Composer vs Poetry
Composer
getcomposer.orgPoetry
python-poetry.orgSide by side
| Figure | Composer | Poetry |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · Package Managers | 8.9 (#5) | 7.8 (#45) |
| Dependency resolution | Composer determines which package versions need to be installed and can update all dependencies in one command. | Yes |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Installation options | Composer can be installed locally in a project or globally as a system wide executable. | The documentation describes installation with pipx, the official installer, or manual installation with pip and venv. |
| Lockfile support | Yes | Yes |
| Package formats | PHP packages; ZIP; TAR; VCS repositories | source distributions,wheels |
| Package sources | Composer uses Packagist by default and supports custom Composer, VCS, and local path repositories. | Poetry uses PyPI by default and supports private repositories for package discovery and publishing. |
| Platforms | Composer says it is multi-platform and aims to run on Windows, Linux, and macOS. | The documentation says Poetry is multi-platform and aims to work on Linux, macOS, and Windows. |
| Private registry auth | Yes | Yes |
| Purpose | Composer is a tool for managing PHP project dependencies, installing and updating the libraries a project declares. | Poetry manages Python dependencies and packaging, installs and updates declared libraries, provides a lockfile for repeatable installs, and builds projects for distribution. |
| Supported platforms | PHP; Windows; Linux; macOS | Linux,macOS,Windows |
Plans
In their own words
Composer
Composer manages dependencies for PHP projects, installing and updating the libraries each project declares. By default, it keeps those dependencies in a directory within the project, and it can also manage a global project. It resolves dependencies and supports lockfiles, workspaces, private registry authentication, and offline installation. Packagist is its default package source; custom Composer, version-control, and local-path repositories are also supported. Composer integrates with Fossil, Git, Mercurial, Perforce, and Subversion. It can be installed locally or as a system-wide executable on Windows, Linux, and macOS. The latest version requires PHP 7.2.5 or later; the 2.2.x LTS line supports PHP 5.3.2 and later. Its audit command checks installed packages for security advisories, abandoned packages, malware flags, and other dependency policies. Composer is free under the MIT license. Plugins and scripts can run with the user's permissions, so the project advises against running Composer as root with untrusted packages.