97% of Python Devs Still Use pip + venv — uv Makes That Obsolete

Think pip + venv is the best we’ve got? Think again.

97% of Python Devs Still Use pip + venv — uv Makes That Obsolete

The Python packaging world is quietly evolving — and uv might just be the tool that finally replaces your old virtual environment and dependency workflows for good.

Despite all the progress Python has made in data science, web development, and AI, the tooling story for packaging and environment management has remained… clunky.

You pip install.

You python -m venv.

You activate, deactivate, and pray things don’t break.

This workflow has become the de facto standard for 97% of Python developers — but it’s far from optimal.

That’s where uv comes in.

Built by Astral, the creators of ruff, uv promises to dramatically speed up, simplify, and modernize Python’s packaging experience — and it’s not just talk. It’s already outperforming the traditional stack.

In this article, we’ll explore:

What makes uv different (and better)

Why pip + venv is showing its age

How to migrate your existing projects to uv

Whether it’s ready for production today

The Mess We’ve Accepted for Too Long

Before we appreciate what uv offers, it’s worth stepping back to understand how fragmented the current tooling ecosystem is.

The current pip + venv workflow typically looks like this:

python -m venv .venv 
source .venv/bin/activate 
pip install -r requirements.txt

Seems fine, right?

Until:

Dependencies conflict and break silently

You wait forever for large projects to install

Managing multiple Python versions becomes a nightmare

CI pipelines slow to a crawl

And you start adding tools like virtualenv, pip-tools, pipx, tox, poetry, pyenv... just to stay sane

It’s a fragile, duct-taped workflow held together by tribal knowledge and Stack Overflow hacks.

Enter uv: A Rust-Powered Game-Changer

Imagine a single tool that:

Installs dependencies 10x faster

Manages virtual environments automatically

Works as a drop-in replacement for pip

Handles lockfiles, resolution, and caching elegantly

That’s what uv is.

Developed in Rust (like ripgrep, fd, bat, and ruff), uv brings native-speed performance to the slowest parts of Python development.

What uv offers out of the box:

Blazing-fast installs thanks to aggressive parallelism and caching

Virtualenv baked-in — no need to explicitly create or activate

Smart dependency resolution similar to Poetry or pip-tools

Lockfile support for reproducible builds

First-class support for pyproject.toml

Seamless compatibility with existing Python projects

It’s like having pip, venv, and pip-tools combined — with superpowers.

A Taste of uv in Action

Let’s look at a quick comparison.

Traditional Setup:

python -m venv .venv 
source .venv/bin/activate 
pip install -r requirements.txt

With uv:

uv venv 
uv pip install -r requirements.txt

Or, even better:

uv pip install pandas numpy requests

No need to activate anything — uv knows you’re working in a project and manages the environment transparently.

Want a lockfile?

uv pip compile requirements.txt

Done. Speedy. Reproducible.

Benchmarks Don’t Lie

In internal benchmarks by Astral and dev users on GitHub:

uv installs dependencies 5–15x faster than pip

On large projects, install time drops from minutes to seconds

CI pipelines can shave off 50–80% of environment setup time

And it’s not just hype. The secret sauce is Rust’s concurrency and efficient package caching.

But What About Compatibility?

This is the best part: uv is backward-compatible.

That means:

You can use uv in existing projects without rewriting anything.

Your requirements.txt and pyproject.toml files work just fine.

It integrates smoothly into CI/CD workflows.

If you’re using ruff, it’s from the same team — and follows the same “fast, simple, modern” ethos.

Switching to uv — Step-by-Step

Ready to give it a shot? Here’s how to get started:

1. Install uv

curl -Ls https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Or use brew (for macOS/Linux):

brew install astral-sh/astral/uv

2. Create a new project (optional)

mkdir myproject && cd myproject 
uv venv

3. Install your packages

uv pip install requests flask

4. Freeze dependencies

uv pip compile > requirements.txt

That’s it — you’re in.

You can even alias uv pip as pip in your shell profile if you’re fully committed.

Is uv Production-Ready?

Yes, with caveats.

uv is still relatively new and actively evolving, but:

It’s stable enough for day-to-day use

It’s used in production by early adopters

The Astral team is known for shipping reliable tooling (ruff is now ubiquitous)

That said:

Some edge cases might arise for exotic builds or OS-specific dependencies

You’ll want to test thoroughly before switching critical production pipelines

For personal projects, hobby work, or speeding up CI — it’s already a no-brainer.

Should You Ditch pip + venv Today?

If you care about speed, simplicity, and sanity — yes.

Here’s a quick rule of thumb:

| Use Case               | Use `uv`?     | 
| ---------------------- | ------------- | 
| New Python project     | ✅             | 
| Data science notebooks | ✅             | 
| Fast CI/CD workflows   | ✅             | 
| Complex legacy project | ⚠️ Test first | 
| You love slow installs | ❌             |

pip + venv has served us well, but the future is faster, smarter, and cleaner — and uv is leading the way.

Final Thoughts

Python’s packaging ecosystem is finally catching up to the standards developers expect in 2025.

Tools like uv signal a shift toward simplicity and performance — without forcing you into new paradigms or opinionated workflows.

You don’t need to wait for the rest of the Python world to catch up. Start using uv today, and experience what Python dependency management should feel like.

Your next step:
Replace your next pip install with uv pip install — and feel the difference.

Stop waiting on your tools. Let uv catch up — so you can move faster.