Spyder is relatively easy to install on Windows, Linux and macOS. Just make sure to read and follow these instructions with care.
If you run into problems, before posting a report, please consult our comprehensive troubleshooting guide and search the issue tracker for your error message and problem description. These methods generally fix or isolate the great majority of install-related difficulties. Thanks!
Important
Spyder now offers standalone installers for Windows and macOS, making it easier to get up and running with the application without having to download Anaconda or manually install it in your existing environment. While we still support Anaconda, we recommend this install method on those platforms to avoid most problems with package conflicts and other issues.
Want to try out Spyder without installing it? With Binder you can work with a fully functional copy of Spyder online that runs right in your web browser, no installation needed. Just visit the Spyder page on Binder to get started using Spyder now.
Our standalone installers for Windows and macOS are available from Spyder 4.2 onwards. We recommend using this installation method on those platforms, but we offer several other options for Linux, advanced users and specific needs, so keep reading if that’s the case for you.
To download the supported Spyder installer for your platform, simply click the appropriate link below. (For Linux, see the Anaconda section). Then, double-click the downloaded file to open the installer. If a security warning pops up, you may need to click Yes, OK, Open, Allow or similar.
On Windows, if a SmartScreen dialog appears, click More info followed by Run anyway, and then proceed through the steps in the installer.
On macOS, open the disk image and drag Spyder to your Applications folder.
Windows Installer
macOS Installer
Note
“Lite” versions of both installers are also available from the releases page, which are somewhat smaller than the full installers. These lack a number of optional but recommended dependencies, such as NumPy, SciPy and Pandas, meaning that a few Variable Explorer features, including graphical data import wizards and support for rich display and editing of NumPy arrays and Pandas DataFrames, will not be available. Given this only saves a modest amount of space while missing out on significant features, we recommend using the full installers unless minimizing download/install size and memory usage is a priority.
To run Spyder when installed standalone, you can simply use your operating system’s typical method of launching applications, such as opening it from the Start menu on Windows (or the Taskbar, if you’ve pinned it there), or from Launchpad, Spotlight or the Applications folder on macOS (or the Dock, if you’ve added it there).
On macOS, the first time you open Spyder, you may see a message that it cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified. If so, right-click on the application, select Open, then click Open in the resulting dialog, and the warning will no longer be shown. You can also click Open Anyway under Security & Privacy ‣ General in System Preferences.
For more information on installing your own packages and using standalone Spyder with your existing Python environments, see our FAQ.
Spyder is included by default in the Anaconda Python distribution, which comes with everything you need to get started in an all-in-one package, and is our recommended installation method on Linux (and supported on the other platforms too).
To run Spyder after installing it with Anaconda, the recommended method on Windows is to launch it via the Start menu shortcut. On other platforms, open Anaconda Navigator, scroll to Spyder under Home, and click Launch.
Home
Launch
If Spyder does not launch via this method or you prefer to use the command line, open Anaconda Prompt (Windows) or your terminal (other platforms), type conda activate base then spyder.
conda activate base
spyder
If you would like to have Spyder in a dedicated environment to update it separately from your other packages and avoid any conflicts, you can. Just run the following command in your Anaconda Prompt (Windows) or terminal (other platforms), for a minimal install of Spyder into a new environment called spyder-env:
spyder-env
conda create -n spyder-env spyder=4
To install Spyder’s optional dependencies as well for full functionality, use the following command instead:
conda create -n spyder-env spyder=4 numpy scipy pandas matplotlib sympy cython
To install Spyder from Conda-Forge instead of the default Anaconda channel, add -c conda-forge at the end of either of the previous commands.
-c conda-forge
You can then run Spyder by the same methods as above, except make sure to select the start menu shortcut with (spyder-env) in the name, select the spyder-env environment on the left before launching it with Navigator, or type conda activate spyder-env before launching it on the command line.
(spyder-env)
conda activate spyder-env
For more information on this approach, and using Spyder with your existing Python environments and packages, please see our Guide to working with packages and environments in Spyder.
Caution
While we offer alternative Spyder installation options for users who desire them, we currently lack the resources to offer individual assistance for problems specific to installing via these alternative distributions. Therefore, we recommend you switch to our standalone installers (Windows and macOS) or Anaconda if you encounter installation issues you are unable to solve on your own.
Spyder is included in the WinPython scientific Python distribution (although Anaconda’s conda package and environment manager is not). You can use Spyder immediately after installing, just like with Anaconda.
conda
Thanks to the MacPorts project, Spyder can be installed using its port package manager; however, the included Spyder version may be out of date or have MacPorts-specific issues outside of Spyder’s control.
port
There are several versions available from which you can choose.
Warning
Distribution packages are created by third parties, are often outdated relative to the current Spyder release, and may contain bugs and be missing features relative to the current supported version. As such, given we are not able to provide official support for them, we strongly recommend using Anaconda on Linux whenever practical (or pip, for advanced users).
Spyder can be installed via third-party distro packages on most common Linux distributions.
Running Spyder installed this way will generally be the same as any other distro-installed application. Alternatively, it can be launched from the terminal with spyder (or spyder3, on older versions of some distros).
spyder3
Using the package manager:
sudo apt install spyder
Spyder’s Ubuntu package is available on the Ubuntu package repository.
Spyder’s Debian package is available on the Debian package repository.
Spyder is also available in other GNU/Linux distributions, like
Arch Linux
Fedora
Gentoo
openSUSE
Please refer to your distribution’s documentation for how to install Spyder.
While this installation method is a viable option for experienced users, installing Spyder (and other PyData-stack packages) with pip can lead to a number of tricky issues, particularly on Windows and macOS. While you are welcome to try this on your own, we unfortunately do not have the resources to help you if you do run into problems, except to recommend our standalone installers (Windows and macOS) or Anaconda.
pip
You can install Spyder with the pip package manager, which comes by default with most Python installations. Before installing Spyder itself by this method, you need to acquire the Python programming language.
Due to a known issue with some DEB-based Linux distributions (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint), you might also need to install the pyqt5-dev-tools package first, with sudo apt install pyqt5-dev-tools.
pyqt5-dev-tools
sudo apt install pyqt5-dev-tools
You’ll first want to create and activate a virtual environment in which to install Spyder, via one of the following methods.
With virtualenvwrapper:
virtualenvwrapper
mkvirtualenv spyder-env workon spyder-env
Otherwise, on macOS/Linux/Unix:
python3 -m venv spyder-env source spyder-env/bin/activate
or on Windows:
python -m venv spyder-env spyder-env/Scripts/activate.bat
After activating your environment, to install Spyder and its other dependencies, run pip install spyder.
pip install spyder
You may need to install a Qt binding (PyQt5) separately with pip if running under Python 2.
To launch Spyder after installing, ensure your environment is activated and run the spyder3 command.
To update Spyder installed via our standalone packages on Windows and macOS, you’ll currently need to manually download and install the latest release (if on Windows, make sure to remove the old version first from Control Panel/System Settings).
If you installed Spyder through Anaconda, WinPython, MacPorts, or your system package manager, update using those same methods. With Anaconda, just run (in Anaconda Prompt if on Windows, otherwise in your system terminal):
conda update anaconda conda update spyder
If you installed Spyder via the advanced/cross-platform method, pip, run pip install --upgrade spyder. This command will also update all Spyder dependencies, so we recommend you use an isolated virtual environment to avoid any potential unintended effects on other installed packages.
pip install --upgrade spyder
If you want to try the next Spyder version before it is released, you can! You may want to do this for fixing bugs in Spyder, adding new features, learning how Spyder works or just getting a taste of what the IDE can do. For more information, please see the Contributing Guide included with the Spyder source or on Github, and for further detail consult the Spyder development wiki.
Run in to a problem installing or running Spyder? Read our Troubleshooting Guide and FAQ.
Looking for general information about Spyder and its ecosystem? See our main website.
Need to submit a bug report or feature request? Check out our Github repository.
Want development-oriented help and information? Consult our Github wiki.
Have a help request or discussion topic? Subscribe to our Google Group.
Asking a quick question or want to chat with the dev team? Stop by our Gitter chatroom.
