Python HTTP Client Libraries
HTTP client libraries for Python enable simple yet powerful API communication. Requests is the most popular synchronous library, aiohttp and httpx support asynchronous processing, and urllib3 provides low-level control. They cater to various use cases from data science to web scraping.
GitHub Star Comparison
| No | Name | GitHub Stars | Description | Trend | License | Type | Official Site |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Requests | - | Most popular HTTP library for Python with 'HTTP for Humans' concept providing simple and intuitive API. Comprehensive features including session management, SSL verification, automatic redirects, authentication, cookie handling, and file uploads. | Maintains absolute position in Python ecosystem in 2025. Records hundreds of millions of downloads monthly, serving as de facto standard in Python web development, API usage, and scraping. Continues to be supported for excellent balance of simplicity and functionality. | Apache 2.0 | Synchronous | Official |
| 2 | HTTPX | - | Modern HTTP client for Python. Provides Requests-like API with full async/await support, HTTP/2 compatibility, and WebSocket connection capabilities. Next-generation HTTP library enabling both synchronous and asynchronous APIs through unified interface. | Rapidly growing as mainstream HTTP client for Python async application development in 2025. Actively adopted for high-performance web applications and API client development combined with async frameworks like FastAPI and Starlette. Essential tool for modern Python development. | BSD | Sync/Async | Official |
| 3 | aiohttp | - | Asynchronous HTTP client and server library for Python. Achieves high-performance async communication based on asyncio. Comprehensive async web framework providing HTTP client functionality plus web server, WebSocket, and middleware support. | Maintains solid position as important foundational library in Python async web development in 2025. Continuously adopted for real-time applications, high-load API processing, and microservice communication. Maintains stable demand along with maturation of asyncio ecosystem. | Apache 2.0 | Async-only | Official |
| 4 | urllib3 | - | Low-level HTTP client library for Python. Functions as foundation for many HTTP clients including Requests. Provides connection pooling, SSL/TLS, compression, streaming, and detailed control features. Excellent customizability with over 150 million monthly downloads. | Essential as foundation for many HTTP libraries in 2025. More widely used as dependency for other libraries rather than direct use, but continues direct adoption in enterprise environments requiring advanced customization. Maintains stable demand as foundational technology. | MIT | Low-level | Official |