build vs pip-tools
build
build.pypa.iopip-tools
pip-tools.readthedocs.ioSide by side
| Figure | build | pip-tools |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 0 | 1 |
| Spec score · Python Package Managers | 7.8 (#11) | 8.1 (#6) |
| Configuration | It supports backend configuration through repeated -C options or --config-json for complex settings. | Project-level defaults can be configured in .pip-tools.toml or pyproject.toml. |
| Purpose | build is a Python packaging frontend that reads pyproject.toml and invokes build backends to create distribution packages. | pip-tools is a set of command-line tools that keeps pinned pip-based packages fresh and helps make builds predictable and deterministic. |
Plans
In their own words
pip-tools
pip-tools is a free set of command-line tools for keeping pinned pip-based packages current and making builds more predictable. Its two core commands are pip-compile and pip-sync. pip-compile generates requirements.txt files from pyproject.toml, setup.cfg, setup.py, or requirements.in, and can handle project and optional dependencies in pyproject.toml. It can also generate hashes for pip hash-checking mode. pip-sync installs, upgrades, or removes packages to make a virtual environment match a compiled requirements.txt file. Defaults can be configured in .pip-tools.toml or pyproject.toml, and pip-compile can be used as a pre-commit hook. The tools support Linux, macOS, and Windows, and the package requires Python 3.9 or later. Compilation results may differ across operating systems, Python versions, and implementations, so the project advises compiling separately for each target environment. The default backtracking resolver is described as more robust but generally slower; the legacy resolver is deprecated. pip-tools is distributed under the BSD License.