napari vs PyVista
A data-driven comparison of two Python 3D & scientific visualization libraries: popularity, development activity, licensing and installation. Updated .
Key differences
- PyVista has 1.4× as many GitHub stars as napari (3.9K vs 2.8K).
- PyVista had more development activity over the last 12 months: 928 commits vs 745.
- PyVista is downloaded 13× as often on PyPI (466.3K vs 34.7K per week).
- napari is licensed under BSD-3-Clause; PyVista under MIT.
- PyVista is the older project: its repository was created in 2017, napari's in 2018.
By the numbers
- napari
- PyVista
Show data as a table
| Metric | napari | PyVista |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | 2,791 | 3,870 |
| PyPI downloads / week | 34,687 | 466,263 |
| Commits, last 12 months | 745 | 928 |
| Contributors | 228 | 218 |
| Forks | 569 | 677 |
Development activity
Commits per month to each default branch, last 12 complete months.
- napari
- PyVista
Show data as a table
| Month | napari | PyVista |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 2025 | 11 | 53 |
| Dec 2025 | 45 | 44 |
| Jan 2026 | 53 | 36 |
| Feb 2026 | 54 | 55 |
| Mar 2026 | 55 | 31 |
| Apr 2026 | 60 | 114 |
| May 2026 | 43 | 48 |
| Jun 2026 | 52 | 39 |
| Jul 2026 | 114 | 34 |
| Aug 2026 | 76 | 130 |
| Sep 2026 | 50 | 251 |
| Oct 2026 | 132 | 93 |
Side by side
| Attribute | napari | PyVista |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Fast, interactive viewer for multi-dimensional images in Python. | 3D plotting and mesh analysis through a streamlined interface for the Visualization Toolkit (VTK) |
| Category | Python 3D & scientific visualization libraries | Python 3D & scientific visualization libraries |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Status | Active | Active |
| Latest release | v0.10.0 () | v0.49.1 () |
| Last commit | ||
| Repository created | ||
| Open issues | 1,091 | 430 |
| Install | pip install napari | pip install pyvista |
Which should you choose?
Popularity and activity are only part of the story. Consider which ecosystem you work in, the chart types and interactions you need, how much data you render, and whether the license fits your project. Both tool pages list alternatives if neither is quite right.