Rattler vs Spack
Rattler
prefix.devSpack
spack.ioSide by side
| Figure | Rattler | Spack |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 1 |
| Spec score · Python Package Managers | 7.2 (#25) | 8.1 (#8) |
| Integrations | Rattler is used by Pixi, rattler-build, and the prefix.dev backend. | Spack's services page lists GitLab, CDash, Grafana, Prometheus, and Metabase. |
| Intended users | The maker presents Rattler as a library for developers building custom Conda-related tools and applications. | Spack was designed for large supercomputing centers where users and application teams share software installations across clusters and varied architectures. |
| License | The repository identifies its license as BSD-3-Clause. | Spack is distributed under the MIT license or Apache License 2.0, at the user's option. |
| Purpose | Rattler is a set of Rust crates for building custom applications that use Conda packages and environments. | Spack is a package manager that makes installing scientific software easy on supercomputers, Linux, macOS, and Windows. |
Plans
In their own words
Spack
Spack is a package manager for installing scientific software on supercomputers, Linux, macOS, and Windows. It is designed for large supercomputing centers that share software across clusters and varied architectures, and is available at free. Users can choose package versions, compiler choices, target architectures, and compile-time options, while controlling direct and transitive dependencies. Spack can build stacks that combine Python or R packages with C, C++, or Fortran libraries. Each distinct package and dependency configuration receives its own prefix, so different builds can coexist without a new installation disrupting an existing one. Software can be installed to a user-selected directory without administrator privileges. Spack primarily builds customized software from source and also supports binary installation through build caches. It supports lockfiles, environment management, and private registries. Package recipes are Python scripts, and the `spack create` command generates starter boilerplate. The project is distributed under either the MIT license or Apache License 2.0, at the user's option.