What's the difference between pip and uv?

pip and uv are both package installers (among other things) that work with the Python Package Index (PyPI) and other package indices. While they serve the same core function of installing Python packages, they take fundamentally different approaches to solving Python packaging challenges.

Key Architectural Differences

Performance

The most immediately noticeable difference between pip and uv is speed. uv achieves 10-100x faster package operations through:

• Parallel package downloads and installations
• Aggressive caching of package metadata and artifacts
• Native implementation of compression and archive handling
• Optimized dependency resolution algorithm

Virtual Environment Handling

pip operates on whatever Python environment is currently active, requiring separate tools like venv for environment management. uv takes a more opinionated approach, which it requires virtual environments by default and creates and manages environments automatically.

Feature Sets

pip focuses on core package operations - installing, uninstalling, and listing packages. While it provides compatibility with requirements files and some build functionality, it generally requires additional tools like virtualenv for environment management or pip-tools for dependency locking.

uv takes a more comprehensive approach by integrating functionality that traditionally required multiple tools. Beyond package installation, uv includes:

• Python interpreter management and installation
• Universal lockfile generation and dependency locking
• Command-line tool isolation and execution (via uvx)
• Project scaffolding and initialization
• Build system support for creating distributions

This broader scope reflects uv’s goal of streamlining Python development workflows, while pip maintains its focused role as Python’s standard package installer.