Installation

Usually, pip is automatically installed if you are:

  • working in a virtual environment

  • using Python downloaded from python.org

  • using Python that has not been modified by a redistributor to remove ensurepip

Supported Methods

If your Python environment does not have pip installed, there are 2 mechanisms to install pip supported directly by pip’s maintainers:

ensurepip

Python comes with an ensurepip module[1], which can install pip in a Python environment.

$ python -m ensurepip --upgrade

$ python -m ensurepip --upgrade

C:> py -m ensurepip --upgrade

More details about how ensurepip works and how it can be used, is available in the standard library documentation.

get-pip.py

This is a Python script that uses some bootstrapping logic to install pip.

  • Download the script, from https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py.

  • Open a terminal/command prompt, cd to the folder containing the get-pip.py file and run:

    $ python get-pip.py

    $ python get-pip.py

    C:> py get-pip.py

More details about this script can be found in pypa/get-pip’s README.

Standalone zip application

Note

The zip application is currently experimental. We test that pip runs correctly in this form, but it is possible that there could be issues in some situations. We will accept bug reports in such cases, but for now the zip application should not be used in production environments.

In addition to installing pip in your environment, pip is available as a standalone zip application. This can be downloaded from https://bootstrap.pypa.io/pip/pip.pyz. There are also zip applications for specific pip versions, named pip-X.Y.Z.pyz.

The zip application can be run using any supported version of Python:

$ python pip.pyz --help

$ python pip.pyz --help

C:> py pip.pyz --help

If run directly:

$ python -m pip.pyz --help

$ python -m pip.pyz --help

C:> py -m pip.pyz --help

then the currently active Python interpreter will be used.

Alternative Methods

Depending on how you installed Python, there might be other mechanisms available to you for installing pip such as using Linux package managers.

These mechanisms are provided by redistributors of pip, who may have modified pip to change its behaviour. This has been a frequent source of user confusion, since it causes a mismatch between documented behaviour in this documentation and how pip works after those modifications.

If you face issues when using Python and pip installed using these mechanisms, it is recommended to request for support from the relevant provider (eg: Linux distro community, cloud provider support channels, etc).

Upgrading pip

Upgrade your pip by running:

$ python -m pip install --upgrade pip

$ python -m pip install --upgrade pip

C:> py -m pip install --upgrade pip

Compatibility

The current version of pip works on:

  • Windows, Linux and MacOS.

  • CPython 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, and latest PyPy3.

pip is tested to work on the latest patch version of the Python interpreter, for each of the minor versions listed above. Previous patch versions are supported on a best effort approach.

Other operating systems and Python versions are not supported by pip’s maintainers.

Users who are on unsupported platforms should be aware that if they hit issues, they may have to resolve them for themselves. If they received pip from a source which provides support for their platform, they should request pip support from that source.