Top 13 best Python compilers

A compiler is a special program written in a specific programming language to convert source programs from human readable language (high level language) to machine readable language (low-level language) without changing the meaning of the source program.

Python is an interpreted programming language and has many different execution environments. There are many different compilers for executing Python programs. For example: PyCharm, PyDev, Spyder, Atom, Visual Studio Code, Jupyter Notebook, etc.

Below is a comprehensive list of the most popular Python compilers along with their features, pros, and cons to choose from to help you make your decision.

1. Programiz

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Programiz is an application used to compile Python programs. You can use it online in a web browser or download the application on your local system. Millions of programmers use Programiz to learn Python.

Programiz also compiles code in other languages ​​such as C, C++, Java, etc., not just Python. This compiler is completely free and only requires a good Internet connection to get started.

1. Free of charge
2. Developed by: Guido van Rossum
3. Supported platforms: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac.
4. Supported languages: English

Programiz's outstanding features:

1. Very easy to understand and simple.
2. Free and open source, without any costs to get started.
3. Flexible, scalable.
4. Is a high-level interpreted language.
5. There is a rich library and large community to maintain continuous, useful work for programmers.

Advantage

1. Can be used in a web browser and does not require application installation.
2. Can be used on mobile phones.

Defect

1. Loss of time while executing code.
2. With the online version, it is not possible to work on large programs.

2. PyDev

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PyDev is an IDE for Eclipse and is used for Python, JPython, and IronPython development. It is currently the best Python environment to write code. For the past 8 years, the community has been working to improve PyDev for Python users.

PyDev is free and open source, individuals can install PyDev from the Internet and start using it.

1. Free of charge
2. Developed by: Appcelerator
3. Supported platforms: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac
4. Supported languages: English

Outstanding features of PyDev:

1. Has powerful specifications like refactoring, debugging, code analysis, etc.
2. Supports remote debugger, integrates Unittest, PyLint, etc.
3. Allows virtual environments, black and Mypy formats.

Advantage

1. Enables syntax highlighting, code condensation, and provides support for many other programming languages.
2. Supports Django Framework, Jython, etc.

Defect

1. Sometimes PyDev plugins are unstable.
2. PyDev's performance degrades when installing many plugins.

3. PyCharm

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PyCharm is an integrated development environment (IDE) developed by a company in CZech called 'JetBrains'. Nowadays, it is a widely used Python compiler by Python developers to write good quality code in the right way. PyCharm makes compilation fast and saves developers time.

1. Free of charge
2. Developed by: CZech Company 'JetBrains'
3. Supported platforms: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac
4. Supported languages: English

Outstanding features of Python:

1. Supports more than 1000 plugins.
2. Can convert to multiple files quickly.
3. Developers can write their own plugins.

Advantage

1. Very easy to use.
2. The community is very supportive and willing to help on the forum.
3. The installation process is very easy.
4. Provides the ability to view the entire source code in just one click.

Defect

1. Not good for Python beginners.
2. Becomes slow when processing large data.

4. Sublime Text

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Sublime Text is an IDE that comes in two versions, free and paid. The paid version contains more interesting features. It has many different plugins and is maintained under a free software license. Sublime Text supports many other programming languages, such as Java, C/C++, etc., not just Python.

Sublime Text is quite fast when compared to other text compilers. One can also install other packages like debugger, scripting and code completion, which can be customized as per requirement.

1. Free of charge
2. Developed by: Jon Skinner
3. Supported platforms: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac
4. Supported languages: English

Outstanding features of Sublime Text:

1. You can move the cursor wherever you want, meaning Sublime Text has a "Goto Anything" feature.
2. Multiple lines and words can be selected.
3. Sublime Text preferences can be customized to the specific needs of the project.

Advantage

1. There is a free version. Everyone can use it.
2. There is a plugin used to highlight text and is great for debugging.
3. Supports better alternative search features when compared to other features.
4. Can do multiple projects at the same time without any confusion.
5. Keep suggesting the correct syntax.

Defect

1. Plugins sometimes get complicated.
2. Processing large documents becomes difficult.
3. Do not automatically save documents.

5. Thonny

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Thonny is a free and open source IDE for Python users. To start, you need to install it from the Internet. It is developed by focusing mainly on the requirements of beginners.

The default version supports Python version 3. Thonny is easy to get started with as the GUI is simple and comes with many other features like error highlighting, debugger, code completion, etc.

1. Free of charge
2. Developed by: Aivar Annamaa and contributors
3. Supported platforms: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac
4. Supported languages: English

Outstanding features of Thonny:

1. There is a separate window for each function call.
2. The debugger is very easy to use. It uses the F5, F6 and F7 keys.
3. Highlight coding errors and represent function calls.
4. Provides automatic code completion feature.

Advantage

1. Easy to use as it has a simple GUI.
2. For beginners, Thonny is the best IDE.
3. With the use of other interpreters, it takes care of encoding issues.

Defect

1. One can edit the text within limits.
2. Does not support a good template.
3. Plugin tasks consume too much time.

6. Visual Studio Code

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Visual Studio Code is a free and open source IDE built by Microsoft in 2015. It comes with many different extensions. For example, if you want to use Visual Studio Code for the Python programming language, you need to install a specific extension for that language and similarly for other programming languages.

Visual Studio Code is becoming popular these days due to its outstanding features like debugging, unit testing, quick code completion, etc. Visual Studio Code is lightweight and comes with powerful features.

1. Free of charge
2. Developed by: Microsoft
3. Supported platforms: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac
4. Supported languages: English

Outstanding features of Visual Studio Code:

1. Lightweight and supports Python coding, debugging, and other operations.
2. There are two versions, free and paid. The paid version will contain advanced features.

Advantage

1. Allows many different programming languages. For example: Python, Java, C/C++, etc.
2. Comes with integrated plugins.
3. Can be customized according to needs.
4. Very fast code completion and discovery.

Defect

1. The interface isn't too good and it takes time to get started.
2. While coding, Visual Studio Code may suddenly freeze and shut down.

7. Jupyter Notebook

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Jupyter Notebook is a special IDE mainly used for data science environments. It follows a server-client architecture and is free and open source. Jupyter Notebook allows converting notebooks to other formats, e.g. HTML, PDF, etc.

1. Free of charge
2. Developed by: Fernando Pérez, Brian Granger
3. Supported platforms: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac
4. Supported languages: English

Outstanding features of Jupyter Notebook:

1. Highlight and allows you to highlight HTML code from images to videos.
2. Allows for simple and easy editing.
3. Perfect for those just starting out in the field of data science.

Advantage

1. Data visualization libraries like Seaborn and Matplotlib can be used to show plots in the same document where the code is located.
2. The final result can be exported in multiple formats.

Defect

1. It is difficult to analyze large serial tasks.
2. Does not provide major security updates.
3. There is no IDE integration, linting and code editing.

8. Vim

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Vim is a free, open source text editor and compiler that is installed in UNIX and Mac systems but not in Microsoft Windows. It has a handful of commands instead of a nice user interface.

Good/professional programmers always use Vim because it is very powerful when compared to other options. Users can install many plugins for syntax highlighting, debugging, etc.

1. Free and open source
2. Developed by: Bram Moolenaar
3. Supported platforms: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac.
4. Supported languages: English

Outstanding features of Vim:

1. Occupies extremely low memory capacity.
2. As a command center, complex text and connection tasks can be performed with a few commands.
3. Extremely configurable and uses an easy computer file to store Vim's configuration.
4. There are a number of accessible plug-ins for Vim. Its practicality will be expanded by exploiting these plug-ins.
5. Allows multiple windows. The mining feature screen will be divided into multiple windows.
6. In multi-window, it supports multiple buffers simultaneously.
7. Supports multiple tabs allowing data across multiple files.
8. Supports recording options allowing continuous recording and playback of Vim commands.

Advantage

1. A mouse or trackpad is not required, but a keyboard is required.
2. Edit and navigate around a file or multiple files without taking your hands off the keys.
3. No installation is required as it is pre-installed on every non-Windows computer and is available for free on Windows.
4. There is an exclusive community and many resources available for learning.

Defect

1. This is the most difficult program to learn. It's a completely different thinking model when compared to other editors.
2. There aren't many fancy options in major IDE programs in the default version.
3. Located in the command, so users should be satisfied with this interface.

9. Atom

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Atom is a free and open source IDE for compiling programming languages. It is flexible, versatile and easy to use. Atom has a large community and several developers working every day to make it more attractive and smooth.

Atom has similar features to Sublime Text and is customizable. Users can install more packages according to needs. By default, Atom comes with packages like linter-flake8, python-debugger, etc.

1. Free of charge
2. Developed by: GitHub
3. Supported platforms: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac.
4. Supported languages: English

Outstanding features of Atom:

1. Allow third-party packages.
2. Packages can be installed and managed.
3. Supports many other programming languages, not just Python.

Advantage

1. Supports Microsoft Windows, UNIX and Mac systems.
2. The community is extremely helpful and willing to answer user questions on the forum.
3. Comes with a package manager.
4. Supports git integration.

Defect

1. Needs improvement in functions. Sometimes they don't work obviously.
2. Cannot run source code directly.

10. Spyder

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Spyder is a free and open source compiler used to compile Python programming. It is a combination of various Python stacks like NumPy, pandas, IPython, etc. and is released under the MIT license.

Spyder supports various interactive tools for data inspection. It is conveniently cross-platform through Anaconda on Linux, Microsoft Windows and Mac. For GUI, Spyder uses Qt and can use PyQt or PySide.

1. Free of charge
2. Developed by: Pierre Raybaut
3. Supported platforms: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac
4. Supported languages: English

Outstanding features of Spyder:

1. Highlights Python syntax and supports multiple IPython consoles.
2. Ability to inspect and edit variables from a graphical user interface.
3. To perform each step, the debugger is linked to IPdb.
4. To benchmark Python code, a run-time profiler is included.
5. The user's command history is recorded on the console.

Advantage

1. Free and open source.
2. Supports a powerful debugger.
3. Provides additional plugins to improve functionality.

Defect

1. Doesn't look modern.
2. There isn't a proper layout.
3. It is very difficult to find the terminal in this compiler.

11. IDLE

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IDLE is a simple, easy and advanced compiler specially developed for beginners. IDLE is recommended for educational purposes because of its simplicity.

IDLE is known as the best compiler to learn Python. It comes with a built-in Python compiler, meaning no installation is required

1. Price: $14.23
2. Developed by: Guido van Rossum
3. Supported platforms: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac
4. Supported languages: English

IDLE's outstanding features:

1. There are many text editors.
2. Automatically complete Python code.
3. Breakpoints are available.
4. Provides visibility of the Call stack.
5. Availability of Python shell with syntax highlighting.

Advantage

1. Very easy to use.
2. No need for any web browser or server.
3. Need Anaconda in local system.
4. Comes with a built-in debugger.

Defect

1. Files cannot be accessed from one device to another, but they can be copied or sent to another device.
2. Don't automatically save changes.
3. Advanced functions are not supported.

12. Eric

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Eric is an editor and IDE written in Python for developers. It comes with the cross-platform Qt UI toolkit. Eric supports many different plugins & extensions and is integrated with the Scintilla editor.

1. Price: Free and open source
2. Developed by: .NET Foundation
3. Supported platforms: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac
4. Supported languages: English

Eric's outstanding features:

1. Provides various features such as editor, error highlighting, code minification, etc.
2. Django framework support, task management and code coverage, etc.

Advantage

1. Supports web browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, etc.
2. Ability to correct spelling errors to fix errors.
3. Supports screening of Qt form engines.

Defect

1. GUI is not much supported.
2. The installation process is labor-intensive.
3. Increasing the number of plugins leads to reduced performance.

13. GNU/Emacs

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GNU/Emacs is a combination of many different text editors. It has over 10,000 built-in commands and the GUI allows merging commands into macros to automate work.

1. Free of charge
2. Developed by: David A. Moon
3. Supported platforms: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac.
4. Supported languages: English

Outstanding features of GNU/Emacs:

1. Integrates with other tools in the editor.
2. Helps use output more effectively.
3. Process and edit files stored in version control, support git, hg, etc.
4. Automatically detect edited files in version control.

Advantage

1. Supports all operating systems, free of charge and supports remote editing.
2. Is a lightweight editor as it does not require additional CPU memory.
3. Documentation is quickly provided, so normal users can also use it.

Defect

1. It takes a long time to get started.
2. It takes time to find a specific feature among the many offered.

Lesley Montoya

Update 08 November 2023