# napari vs VTK

## Key differences

- VTK has 1.2× as many GitHub stars as napari (3.2K vs 2.8K).
- VTK had more development activity over the last 12 months: 5,786 commits vs 745.
- VTK is downloaded 38× as often on PyPI (1.3M vs 34.7K per week).
- napari is licensed under BSD-3-Clause; VTK under BSD.
- napari is written primarily in Python, VTK in C++.
- VTK is the older project: its repository was created in 2010, napari's in 2018.

| | napari | VTK |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Fast, interactive viewer for multi-dimensional images in Python. | Open-source library for 3d Graphics, image processing and visualization. |
| GitHub stars | 2,791 | 3,224 |
| Commits (12 months) | 745 | 5,786 |
| Contributors | 228 | 257 |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | BSD |
| Language | Python | C++ |
| Status | Active | Active |
| Install | `pip install napari` | `pip install vtk` |

Source: https://awesomedataviz.com/compare/napari-vs-vtk/ · Data updated 2026-11-01 · Content: CC BY 4.0, Awesome Dataviz (https://awesomedataviz.com).