SFML VS Kivy

Compare SFML VS Kivy and see what are their differences

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SFML

SFML provides a simple interface to the various components of your PC, to ease the development of games and multimedia applications. It is composed of five modules: system, window, graphics, audio and network.

Kivy

Open source Python framework for rapid development of applications that make use of innovative user interfaces, such as multi-touch apps. Installation on WindowsInstallation on Windows. Installation; What are wheels .

Landing page //
2018-09-29

Landing page //
2023-09-15

SFML

Website: sfml-dev.org
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Kivy

Website: kivy.org
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SFML features and specs

User-Friendly API
SFML provides a simple and intuitive API which makes it easier for developers to learn and use, especially for beginners who are new to graphics programming.
Cross-Platform Support
SFML supports multiple operating systems including Windows, Linux, and macOS, allowing developers to create cross-platform applications with minimal code changes.
Module-Based
It offers different modules for handling various system aspects like graphics, window, audio, and networking. This modularity helps in organizing code better and using only what is needed.
Hardware Acceleration
SFML provides hardware-accelerated graphics, making it efficient and fast for rendering, which is critical for real-time applications like games.
Community and Documentation
SFML has an active community and offers comprehensive documentation, tutorials, and a supportive forum which are invaluable for development and troubleshooting.

Possible disadvantages of SFML

Limited 3D Support
SFML is primarily designed for 2D graphics, and it doesn’t have native support for 3D graphics, which can be limiting for developers looking to create 3D games.
Less Popularity
Compared to other game development libraries and frameworks like Unity or Unreal Engine, SFML is less popular, which means fewer third-party resources and plugins.
Manual Memory Management
SFML does not handle memory management for you, requiring developers to be cautious with resource management to avoid memory leaks.
Limited Advanced Features
While SFML covers basic game development needs, it may lack advanced features and tools provided by more extensive engines, leading developers to implement more functionalities manually.
Smaller Ecosystem
The ecosystem around SFML is smaller compared to more mature game engines, which leads to fewer tutorials, plugins, and reusable assets available for developers.

Kivy features and specs

Cross-Platform
Kivy allows you to write your application code once and run it on multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android, reducing development time and effort.
Open Source
Kivy is an open-source framework, which means it is free to use and has a community-driven development model. This also allows developers to contribute to its improvement.
Rich User Interface
Kivy provides a wide range of widgets and controls that can be customized to create highly interactive and attractive user interfaces.
Touch Support
Kivy is designed with built-in support for multitouch events, making it a good choice for applications that require touch interactions.
Dynamic and Fast
Thanks to its use of Cython, Kivy applications can achieve high performance and responsiveness.
Consistent Look and Feel
Kivy apps maintain a consistent look and feel across all supported platforms, which can lead to a better user experience.

Possible disadvantages of Kivy

Steep Learning Curve
Kivy can be challenging for beginners due to its custom language (Kv) and lack of extensive documentation.
Limited Community Support
Compared to more established frameworks, Kivy has a smaller user community, which can make finding help and resources more difficult.
Lagging behind in Platform Integration
Kivy may not offer the same level of integration with native platform features (such as navigation and notifications) as other frameworks like React Native or Flutter.
Debugging Complexity
Debugging Kivy applications can be complex, especially when dealing with cross-platform issues, as the error messages are not always straightforward.
Performance Issues on Some Platforms
Performance may not be consistent across all platforms, particularly on iOS devices where Kivy apps might suffer from performance degradation.
Limited Third-Party Libraries
The ecosystem of third-party libraries and plugins is not as extensive as those available for other popular frameworks, which might limit functionality.

SFML videos

+ Add

Coding a Simple SFML Game Framework in C++/ SFML

Kivy videos

+ Add

Kivy Intro - Mobile and Desktop App Dev w/ Python

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to SFML and Kivy)

SFML

Kivy

Game Engine

37 37%

Game Engine

63% 63

Game Development

35 35%

Game Development

65% 65

3D Game Engine

35 35%

3D Game Engine

65% 65

Rapid Application Development

0 0%

Rapid Application Development

100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using SFML and Kivy. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare SFML and Kivy

SFML Reviews

We have no reviews of SFML yet.
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Kivy Reviews

25 Python Frameworks to Master

Unlike PyQt, Kivy is free and open-source, isn’t a wrapper around an external UI library, and is licensed under the MIT license, which means you can ship and monetize your Kivy apps.

Source: kinsta.com

Which Python GUI library should you use? Comparing the Python GUI libraries available in 2023

The look and feel of Kivy is extremely customizable, allowing it to be used as an alternative to libraries like Pygame (for making games with Python). The developers have also released a number of separate libraries for Kivy. Some provide Kivy with better integration and access to certain platform-specific features, or help package your application for distribution on...

Source: www.pythonguis.com

10 Best Python Libraries for GUI

Kivy was written with a mix of Python and Cython, and it helps build some of the most intuitive user interfaces with multi-touch applications. These multi-touch applications help implement Natural User Interface (NUI), which is a type of interface where the user naturally learns about the various interactions while they’re usually invisible.

Source: www.unite.ai

Top 6 Python Framework for Game Development | by Ankur Kumar | unikaksha | Medium

Kivy is a Python game development framework for businesses. It’s an open-source Python library that lets programmers easily construct apps with unique user interfaces, such as multi-touch apps. Kivy assists in developing apps for Windows, Linux, and iOS devices such as iPhones, iPads, and Android devices such as phones and tablets.

Source: medium.com

Top 10 Python GUI Frameworks for Developers

With Kivy, interface designers can code once and deploy to multiple platforms, while the built-in support for OpenGL ES 2 allows them to use modern and powerful graphics and design techniques. The most common use of the Kivy GUI framework in the real-world can be seen in our Android and iOS applications. Other widespread implementations of the framework can be seen in the...

Source: towardsdatascience.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Kivy seems to be a lot more popular than SFML. While we know about 48 links to Kivy, we've tracked only 1 mention of SFML. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

SFML mentions (1)

Open source recreation of the PS Vita game -- Calling all creators
I would like to recreate the Plastic Memories PS Vita game as a free, open source, cross-platform (any platform SFML runs on*) game for everyone to enjoy. I'm not sure how much time I'll be able to put into it (I don't have much time between school and various other projects of mine) but I can handle the code, coordination, and source code hosting. Source: almost 4 years ago

Kivy mentions (48)

Ask HN: What Toolchains Are People Using for Desktop App Development in 2025?
Because I mainly work with python, I am using Kivy (https://kivy.org/). Earlier I was HTMX, Jinja templates, Flask, Tailwind and little vanilla JS. It was too inelegant for my taste. I am considering moving to either Swift, or JS/Svelete. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
Plain – a web framework for building products with Python
There are some things available, and people are working on it. Coincidentally, one of those people is Russell Keith-Magee of Django fame, who founded the BeeWare project. https://beeware.org/ https://beeware.org/about/team/freakboy3742/ https://kivy.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
How to Develop a User Data Storage Registration Form Using Python.
We will create this complete Python registration form using Kivy. We get started by installing Kivy, a powerful Python framework for building interactive applications. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
Ask HN: Can I create a mobile and Web App using Python/Python Framework?
For reference, YouTube runs on Python[1,2,3]: > 1. Python and Django: YouTube’s backend is predominantly written in Python, offering a balance of performance and readability. > 2. Google Cloud Platform... > 3. Java and C++: YouTube also utilizes Java and C++ for specific backend services, as they provide better performance for certain tasks. --- A long time ago, I looked into these Python frameworks: -... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
Python GUI libraries? <3
I suggest you use kivy which is suitable for the desktop but also has the advantage of being one of few options for creating Python based native(ish) mobile apps (for IoS and Android app stores). Source: almost 2 years ago