Cython
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 6 of 26 compilers by recommenders
Compiles Python-like code to C for large speedups, with type hints and easy C interop. Critics say it needs a different style and adds a build step.
Compiles Python-like code to C for large speedups, with type hints and easy C interop. Critics say it needs a different style and adds a build step.
29 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 22
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 76%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 22 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Large speedup with little effort
“You write the same language with immense speedup (matching what the "other languages" can achieve at much less effort).”
Comment from 8 May 2026 in “Mojo 1.0 Beta” “you can use Cython and get a performance boost at the same time”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “Making ast.walk 220x Faster” “The speedup was pretty significant.”
Comment from 22 Mar 2026 in “Node.js worker threads are problematic, but they work great for us” Good for numpy and C extensions
“Cython and PyBind and Nanobind are good for wrapping an existing library written in C++”
Comment from 8 May 2026 in “Mojo 1.0 Beta” “the only reason to use cython (in my experience) is to write quick numpy extensions”
Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “Fil-C: Garbage In, Memory Safety Out – Filip Pizlo – SSW 2026 [video]” “have made it incredibly easy to write vectorized code”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 on Hacker News Type hints for Python code
“it's really nice way to get the benefit of type checking in Python”
Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “Are you expected to run five Python type-checkers now?” “which is a gradually typed variant of Python that compiles to C”
Comment from 25 Nov 2025 in “APT Rust requirement raises questions” “I really like that Cython is using typehints now.”
Comment from 5 Nov 2025 on Hacker News Easy to start optimizing
“It really makes it easy to get started in Python and worry about performance of the computation later.”
Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “Python's pre-declared constants are kinda weird” “I've had very good experiences applying cython to python programs”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “How often does Python allocate?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Different style and new quirks
“the development style is very different for Cython and Python, adding a lot of impedance”
Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “Python's experimental JIT to be removed” “you (and your potential audience) basically need to learn a new language, a lot of quirks”
Comment from 5 Nov 2025 on Hacker News Messy to use in practice
“I hope i will never have to use custom cython modules again.”
Comment from 18 Sep 2026 in “Flet 1.0 – Build cross-platform apps in Python” “it is rather a mess to use in practice”
Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “11 year old unsoundness bugs found in Rust borrow checker”
Other compilers people recommend
The four most recommended other compilers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GCC | 138 | 123 | 53% | 12 | 15 yrs9 owners | — |
| Clang | 74 | 50 | 60% | 12 | — | — |
| Free Pascal compiler | 38 | 7 | 84% | 11 | — | Approved |
| GraalVM Native Image | 31 | 9 | 78% | 11 | — | Approved |
| CythonThis page | 22 | 7 | 76% | 8 | — | Approved |
What people said
28 of the 33 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Most performance sensitive features are already available in python between numpy, numba and Cython”
“you significantly increase your chance to write seg faults that kills the runtime”
“all of them are lacking in different ways”
“the development style is very different for Cython and Python, adding a lot of impedance”
“It didn't seem too bad to me”
“it is rather a mess to use in practice”
“I hope i will never have to use custom cython modules again.”
“have made it incredibly easy to write vectorized code”
“It really makes it easy to get started in Python and worry about performance of the computation later.”
“then you have to have a build step”
“the only reason to use cython (in my experience) is to write quick numpy extensions”
“It uses the CPython ABI to drastically reduce the friction of switching between C & Python.”
“it still can not produce an executable independent from the Python runtime”
“Cython is the gold reference standard.”
“you can use Cython and get a performance boost at the same time”
“it's really nice way to get the benefit of type checking in Python”
“You write the same language with immense speedup (matching what the "other languages" can achieve at much less effort).”
“Cython and PyBind and Nanobind are good for wrapping an existing library written in C++”
“The speedup was pretty significant.”
“Cython and all the libs you mention use the c-api, which is the #1 thing python needs to lose”
“which is a gradually typed variant of Python that compiles to C”
“Consider rewriting the hot paths to a C extension, or using cython or nim”
“Yes, this looks easier than Perl's XS”
“I've had very good experiences applying cython to python programs”
“I really like that Cython is using typehints now.”
“The benchmarking features are great, interactivity with C libraries is great.”
“you (and your potential audience) basically need to learn a new language, a lot of quirks”
“Cython is a mature option”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.