Why We Chose pyenv for Python Projects

We evaluated popular Python environment tools, their histories, and the core problems they were designed to solve — then made a deliberate choice based on our needs.

What History Taught Us

• Pre-2007: Global package installs caused conflicts and breakage.
• 2007: virtualenv introduced isolation to solve this.
• 2012: Python 3.3+ introduced venv — a simpler, built-in version of virtualenv.
• 2010s: pyenv came along to solve a deeper problem — managing multiple Python versions, not just environments.

Why We Didn’t Choose venv (Despite Being Newer)

• venv is simple and built-in, but it uses the system Python.
• That means no control over which Python version you’re using.
• You can’t easily switch between Python 3.7, 3.10, or 3.11 for different projects.
• You also can’t install new versions without affecting your global environment.

Why We Chose pyenv + venv

• We wanted complete isolation — both for packages and for the interpreter itself.
• pyenv lets us install and pin any Python version locally per project.
• When combined with venv, it gives us a clean, reproducible setup that doesn’t interfere with global tools or other projects.

Final Word

While venv is great for basic isolation, we needed full control and independence.
That’s why we chose the power combo:
pyenv for managing Python versions + venv for isolated environments.