Polars
Polars provides a Rust query engine for DataFrames, with a Python interface for data work.
About Polars
Polars is a DataFrame query engine written in Rust. It supports eager and lazy execution with query optimization, a streaming mode for datasets larger than memory, and bindings for Python, Rust, Node.js, R, and SQL. It uses the Apache Arrow columnar format and can optionally accelerate queries on NVIDIA GPUs.
Pricing is not clearly stated.
Key features
- Multi-threaded, vectorized (SIMD) execution
- Expressive API for composing complex queries
- Custom I/O and expression plugins for native extensions
Best for: DataFrame work in Python, Rust, Node.js, R, or SQL.
Watch out for
- Advanced installation steps apply for more than about 4.2 billion rows, an old CPU, or x86-64 Python on Apple Silicon under Rosetta.
- Compiling from source requires the Rust compiler and maturin, and some release build options have long compile times.
Polars at a glance
- Website
- github.com/pola-rs/polars
- Category
- Development › Developer Tools
- Type
- Open-source project
- Pricing
- Not confirmed. Check the site
- Details verified
- Oct 22, 2026 · Official source
- Open source
- Yes · Source code
- Language
- English
- Last checked
- Oct 5, 2026 · Online when checked
- Listed
- Oct 5, 2026
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Polars FAQ
What license does Polars use?
Polars is licensed under the MIT License (SPDX: MIT).
How do I install Polars for Python?
Install the latest version with pip install polars. The User Guide covers optional dependencies.
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