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Tkinter VS Leaflet

Compare Tkinter VS Leaflet and see what are their differences

Tkinter logo Tkinter

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

Leaflet logo Leaflet

Leaflet is a modern, lightweight open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps.
  • Tkinter Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-28
  • Leaflet Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-13

Tkinter features and specs

  • 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 of Tkinter

  • 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  • Outdated Look and Feel
    The default Tkinter themes and styles may look outdated by modern standards, which might not be suitable for applications where a contemporary design is important.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.

Leaflet features and specs

  • Lightweight
    Leaflet is designed to be easy on resources, making it fast to load and suitable for performance-critical applications.
  • Ease of Use
    The API is straightforward and well-documented, which makes it accessible for developers of all experience levels.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source means it is free to use and has a collaborative community contributing to its improvement.
  • Extensible
    Leaflet supports a wide range of plugins for additional functionality, allowing for customization and extension based on specific requirements.
  • Support for Mobile
    Leaflet is optimized for mobile browsers and touch devices, including multi-touch support.
  • Customizable
    It allows for extensive customization with a variety of map projections, tile layers, and interactive overlays.

Possible disadvantages of Leaflet

  • Limited Built-in Features
    Compared to some other mapping libraries, Leaflet has fewer built-in features out of the box.
  • Performance with Large Data Sets
    Rendering large data sets (such as many markers or complex geometries) can impact performance.
  • Steeper Learning Curve for Advanced Customization
    While basic use is straightforward, more advanced customizations can be challenging and may require deeper knowledge of JavaScript and Leaflet's architecture.
  • Limited 3D Support
    Leaflet is primarily designed for 2D maps, and doesn't natively support 3D visualizations, which may be a limitation for some applications.
  • Dependence on Third-party Services
    For certain functionalities like tile layers, geocoding, and routing, you may need to rely on third-party services, which can involve additional costs and dependencies.

Analysis of Leaflet

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Leaflet is a solid choice for creating interactive maps on the web, especially when performance and simplicity are priorities.

Why this product is good

  • Leaflet is considered a good JavaScript library for interactive maps due to its simplicity, performance, and ease of use. It provides an intuitive API, is lightweight, and works across various devices and browsers. Developers appreciate its extensibility through plugins and its active community that continuously supports and improves the library.

Recommended for

  • Web developers looking for an easy-to-use mapping solution.
  • Projects requiring lightweight and fast interactive maps.
  • Applications where mobile responsiveness is important.
  • Developers who want to extend functionality using a wide range of plugins.

Tkinter videos

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

More videos:

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

Leaflet videos

leaflet review

More videos:

  • Review - Labour Party Leaflet Review
  • Demo - Liberal Democrats Party Leaflet Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Tkinter and Leaflet)
Rapid Application Development
Maps
0 0%
100% 100
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Web Mapping
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

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

Tkinter Reviews

25 Python Frameworks to Master
It’s a great option for creating simple and easy-to-use graphical user interfaces in Python and allows you to add a GUI to your already working scripts pretty easily. PySimpleGUI wraps the power of 4 different GUI libraries, PySide, Tkinter, wxPython, and Remi.
Source: kinsta.com
Which Python GUI library should you use? Comparing the Python GUI libraries available in 2023
Tkinter is a simple library with support for standard layouts and widgets, as well as more complex widgets such as tabbed views & progressbars. Tkinter is a pure GUI library, not a framework. There is no built-in support for GUIs driven from data sources, databases, or for displaying or manipulating multimedia or hardware. However, if you need to make something simple that...
10 Best Python Libraries for GUI
Another top Python library for GUI is Tkinter, which is an open-source Python Graphic User Interface library. It is well known for its simplicity and comes pre-installed in Python, meaning there is no work on your part. These features make it a great choice for beginners and intermediates, but it is not capable of carrying out larger-scale projects.
Source: www.unite.ai
Top 10 Python GUI Frameworks for Developers
Often referred to as the go-to GUI toolkit by a majority of Python developers, Tkinter was created to equip modern developers with a standard interface to the Tk GUI toolkit with its Python bindings. In Tkinter’s world, most of the visual elements that we’re familiar with are called widgets, and each of these widgets offers a different level of customizability.

Leaflet Reviews

Top 15 Price Monitoring Tools For E-Commerce In 2022
Leaflet.js is the most popular open-source JavaScript library for providing mobile-friendly interactive maps. With a simple, easy-to-use interface, it is the perfect solution for all of your data management needs. It operates well right out of the box on all major platforms and devices. The platform offers the following services:
Source: adscale.com
Top 5 Open-Source Google Maps Alternatives in 2022
The Leaflet is another open source interactive maps software that comes with self-hosting capabilities. This map application is lightweight and easy to use. Above all, it is available for all desktop and mobile platforms such as Android, IOS, and web. Further, this offline maps app is highly extensible and offers a well-documented API for third-party integrations. This open...
The Best Data Visualization Tools - Top 30 BI Software
Leaflet leverages OpenStreetMap data and adds HTML5/CSS3 visualizations and interactivity on top to ensure everything is responsive and mobile ready. Its extensive plugin repository lets you add heatmaps , masks and animated markers. Leaflet is open source JavaScript library designed for creating interactive mobile-friendly maps and ships at only 33kb. This Javascript...
Source: improvado.io
Farewell, Google Maps
On a positive note we were impressed by the quality of open source code for operating maps (Leaflet). Some advanced functions which we had implement ourselves on Google side were readily available in Leaflet.
Survey of the Best Online Mapping Tools for Web Developers: The Roadmap to Roadmaps
It is safe to say that Leaflet was born as a reaction to OpenLayers’ bloat, clutter and complexity. Vladimir Agafonkin was asked to build a wrapper around OpenLayers, but he instead created a simple and lightweight OpenLayers alternative, and in May 2011 Leaflet was born. Vladimir focused on simplicity, performance and usability for this online map tool. The core library...
Source: www.toptal.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Leaflet should be more popular than Tkinter. It has been mentiond 136 times since March 2021. 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.

Tkinter mentions (37)

  • Building a Lightweight OCR-Powered Receipt Parser
    Tkinter Documentation – Official Python Tkinter library documentation. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • The Adventures of Blink S2e7: A GUI Screen in Python
    For our hangman, I've elected to use Tkinter. It has a pre-built collection of little widgets that make dialog-based apps work, and I think it will be useful for Hangman, which doesn't require a great deal of animation and image management but does require us to have an easy-to-use interface for the user to make changes. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Ask HN: How popular is Tcl in 2024?
    >> So it's hard for me to recommend tk for GUI development. Tcl/Tk is widely used in lightweight legacy GUIs. Python distributions will typically include tkinter (https://docs.python.org/3/library/tkinter.html) which is just a Python wrapper for Tk. Git usually includes the gitk graphical utility which is written in Tcl/TK: - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • A brief interview with Tcl creator John Ousterhout
    Lots of people care about it, and it's alive and kicking in-industry and being developed (Tcl 9 is imminent[0]). I've had fun w Guile over the years (though actually never considered its "heaviness"); fun. I'm constantly amazed at the professional love for Python; its got it's network effect in full-effect: lots of people, lots of software - there's just no denying that. But for Joy of Development, Tcl (and C) is... - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Essential Deep Learning Checklist: Best Practices Unveiled
    How to Accomplish: Create a simple interface (CLI or GUI) where users can input an image, and the script processes and displays the model's prediction. For a CLI, use argparse to handle input arguments. For a GUI, consider libraries like Tkinter or web-based interfaces using FastAPI or Flask. The script should perform necessary preprocessing, invoke the model prediction, and present the results clearly, such as... - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
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Leaflet mentions (136)

  • Creating a Custom Map From Images in Leaflet
    In this tutorial, we’ll walk through how to create a custom map using a large image in Leaflet, a lightweight JavaScript library for building interactive maps in web applications. - Source: dev.to / 7 days ago
  • Interactive Map
    The map is based on the Leaflet module, which is entirely open-source and free. It can pull imagery from any source, so I chose OpenStreetMap, since it is also free. - Source: dev.to / 15 days ago
  • Building a Location-Based App with Appwrite
    React Leaflet because we’re using React and Leaflet is an open source mobile friendly maps library with lots of plugins. - Source: dev.to / 25 days ago
  • Understanding Mapbox API Integration: A Deep Dive
    Leaflet with OpenStreetMap: Cost-effective open-source solution with no vendor lock-in, lightweight JavaScript library perfect for basic mapping needs, though lacking some advanced features found in commercial options. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Data viz library built with Apache ECharts, Leaflet, and shadcn
    This is a terrible title. Info on what leaflet.js is here: https://leafletjs.com/. Took me a lot longer than I'd like to find that, and I'm still not sure what it has to do with the majority of those examples. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

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

PyQt - Riverbank | Software | PyQt | What is PyQt?

jQuery - The Write Less, Do More, JavaScript Library.

PySimpleGUI - A simple to use GUI that can create custom GUIs

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

MD Python Designer - A drag and drop GUI Designer that uses a combination of Tkinter and its own code.

Babel - Babel is a compiler for writing next generation JavaScript.