debugger, Unittest integration, PyLint, etc.
- It enables virtual environments, black formatted, and Mypy.
Pros
- It enables syntax highlighting, and code folding, and offers support for various other programming languages.
- It supports Django Framework, Jython, etc.
Cons
- Sometimes PyDev plugins are not stable.
- The performance of PyDev decreases when multiple plugins are installed.
Website: PyDev
#3) PyCharm
PyCharm is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) developed by a company in CZech named “JetBrains”. Nowadays, it is the widely used Python compiler by Python developers to write good quality code in the right manner. It performs fast compilation and saves the developers time.
Price: Freemium
Developed By: Czech Company “JetBrains”
Platform Supported: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac
Language Supported: English
Features
- It supports more than 1000 plugins.
- We can switch to multiple files quickly.
- Developers can write the plugin on their own.
Pros
- It is easy to use.
- The community is very supportive and is ready to help users on the Forum.
- The installation process is very easy.
- Provides the capability to view the whole source code in just one click.
Cons
- Not good for Python beginners.
- It becomes slow while dealing with large data.
Website: PyCharm
#4) Sublime Text
Sublime Text is an IDE that comes in two versions i.e. free and paid. The paid version contains more exciting features. It has various plugins and is maintained under free software licenses. It supports many other programming languages, for example, Java, C/C++, etc not only Python.
Sublime Text is quite fast when compared to other text compilers. One can also install other packages like debugger, code linting, and code completion. We can customize it according to our requirements.
Price: Freemium
Developed By: Jon Skinner
Platform Supported: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac
Language Supported: English
Features
- We can jump the cursor wherever we want to go i.e. it has a “ Goto Anything “ feature.
- It can select multiple Lines and words.
- Its preferences can be customized as per the project-specific needs.
Pros
- It has a free version. Everyone can use it.
- It has a plugin that is used for text highlights and is extremely good for debugging.
- Supports better find-replace features when compared to others.
- We can work on multiple projects at a time without any confusion.
- It keeps on suggesting accurate syntax.
Cons
- Plugins sometimes become complicated.
- It becomes difficult to handle large documents.
- It does not save the document automatically.
Website: Sublime Text
#5) Thonny
Thonny is a free and open-source IDE for Python users. To start this, we need to install it on the Internet. It was developed by making the main focus on the beginner’s requirements.
The default version supports the Python 3 version. It is easy to get started because of its simple GUI and comes with various other features like error highlighting, debugger, code completion, etc.
Price: Free
Developed By: Aivar Annamaa and contributors
Platform Supported: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac
Language Supported: English
Features
- It has a separate window for each function call.
- The debugger is very easy to use. It uses F5, F6, and F7 keys.
- It highlights the coding error and represents the function calls.
- It completes the code automatically.
Pros
- Easy to use as it has a simple GUI.
- For beginners, Thonny is the best IDE.
- With the use of other interpreters, it handles the coding issues.
Cons
- One can edit the text in the limit.
- It does not support a good template.
- Plugin tasks consume so much time.
Website: Thonny
#6) Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code is a free and open-source IDE built by Microsoft in 2015. It comes with various extensions. For example, if we want to use this for a Python programming language, we need to install a particular extension for that, and the same as for the other programming languages.
It is becoming popular nowadays because of its features like debugging, unit testing, fast code completion, etc. It is lightweight and is packed with powerful features.
Price: Free
Developed By: Microsoft
Platform Supported: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac
Language Supported: English
Features
- It is lightweight and supports Python coding, debugging, and other activities.
- It comes in two versions i.e. free and paid. The paid version will contain advanced features.
Pros
- It enables a variety of programming languages. For example, Python, Java, C/C++, etc.
- It comes with built-in plugins.
- One can customize it according to their needs.
- It completes and detects the code very fast.
Cons
- The interface is not so good and it took time to get started.
- While coding, it suddenly crashes and shuts down.
Website: Visual Studio Code
#7) Jupyter Notebook
Jupyter Notebook is a special IDE that is mostly used for data science environments. It follows the server-client structure and is free and open-source. It allows us to convert the notebooks into other formats, for example, HTML, PDF, etc.
Price: Free
Developed By: Fernando Pérez, Brian Granger
Platform Supported: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac
Language Supported: English
Features
- It carries markdowns and enables you to feature HTML code from images to videos.
- It allows easy straightforward editing.
- It is perfect for beginners who are in the field of data science.
Pros
- We can make use of data visualization libraries like Seaborn and Matplotlib to indicate the graphs within the same document where the code lies.
- You can export the ultimate work in multiple formats.
Cons
- It is very difficult to analyze large serial tasks.
- It does not provide large security.
- It does not have IDE integration, linting, and code correction.
Website: Jupyter Notebook
#8) Vim
Vim is a free and open-source text editor and compiler that is already installed in the UNIX system and Mac but not in Microsoft Windows. It has several commands rather than a good-looking UI.
Good/Professional programmers always use Vim as it is very powerful when compared to others. As per our choice, we can install multiple plugins for syntax highlightings, debugging, etc.
Price: Free and open-source
Developed By: Bram Moolenaar
Platform Supported: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac.
Language Supported: English
Features
- Its memory footprint is extremely low.
- It is command central. We can perform complicated text and connected tasks with few commands.
- It is extremely configurable and uses an easy computer file to store its configuration.
- There are several plug-ins accessible for Vim. Its practicality will be extended in a nice manner by exploiting these plug-ins.
- It allows multiple windows. The exploitation feature screen will be split into multiple windows.
- In the multiple windows, it conjointly supports multiple buffers.
- It supports multiple tabs that permit figures on multiple files.
- It supports recording options that permit recording and continually play Vim commands.
Pros
- It doesn’t need any mouse or trackpad but a keyboard is a must.
- Its modes modify you to not solely edit, however, navigate around a file or perhaps multiple files while not taking your hands removed from the keys.
- We don’t need to install it as it is already put in on each non-Windows computer and it’s freely offered on Windows.
- There is an exclusive community and many resources are available for learning.
Cons
- Without any doubt, it is the toughest program to be told. It is a different paradigm of thinking when compared to different editors.
- It does not have voluminous fancy options in larger IDE programs in the default version.
- It lives within the command, thus a user should be snug with this interface.
Website: Vim
#9) Atom
Atom is a free and open-source IDE that compiles programming languages. It is flexible, versatile, and easy to use. It has a large community and several developers work daily to make it more attractive and smooth.
It has similar features matching with Sublime Text and is customizable. We can install more packages according to our needs. By default, it comes with the packages like linter-flake8, python-debugger, etc.
Price: Free
Developed By: GitHub
Platform Supported: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac.
Language Supported: English
Features
- It allows third-party packages.
- We can install and manage the packages.
- It supports opposite programming languages as well and not solely Python.
Pros
- It supports Microsoft Windows, UNIX system, and Mac.
- The community is incredibly useful and is prepared to answer user queries on the forum.
- It comes with the package manager.
- It supports git integration.
Cons
- It desires improvement within the functionalities. Sometimes it does not work evidently.
- It can not run the source code directly.
- It starts insulation while connecting to the server.
Website: Atom
#10) Spyder
Spyder is a free and open-source compiler that is used for the compilation of Python programming. It is a combination of various Python stacks such as NumPy, pandas, IPython, etc, and is released under the MIT license.
It supports various interactive tools for data inspection. It is convenient with cross-platform via Anaconda on Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Mac. For GUI, Spyder uses Qt and we can use PyQt or PySide.
Price: Free
Developed By: Pierre Raybaut
Platform Supported: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac
Language Supported: English
Features
- It highlights the Python syntax and supports multiple IPython consoles.
- It has the capability to investigate and edit variables from the Graphical User Interface.
- To perform step-by-step execution, the debugger is linked to IPdb.
- To benchmark the Python code, a run-time profiler is attached.
- User command history is recorded console-wise.
Pros
- It is Free and open-source.
- It supports a strong debugger.
- It offers additional plugins to improve the functionalities.
Cons
- It comes from the old style.
- It does not have a proper layout.
- It is very hard to find the terminal in this compiler.
Website: Spyder
#11) IDLE
IDLE is a simple, easy, and advanced compiler specially developed for beginners. It is recommended for education purposes because of its simplicity.
It is known to be the best compiler for learning Python. It comes with the inbuilt Python compiler i.e. there is no installation required
Price: $ 14.23
Developed By: Guido van Rossum
Platform Supported: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac
Language Supported: English
Features
- It has multiple window text editors.
- It autocompletes the Python code.
- Breakpoints are available.
- It provides the visibility of the Call stack.
- Availability of Python shell with syntax highlighting.
Pros
- It is very easy to use.
- It does not need any web browser or server.
- It needs Anaconda in your local system.
- It comes with a built-in debugger.
Cons
- We cannot access the file from one device to another but can copy or send it to another device.
- It does not save the changes automatically.
- It does not support advanced functionalities.
Website: IDLE
#12) Eric
Eric is a Python editor and IDE which is written in Python for Python developers. It comes with the cross-platform Qt UI toolkit. It supports various plugins & extensions and is integrated with the Scintilla editor.
Price: Free and open-source
Developed By: .NET Foundation
Platform Supported: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac
Language Supported: English
Features
- It offers various features like editors, error highlighting, code folding, etc.
- It supports the Django framework, task management, code coverage, etc.
Further Reading => Gradio vs. Streamlit: Which Framework is Best to Build Python Data Apps
Pros
- It supports web browsers like Firefox, chrome, etc.
- It can correct spelling mistakes to overcome errors.
- It supports screening Qt form tools.
Cons
- GUI is not very supportive.
- The installation process is very hectic.
- Increasing the number of plugins results in a decrease in performance.
Website: Eric
#13) GNU/Emacs
GNU/Emac is a combination of various text editors which are distinguished by their strength. It has more than 10,000 built-in commands and its GUI allows the individual to merge the commands into macros to automate work.
Price: Free
Developed By: David A. Moon
Platform Supported: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac.
Language Supported: English
Features
- It integrates with the other tools within the editor.
- It helps to use the output more constructively.
- It handles and edits the files that are stored in the version control. It supports git, hg, etc.
- It detects the editing files in the control version automatically.
Pros
- It supports all the operating systems, is free, and supports remote editing.
- It is a lightweight editor as it does not need extra CPU memory because it is a lightweight editor.
- Quick documentation is provided, so ordinary users can also use it.
Cons
- Initially, it takes much time to start.
- It takes time to find a particular feature among all the features.
Website: Emcas
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Do you need a compiler for Python?
Yes, we need compilers not only for Python but for other programming languages as well. Compilers play a crucial role in the programming field and decrease time consumption while writing code for large projects.
They highlight the coding errors and debug the code which is very helpful in the life of programmers and project development.
2. What are Python Compilers?
Compilers are used to transfer high-level language into low-level language so that the CPU can understand the source program in their language and start its processing.
In every programming language, we need a compiler for the execution of our programs. Without compilers, the computer cannot understand what’s written and will not process it.
3. Why does Python have no compiler?
Python is an interpreted programming language i.e. the software in the computer reads the Python code and gives the instructions to the machine. That’s why it has no compiler.
But in the case of other programming languages like C++ which is known as a compiled programming language, it gets converted into machine code so that the hardware can easily and directly read the code while executing.
Conclusion
In this tutorial, we discussed Python compilers. The compilers are the best & easiest ones to use. Beginners and professional Python developers mostly use them. Each compiler is made with special specifications.
Topics covered in the Tutorial:
- Introduction to Python compilers
- What is the Python compilation process?
- How do you select the Python Compiler?
- Top 13 Python Compilers
- Comparison of Python Compilers
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All of theese are python IDE’s not python compilers.
100% agree. It seems the difference between a compiler and an interpreter got lost in translation. Plus, the difference between IDE, compiler, and interpreter.