Is Kivy Better Than Tkinter ?

February 24, 2023January 27, 2023 by Parwiz Forogh

When it comes to Python Programming language, you have different options for building GUI Applications, in this lesson we want to talk about Kivy Vs TKinter.

Contents hide

1 Is Kivy Better Than Tkinter ?

2 What is the Popularity of Kivy vs Tkinter ?

3 Which Framework is Free – Kivy Vs TKinter?

4 Which one is Good for Complex GUI Applications – Kivy Vs TKinter

5 Basic Example in Kivy and TKinter

6 Learn More on Kivy

Is Kivy Better Than Tkinter ?

Kivy and Tkinter are both libraries for creating GUI applications in Python but they have some key differences.

Kivy is an open source library for creating different types of multi touch applications. it is designed fo creating games and other interactive applications for mobile devices, desktop computers and web browsers. Kivy uses modern graphics engine based on OpenGL, which allows for smooth animations and fast performance. It also has builtin support for different input methods such as touch, mouse and keyboard. it also uses its own language for creating layouts, which is similar to HTML and CSS.
Tkinter is built in Python library for creating simple desktop applications. It is widely used for creating standard desktop applications like calculators, text editors and games. Tkinter is easy to learn and the simple syntax makes it good for beginners. Tkinter uses the Tk GUI toolkit, which is popular library for creating cross platform graphical user interfaces.

In summary Kivy is best and good for creating interactive and multi touch applications such as games and mobile apps, while Tkinter is better suited for creating simple desktop applications. Therefore, the choice of library depends on the specific requirements and the type of application you want to create.

What is the Popularity of Kivy vs Tkinter ?

Tkinter is more popular than Kivy because it has been included in the Python standard library since Python version 1.1, which means it’s been around for long time and it is widely known and used. Tkinter is good choice for creating simple desktop applications and is widely used by beginners and students learning to program in Python. As result you can find many tutorials and resources available for Tkinter.

On the other hand, Kivy is more modern library, designed specifically for creating multi touch applications and games. It’s best suited for more advanced use cases and is typically used by experienced developers who are looking for a more powerful framework.

According to the package statistics from PyPI, Tkinter has been downloaded more than 23 million times, while Kivy has been downloaded about 5 million times.

It’s important to note that popularity does not always mean that certain library is better or worse, but it’s good indicator of how widely adopted certain library is.

Which Framework is Free – Kivy Vs TKinter?

Both Tkinter and Kivy are free and open source libraries. they can be used, modified and distributed without any cost.

Tkinter is included in the Python standard library, so there is no need to install it separately. you just need to have Python installed on your computer.

Kivy, on the other hand, needs to be installed separately. It can be installed using pip, which is package manager for Python. you can use command pip install kivy to install Kivy on your computer.

Both libraries are open source and free to use, so the choice between them depends on the specific requirements of your project and your personal preferences.

Which one is Good for Complex GUI Applications – Kivy Vs TKinter

Kivy is better for creating more complex and advanced GUI applications, such as games and mobile apps. Kivy is designed specifically for creating multi touch applications, so it has builtin support for various input methods such as touch, mouse and keyboard. It also uses modern graphics engine based on OpenGL, which allows for smooth animations and fast performance.

Kivy also uses its own language for creating layouts, which is similar to HTML and CSS. this allows for more flexibility and more powerful layout options. Kivy also supports multiple platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android.

In comparison Tkinter is more good for creating simple desktop applications such as calculators and text editors. while Tkinter can be used to create more complex applications, it may require more effort and expertise.

In result we can say that Kivy is better suited for creating complex and advanced GUI applications such as games and mobile apps, while Tkinter is better suited for creating simple desktop applications.

Basic Example in Kivy and TKinter

This is basic example of creating a simple GUI application using Tkinter:

import tkinter as tk

root = tk.Tk()
root.title("Simple Tkinter Application")

label = tk.Label(root, text="Hello World!")
label.pack()

root.mainloop()

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import tkinter as tk

root = tk.Tk()

root.title("Simple Tkinter Application")

label = tk.Label(root, text="Hello World!")

label.pack()

root.mainloop()

In this example first of all we have importedtkinter module and created Tk object, which is the main window of our application. after that we set title of the window to “Simple Tkinter Application” and created Label widget with the text “Hello World!” which is packed into the window. and finally we call the mainloop() method to start the event loop and display the window on the screen.

Run the code and this will be the result.

Is Kivy Better Than Tkinter

and this is basic example of creating a simple GUI application using Kivy:

from kivy.app import App
from kivy.uix.label import Label

class SimpleKivyApp(App):
    def build(self):
        return Label(text='Hello World - GeeksCoders!')

if __name__ == "__main__":
    SimpleKivyApp().run()

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from kivy.app import App

from kivy.uix.label import Label

class SimpleKivyApp(App):

def build(self):

return Label(text='Hello World - GeeksCoders!')

if __name__ == "__main__":

SimpleKivyApp().run()

In this example firs of all we have imported App and Label classes from kivy.app and kivy.uix.label modules. and than we have defined a class that inherits from App and overrides its build() method to return Label widget with the text “Hello World!”. finally we creates an instance of the SimpleKivyApp class and run it.

Keep in mind that these are very basic examples and they don’t include many of the features and capabilities of Tkinter and Kivy. but it should give you an idea of how the libraries work and how to create simple GUI application using them.

Run Kivy Code and this will be the result.

Is Kivy Better Than Tkinter ?

Learn More on Kivy

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