# PyO3

16 Hacker News commenters recommended PyO3 and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend PyO3 for writing Python extensions in Rust, citing safe wrappers, easy use and a large ecosystem. Critics say it adds bloat and is far from perfect.

## Why people recommend it

- Safe and easier than alternatives (4 comments): "PyO3 is designed in such a way that it's a lot easier to avoid many of these issues" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47296690)) "PyO3 to just write "safe" wrappers on top of cpython APIs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47299233)) "pyo3 is safer and easier to use to build said modules" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49685936))
- Widely used, strong ecosystem (3 comments): "PyO3 is an extraordinarily popular project, and there are (tens of?) thousands of Python packages using it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50226377)) "So basically well known and very good Open Source" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46359580)) "PyO3's excellent ecosystem" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46461623))
- Gradual path from Python to Rust (3 comments): "I've personally had great success using python, then gradually rewriting the tool I have with py03" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48173027)) "Writing a Python extension would a good way to dip your toes into Rust" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48864857)) "Then have it re-write any remaining slow parts in Rust with Py03." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50272444))

## What people warn about

- Adds bloat and other issues (1 comments): "Having glue libraries like pyo3 makes it good in rust. But that introduces bloat and other issues." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47126944))
- Far from perfect (1 comments): "PyO3 is far from perfect but decently usable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49687041))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [UniFFI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/uniffi.md): 9 recommend
- [flutter_rust_bridge](https://hackerapproved.com/p/flutter-rust-bridge.md): 6 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "PyO3", https://hackerapproved.com/p/pyo3/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).