Python standard library
Ranked 3 of 7 standard libraries by recommenders
Recommended for being broad, ubiquitous and built in, so many tasks need no extra packages. Caveat: some parts are obsolete, poorly designed or of mixed quality.
Recommended for being broad, ubiquitous and built in, so many tasks need no extra packages. Caveat: some parts are obsolete, poorly designed or of mixed quality.
20 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 13
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 65%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 13 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not 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
Broad, batteries-included coverage
“Python's standard library comes already with lots of features, and there are many packages you can install.”
Comment from 13 Dec 2025 in “Using Python for Scripting” “I think that every language should have a batteries-included stdlib.”
Comment from 14 Dec 2025 in “Using Python for Scripting” “The python3 standard library is pretty capable, and it's ubiquitous.”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “Command-line Tools can be 235x Faster than your Hadoop Cluster (2014)” - Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “Ruby already solved my problem”
- Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “Why stdx is not on crates.io”
- Comment from 6 Dec 2025 in “Wolfram Compute Services”
- Comment from 21 Oct 2026 in “Security advisory: Critical remote code execution vulnerabilities, update now”
Works without installing extra packages
“Python's standard library comes already with lots of features, and there are many packages you can install.”
Comment from 13 Dec 2025 in “Using Python for Scripting” “I've had a lot of fun vibe coding my own text-based email client and reader using mostly Python's stdlib.”
Comment from 25 May 2026 in “Notes about reading messages with the Python email packages” Reliable and long-established
“The python3 standard library is pretty capable, and it's ubiquitous.”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “Command-line Tools can be 235x Faster than your Hadoop Cluster (2014)” “It has been viable for a long time”
Comment from 26 Dec 2025 in “How uv got so fast”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Obsolete parts kept or slow to remove
“Now the standard library is full of things that they refuse to remove because it would supposedly be too disruptive”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Python 3.14 garbage collection rigamarole” “periodically has to throw out "dead batteries" because parts of its stdlib are now obsolete”
Comment from 24 Apr 2026 in “Writing a C Compiler, in Zig” Uneven quality; some parts unusable
“the quality is super mixed, and not all of them are suitable for real use”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “An Honest Review of Go” “large parts of Python's standard library that are effectively unusable or irrelevant”
Comment from 20 Aug 2026 in “Malicious Rust Crate Arrayref Runs a Build-Time Payload” Hard to learn; mediocre APIs
“Python's in kinda huge and some are hard (for me) to grasp”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Redis 8.8: New array data structure, rate limiter, performance improvements” “The Python standard library APIs are mediocre at best.”
Comment from 1 Jul 2026 in “Pystd, similar-ish functionality with a fraction of the compile time”
Other standard libraries people recommend
The four most recommended other standard libraries, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Go standard library | 34 | 15 | 69% | 11 | — | Approved |
| C++ Standard Library | 15 | 23 | 39% | 8 | — | — |
| Python standard libraryThis page | 13 | 7 | 65% | 8 | — | — |
| Rust standard library | 12 | 16 | 43% | 9 | — | — |
| Java standard library | 7 | 3 | 70% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 21 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Python's stdlib is incredibly broad.”
“large parts of Python's standard library that are effectively unusable or irrelevant”
“The Python standard library APIs are mediocre at best.”
“It's awesome that the Python stdlib has everything it does”
“Now the standard library is full of things that they refuse to remove because it would supposedly be too disruptive”
“Python's in kinda huge and some are hard (for me) to grasp”
“Python has a similar problem with parts of its standard library.”
“I've had a lot of fun vibe coding my own text-based email client and reader using mostly Python's stdlib.”
“Why can I easily use "*at" functions from Python's stdlib, but not Rust's?”
“periodically has to throw out "dead batteries" because parts of its stdlib are now obsolete”
“Has worked me well with Go and Python.”
“its batteries are pretty limited”
“has broader coverage, supports more features, and is better documented”
“The python3 standard library is pretty capable, and it's ubiquitous.”
“the quality is super mixed, and not all of them are suitable for real use”
“It has been viable for a long time”
“I think that every language should have a batteries-included stdlib.”
“Python's standard library comes already with lots of features, and there are many packages you can install.”
“The Python stdlib does not get enough credit.”
“I'd take a python standard library any day.”
“contains myriad useful things that Ruby lacks out of the box”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.