Shiny vs Streamlit
A data-driven comparison of two data visualization tools: popularity, development activity, licensing and installation. Updated .
Key differences
- Streamlit has 8.1× as many GitHub stars as Shiny (45.9K vs 5.7K).
- Streamlit had more development activity over the last 12 months: 2,413 commits vs 63.
- Shiny is licensed under MIT; Streamlit under Apache-2.0.
- Shiny is written primarily in R, Streamlit in Python.
- Shiny is the older project: its repository was created in 2012, Streamlit's in 2019.
By the numbers
- Shiny
- Streamlit
Show data as a table
| Metric | Shiny | Streamlit |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | 5,694 | 45,895 |
| Commits, last 12 months | 63 | 2,413 |
| Contributors | 92 | 319 |
| Forks | 1,891 | 4,404 |
Development activity
Commits per month to each default branch, last 12 complete months.
- Shiny
- Streamlit
Show data as a table
| Month | Shiny | Streamlit |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2025 | 5 | 125 |
| Nov 2025 | 4 | 146 |
| Dec 2025 | 13 | 187 |
| Jan 2026 | 3 | 181 |
| Feb 2026 | 7 | 208 |
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 231 |
| Apr 2026 | 5 | 156 |
| May 2026 | 9 | 189 |
| Jun 2026 | 6 | 206 |
| Jul 2026 | 6 | 264 |
| Aug 2026 | 5 | 246 |
| Sep 2026 | 0 | 274 |
Side by side
| Attribute | Shiny | Streamlit |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Framework for creating interactive applications/visualisations | Framework for turning Python scripts into interactive data apps. |
| Category | R data visualization packages | Python data visualization libraries |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | R | Python |
| Status | Active | Active |
| Latest release | v1.14.0 () | 1.65.0 () |
| Last commit | ||
| Repository created | ||
| Open issues | 796 | 985 |
| Install | install.packages("shiny")npm install @posit/shiny | pip install streamlit |
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.