Did pip 26 close the gap with uv?

Tim Hopper — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 09:00:00 -0400

pip 26.0 closed two of uv’s clearest feature gaps in January: PEP 723 script installs and a datetime-based package filter that mirrors uv’s --exclude-newer. The October 2025 Hacker News thread that kept circling back to “pip has quietly caught up” now reads less contrarian than it did at the time, and the OpenAI acquisition of Astral in March changes the “is this safe to depend on” calculus at the same time.

Review pip’s 2025 to 2026 releases

Four pip releases have landed since April 2025, and the first three narrowed gaps uv was best known for:

Why Doesn't the Authoritative Python Packaging Guide Mention the Best Thing that's Happened to Python Packaging?

Tim Hopper — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 14:56:00 +0000

uv is the most widely adopted new Python tool in years, yet the Python Packaging User Guide (PPUG) makes no mention of it.

What does uv replace?

uv delivers 10-100x faster package operations than pip while consolidating functionality previously spread across pip-tools, virtualenv, pyenv, and more into a single tool. Since its introduction in early 2024, it has become the default recommendation in many Python teams and communities.

Who controls packaging.python.org?

The Python Packaging Authority (PyPA) started in 2011 as a working group focused on maintaining specific packaging tools, particularly pip and virtualenv. Its name suggests broad authority over Python packaging, but its scope has always been narrower.

Python Developer Tooling Handbook – Pip

Did pip 26 close the gap with uv?

Review pip’s 2025 to 2026 releases

Why Doesn't the Authoritative Python Packaging Guide Mention the Best Thing that's Happened to Python Packaging?

What does uv replace?

Who controls packaging.python.org?