Instead of pip: uv

Why uv is better

• Astral reports uv as 10 to 100 times faster than pip, and Real Python repeats the same range. Installs that took minutes in CI drop to seconds, mostly thanks to a global cache and parallel downloads.
• uv replaces pip, pip-tools, pipx, virtualenv and pyenv, so a fresh machine needs one binary rather than a stack of Python tools.
• uv add and uv lock write a cross-platform uv.lock, which pip alone has never had. Teams get the same versions on every machine.
• uv installs without Python, via a standalone installer, and can download the Python version a project needs.

When to keep pip

Keep pip where you cannot add a new binary, such as locked-down build images that only ship the Python standard toolchain, or where a tool shells out to pip directly and expects its exact output. pip is also the reference implementation, so packaging edge cases are defined by what pip does.

Switching

The gentle path is to replace pip install with uv pip install and python -m venv with uv venv. Most commands work unchanged. uv does not read pip.conf or PIP_* environment variables, so move index settings into uv's own configuration. For a full project workflow, run uv add -r requirements.txt to move dependencies into pyproject.toml and a lockfile.

Watch out

uv's compatibility page lists the known differences from pip in resolution and configuration. Version numbers still start with zero, and releases can change behaviour. OpenAI bought Astral, the company behind uv, in March 2026. Both say uv stays open source under its permissive licence, but its roadmap is now set inside a larger company.

More newer, better package managers and environment tools

• npm →, use pnpm
• Poetry →, use uv
• pyenv →, use uv
• Conda →, use Pixi