Software Alternatives & Startups

CustomTkinter VS Tkinter

Compare CustomTkinter VS Tkinter and see what are their differences

CustomTkinter

CustomTkinter is a python desktop UI-library based on Tkinter, which provides modern looking and fully customizable widgets.

Rating
0 reviews
Tkinter

Tkinter is a Python wrapper for Tcl/Tk that offers classes to create various graphical user interfaces.

Rating
0 reviews

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, Tkinter seems to be a lot more popular than CustomTkinter. While we know about 41 links to Tkinter, we've tracked only 1 mention of CustomTkinter.

social mentions
1 vs 41
Rapid Application Development popularity
29% vs 71%
alternatives listed
22 vs 74

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

CustomTkinter
Tkinter
Website customtkinter.tomschimansky.com docs.python.org
Listed in

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

CustomTkinter 5 features
Tkinter 5 features
  • Modern UI Appearance
    CustomTkinter provides a modern, flat, and visually appealing look for Tkinter applications, with rounded corners, better color schemes, and improved widget styling compared to standard Tkinter.
  • Easy Transition from Tkinter
    Since it's built on top of Tkinter and uses similar syntax and widget names, developers familiar with Tkinter can easily transition to CustomTkinter without a steep learning curve.
  • Built-in Dark and Light Mode
    CustomTkinter supports automatic and manual switching between dark and light appearance modes, making it easy to create apps that adapt to system themes or user preferences.
  • Customizable Themes
    The library allows for extensive customization through theme files (JSON), enabling developers to create and apply custom color schemes and styles across their entire application.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    CustomTkinter works across Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing a consistent look and feel across different operating systems, which is an improvement over native Tkinter's platform-dependent appearance.

Possible disadvantages

  • Limited Widget Set
    Compared to more mature GUI frameworks like PyQt or Kivy, CustomTkinter offers a smaller set of widgets, which may require additional custom development for complex applications.
  • Performance Overhead
    The additional styling and rendering logic on top of Tkinter can introduce slight performance overhead, especially in applications with many widgets or frequent UI updates.
  • Dependency on Tkinter Limitations
    Since it's built on Tkinter, CustomTkinter inherits some of Tkinter's inherent limitations, such as less flexible layout management and fewer built-in animations compared to modern frameworks.
  • Smaller Community and Ecosystem
    As a relatively newer library, CustomTkinter has a smaller community, fewer third-party extensions, and less extensive documentation compared to more established GUI frameworks.
  • Occasional Bugs and Inconsistencies
    Being under active development, users may encounter occasional bugs, inconsistent behavior across platforms, or breaking changes between version updates that require code adjustments.
  • Built-in Standard Library
    Tkinter comes bundled with Python, so there is no need for additional installations. This makes it highly accessible and quick to set up for projects.
  • Ease of Use
    Tkinter provides a simple syntax and an easy-to-understand system for building GUI applications, making it ideal for beginners who are just starting with programming.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Tkinter applications can run on multiple operating systems like Windows, macOS, and Linux without modification, which ensures broader audience reach.
  • Strong Community Support
    Being part of Python's standard library means that Tkinter benefits from Python's extensive community support, with plenty of tutorials and resources available online.
  • Object-Oriented Approach
    Tkinter supports an object-oriented programming model, which allows for structuring code in a manageable way, especially for larger applications.

Possible disadvantages

  • Limited Widget Set
    Compared to more modern GUI frameworks, Tkinter has a limited set of widgets and may not support advanced user interface features that newer applications might require.
  • Outdated Look and Feel
    The default Tkinter themes and styles may look outdated by modern standards, which might not be suitable for applications where a contemporary design is important.
  • Performance Limitations
    Tkinter may not perform well with applications requiring high-performance graphics or real-time updates, as it is not optimized for these tasks.
  • Learning Curve for Complex Applications
    While simple to use for basic applications, building more complex UI components can become challenging and might require a deeper understanding of the Tkinter framework.
  • Lack of Advanced Features
    Some advanced features like drag-and-drop, custom widgets, or native look and feel on different platforms might be either missing or require additional work to implement.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

CustomTkinter
Tkinter

Overall verdict

  • CustomTkinter is a solid choice for Python developers who want to build modern-looking desktop GUIs without leaving the familiar Tkinter ecosystem. It provides a good balance between ease of use and visual polish, making it especially attractive for smaller to medium-sized projects.

Why this product is good

  • Built on top of standard Tkinter, so it's easy to learn if you already know Tkinter
  • Provides modern, flat-styled widgets with rounded corners and better default aesthetics than vanilla Tkinter
  • Supports light and dark mode theming out of the box, including system theme detection
  • Cross-platform support for Windows, macOS, and Linux
  • Actively maintained with regular updates and a growing community
  • Free and open-source with a permissive license
  • Good documentation and examples to help beginners get started quickly
  • Customizable color themes and widget appearance without needing CSS-like styling

Recommended for

  • Python developers who want a quick way to modernize Tkinter-based UIs
  • Hobbyists and students building desktop apps for personal or academic projects
  • Small business or indie developers creating internal tools or utilities
  • Developers who prefer lightweight GUI frameworks over heavier alternatives like PyQt or Kivy
  • Projects that need dark mode support without complex theming systems
  • Anyone already familiar with Tkinter looking for an easy upgrade path

No analysis of Tkinter yet.

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

CustomTkinter 0 videos + Add
Tkinter 3 videos + Add

No CustomTkinter videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Which is Better Kivy Or Tkinter? - Python Kivy GUI Tutorial #42

More videos

  • - Python Programming 93 - Review of Tkinter
  • - Tkinter Course - Create Graphic User Interfaces in Python Tutorial

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
CustomTkinter
Tkinter
14% 14%
86% 86%
100% 100%
IDE
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%

User comments

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Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

CustomTkinter no reviews yet
Tkinter no reviews yet

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Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

CustomTkinter 1 mention
Tkinter 41 mentions
  • Migrating from Go to Rust
    Python has sqlite3[0], curses (tui) [1], and tkinter[2] in the stdlib. [0] https://docs.python.org/3/library/sqlite3.html [1] https://docs.python.org/3/library/curses.html [2] https://docs.python.org/3/library/tkinter.html. - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • Stdwin: Standard window interface by Guido Van Rossum [pdf]
    The other popular option for cross-platform UI apps was Tcl/Tk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tk_(software) ...which even leaked into other language ecosystems like Python: https://docs.python.org/3/library/tkinter.html. - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • Vibe coding: Time Zone Clock
    ChatGPT understood the hardware and it's limitations, the touchscreen monitor and along with my requirements, we found and used Tkinter which runs on Python. The benefits were it was lightweight, no web stack, runs fast, no browser, no... - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago

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Alternatives to CustomTkinter and Tkinter

When comparing CustomTkinter and Tkinter, you can also consider the following products.