Python data tools: star history compared
Most starred
50k
pandas-dev/pandas
NumPy and pandas are the bedrock nearly every data stack is built on, which makes their long, steady star curves a useful baseline: this is what indispensable looks like. Polars is the disruption story — a Rust-core DataFrame library whose growth since 2022 tracks the whole ecosystem's hunger for speed. Arrow and Dask fill in the picture at the memory-format and distributed ends.
Ranked by current GitHub stars · growth = stars gained in the trailing 90 days · data updated Sep 2026
pandas-dev/pandas: 51,817 stars on September 15, 2026. pola-rs/polars: 35,433 stars on September 16, 2026. numpy/numpy: 33,999 stars on September 13, 2026. apache/arrow: 16,539 stars on September 13, 2026. dask/dask: 14,211 stars on September 15, 2026.
| Date | Stars |
|---|---|
| February 20, 2011 | 1 |
| September 20, 2011 | 119 |
| January 6, 2012 | 242 |
| October 11, 2012 | 459 |
| December 23, 2012 | 660 |
| March 4, 2013 | 853 |
| May 9, 2013 | 1088 |
| July 19, 2013 | 1289 |
| September 28, 2013 | 1576 |
| December 3, 2013 | 1901 |
| February 23, 2014 | 2233 |
| April 30, 2014 | 2489 |
| July 7, 2014 | 2754 |
| September 11, 2014 | 2974 |
| November 16, 2014 | 3267 |
| January 21, 2015 | 3597 |
| March 26, 2015 | 3924 |
| May 29, 2015 | 4212 |
| August 1, 2015 | 4528 |
| October 4, 2015 | 4873 |
| December 7, 2015 | 5277 |
| February 12, 2016 | 5605 |
| April 16, 2016 | 6052 |
| June 19, 2016 | 6510 |
| August 21, 2016 | 6947 |
| October 24, 2016 | 7401 |
| December 27, 2016 | 7855 |
| March 1, 2017 | 8936 |
| May 4, 2017 | 9808 |
| July 6, 2017 | 10543 |
| September 21, 2017 | 11429 |
| November 24, 2017 | 12391 |
| January 27, 2018 | 13344 |
| March 31, 2018 | 14407 |
| June 4, 2018 | 15285 |
| August 7, 2018 | 16184 |
| October 10, 2018 | 17114 |
| December 13, 2018 | 18101 |
| February 14, 2019 | 18928 |
| April 19, 2019 | 20018 |
| June 22, 2019 | 21095 |
| August 25, 2019 | 22140 |
| October 27, 2019 | 23276 |
| December 30, 2019 | 24266 |
| March 3, 2020 | 25384 |
| May 6, 2020 | 26523 |
| July 9, 2020 | 27584 |
| September 11, 2020 | 28492 |
| November 14, 2020 | 29379 |
| January 17, 2021 | 30374 |
| April 4, 2021 | 31649 |
| June 9, 2021 | 32446 |
| August 12, 2021 | 33241 |
| October 18, 2021 | 33923 |
| December 26, 2021 | 34705 |
| February 28, 2022 | 35630 |
| May 2, 2022 | 36603 |
| July 5, 2022 | 37352 |
| September 7, 2022 | 38151 |
| November 10, 2022 | 38993 |
| January 13, 2023 | 39693 |
| March 17, 2023 | 40566 |
| May 20, 2023 | 41763 |
| July 23, 2023 | 42516 |
| September 25, 2023 | 43345 |
| November 28, 2023 | 44117 |
| January 30, 2024 | 44822 |
| April 3, 2024 | 45667 |
| June 6, 2024 | 46352 |
| August 9, 2024 | 47124 |
| October 24, 2024 | 47973 |
| December 27, 2024 | 48612 |
| March 1, 2025 | 49317 |
| May 4, 2025 | 49969 |
| July 7, 2025 | 50427 |
| September 9, 2025 | 50878 |
| November 19, 2025 | 51176 |
| January 24, 2026 | 51446 |
| April 4, 2026 | 51667 |
| September 15, 2026 | 51817 |
| Date | Stars |
|---|---|
| June 17, 2020 | 1 |
| August 7, 2020 | 159 |
| September 21, 2020 | 228 |
| October 24, 2020 | 294 |
| November 23, 2020 | 410 |
| December 22, 2020 | 538 |
| January 19, 2021 | 626 |
| February 21, 2021 | 680 |
| March 20, 2021 | 1239 |
| April 15, 2021 | 1419 |
| May 19, 2021 | 1634 |
| June 14, 2021 | 1784 |
| July 11, 2021 | 1919 |
| August 6, 2021 | 2037 |
| September 6, 2021 | 2196 |
| October 2, 2021 | 2504 |
| November 6, 2021 | 2637 |
| December 2, 2021 | 2974 |
| December 28, 2021 | 3695 |
| January 24, 2022 | 4125 |
| February 19, 2022 | 4426 |
| March 17, 2022 | 4729 |
| April 12, 2022 | 4967 |
| May 8, 2022 | 5461 |
| June 3, 2022 | 5928 |
| June 30, 2022 | 6281 |
| July 26, 2022 | 6858 |
| August 21, 2022 | 7208 |
| September 16, 2022 | 7575 |
| October 12, 2022 | 8215 |
| November 13, 2022 | 8801 |
| December 9, 2022 | 9269 |
| January 4, 2023 | 11123 |
| January 30, 2023 | 12700 |
| February 25, 2023 | 13908 |
| March 23, 2023 | 15003 |
| April 18, 2023 | 15873 |
| May 15, 2023 | 16461 |
| June 10, 2023 | 17068 |
| July 6, 2023 | 17698 |
| August 1, 2023 | 18255 |
| August 27, 2023 | 19108 |
| September 22, 2023 | 19695 |
| October 19, 2023 | 20296 |
| November 14, 2023 | 20867 |
| December 10, 2023 | 21429 |
| January 5, 2024 | 22085 |
| January 31, 2024 | 23262 |
| February 26, 2024 | 23816 |
| March 23, 2024 | 24584 |
| April 24, 2024 | 25464 |
| May 20, 2024 | 25984 |
| June 15, 2024 | 26505 |
| July 11, 2024 | 27315 |
| August 6, 2024 | 27820 |
| September 2, 2024 | 28398 |
| September 28, 2024 | 28902 |
| October 24, 2024 | 29393 |
| November 19, 2024 | 29882 |
| December 15, 2024 | 30354 |
| January 10, 2025 | 30791 |
| February 6, 2025 | 31227 |
| March 4, 2025 | 31675 |
| March 30, 2025 | 32193 |
| April 25, 2025 | 32729 |
| May 21, 2025 | 33154 |
| June 16, 2025 | 33360 |
| July 12, 2025 | 33602 |
| August 8, 2025 | 33886 |
| September 3, 2025 | 34166 |
| October 4, 2025 | 34401 |
| November 5, 2025 | 34542 |
| December 1, 2025 | 34700 |
| December 28, 2025 | 34860 |
| January 23, 2026 | 35027 |
| February 18, 2026 | 35150 |
| March 17, 2026 | 35234 |
| April 17, 2026 | 35329 |
| May 23, 2026 | 35389 |
| September 16, 2026 | 35433 |
| Date | Stars |
|---|---|
| February 13, 2011 | 1 |
| July 17, 2011 | 69 |
| November 9, 2011 | 152 |
| March 2, 2012 | 236 |
| December 18, 2012 | 333 |
| March 13, 2013 | 444 |
| June 13, 2013 | 566 |
| September 7, 2013 | 683 |
| November 29, 2013 | 816 |
| February 21, 2014 | 948 |
| May 20, 2014 | 1111 |
| August 11, 2014 | 1258 |
| October 20, 2014 | 1387 |
| January 3, 2015 | 1518 |
| March 7, 2015 | 1683 |
| May 13, 2015 | 1831 |
| July 21, 2015 | 1983 |
| September 28, 2015 | 2156 |
| December 3, 2015 | 2347 |
| February 5, 2016 | 2590 |
| April 9, 2016 | 2839 |
| June 13, 2016 | 3071 |
| August 13, 2016 | 3321 |
| October 14, 2016 | 3545 |
| December 16, 2016 | 3820 |
| February 17, 2017 | 4103 |
| April 19, 2017 | 4477 |
| June 20, 2017 | 4825 |
| August 20, 2017 | 5188 |
| October 20, 2017 | 5673 |
| January 1, 2018 | 6491 |
| March 4, 2018 | 7058 |
| May 5, 2018 | 7586 |
| July 5, 2018 | 8083 |
| September 4, 2018 | 8570 |
| November 5, 2018 | 9091 |
| January 5, 2019 | 9641 |
| March 7, 2019 | 10401 |
| May 7, 2019 | 11119 |
| July 7, 2019 | 11855 |
| September 7, 2019 | 12481 |
| November 7, 2019 | 13049 |
| January 7, 2020 | 13593 |
| March 8, 2020 | 14093 |
| May 8, 2020 | 14747 |
| July 9, 2020 | 15440 |
| September 9, 2020 | 16140 |
| November 9, 2020 | 16768 |
| January 9, 2021 | 17441 |
| March 13, 2021 | 18126 |
| May 28, 2021 | 18897 |
| July 28, 2021 | 19493 |
| September 30, 2021 | 20098 |
| December 8, 2021 | 20647 |
| February 7, 2022 | 21302 |
| April 9, 2022 | 21893 |
| June 9, 2022 | 22512 |
| August 10, 2022 | 23045 |
| October 10, 2022 | 23631 |
| December 10, 2022 | 24181 |
| February 9, 2023 | 24747 |
| April 11, 2023 | 25354 |
| June 12, 2023 | 25972 |
| August 12, 2023 | 26498 |
| October 12, 2023 | 27070 |
| December 12, 2023 | 27617 |
| February 11, 2024 | 28205 |
| April 13, 2024 | 28866 |
| June 13, 2024 | 29475 |
| August 13, 2024 | 30141 |
| October 26, 2024 | 30852 |
| December 26, 2024 | 31431 |
| February 25, 2025 | 32006 |
| April 27, 2025 | 32534 |
| June 27, 2025 | 32898 |
| August 28, 2025 | 33224 |
| November 4, 2025 | 33490 |
| January 10, 2026 | 33703 |
| March 19, 2026 | 33868 |
| September 13, 2026 | 33999 |
| Date | Stars |
|---|---|
| February 17, 2016 | 65 |
| April 3, 2016 | 499 |
| May 22, 2016 | 582 |
| August 9, 2016 | 653 |
| November 8, 2016 | 720 |
| January 18, 2017 | 793 |
| March 15, 2017 | 873 |
| May 10, 2017 | 959 |
| July 12, 2017 | 1041 |
| September 8, 2017 | 1156 |
| November 3, 2017 | 1403 |
| December 21, 2017 | 1526 |
| February 7, 2018 | 1675 |
| March 25, 2018 | 1826 |
| May 8, 2018 | 2016 |
| June 23, 2018 | 2162 |
| August 8, 2018 | 2346 |
| September 22, 2018 | 2530 |
| November 6, 2018 | 2693 |
| December 20, 2018 | 3004 |
| February 2, 2019 | 3214 |
| March 17, 2019 | 3540 |
| April 29, 2019 | 3826 |
| June 11, 2019 | 4113 |
| July 24, 2019 | 4331 |
| September 4, 2019 | 4555 |
| October 18, 2019 | 4751 |
| December 1, 2019 | 4938 |
| January 15, 2020 | 5106 |
| February 28, 2020 | 5292 |
| April 22, 2020 | 5525 |
| June 4, 2020 | 5749 |
| July 17, 2020 | 5957 |
| September 1, 2020 | 6329 |
| October 13, 2020 | 6548 |
| November 26, 2020 | 6888 |
| January 8, 2021 | 7129 |
| February 20, 2021 | 7515 |
| April 4, 2021 | 7970 |
| May 19, 2021 | 8229 |
| July 1, 2021 | 8415 |
| August 12, 2021 | 8592 |
| September 30, 2021 | 8768 |
| November 19, 2021 | 8934 |
| December 31, 2021 | 9164 |
| February 12, 2022 | 9398 |
| March 27, 2022 | 9620 |
| May 8, 2022 | 9808 |
| June 19, 2022 | 10016 |
| August 1, 2022 | 10267 |
| September 21, 2022 | 10598 |
| November 4, 2022 | 10960 |
| December 16, 2022 | 11158 |
| January 28, 2023 | 11384 |
| March 13, 2023 | 11680 |
| April 24, 2023 | 11968 |
| June 5, 2023 | 12189 |
| July 19, 2023 | 12406 |
| August 30, 2023 | 12749 |
| October 11, 2023 | 12974 |
| November 23, 2023 | 13169 |
| January 5, 2024 | 13367 |
| February 18, 2024 | 13553 |
| April 2, 2024 | 13785 |
| May 15, 2024 | 14027 |
| June 26, 2024 | 14246 |
| August 8, 2024 | 14462 |
| September 20, 2024 | 14735 |
| November 1, 2024 | 14954 |
| December 13, 2024 | 15176 |
| February 2, 2025 | 15410 |
| March 17, 2025 | 15596 |
| April 30, 2025 | 15791 |
| June 15, 2025 | 15990 |
| July 30, 2025 | 16129 |
| September 15, 2025 | 16228 |
| November 15, 2025 | 16331 |
| January 4, 2026 | 16405 |
| March 4, 2026 | 16481 |
| September 13, 2026 | 16539 |
| Date | Stars |
|---|---|
| January 6, 2015 | 1 |
| June 1, 2015 | 60 |
| July 29, 2015 | 243 |
| September 29, 2015 | 361 |
| December 3, 2015 | 453 |
| February 16, 2016 | 579 |
| April 10, 2016 | 664 |
| June 10, 2016 | 763 |
| August 9, 2016 | 877 |
| September 29, 2016 | 1007 |
| December 3, 2016 | 1157 |
| January 24, 2017 | 1286 |
| March 11, 2017 | 1438 |
| April 30, 2017 | 1561 |
| June 22, 2017 | 1722 |
| August 7, 2017 | 1882 |
| September 22, 2017 | 2012 |
| November 8, 2017 | 2163 |
| December 26, 2017 | 2348 |
| February 12, 2018 | 2524 |
| March 31, 2018 | 2754 |
| May 18, 2018 | 2935 |
| July 4, 2018 | 3162 |
| August 22, 2018 | 3373 |
| October 6, 2018 | 3572 |
| November 24, 2018 | 3793 |
| January 10, 2019 | 4044 |
| February 24, 2019 | 4281 |
| April 11, 2019 | 4613 |
| May 26, 2019 | 4983 |
| July 20, 2019 | 5465 |
| September 3, 2019 | 5699 |
| October 18, 2019 | 5923 |
| December 5, 2019 | 6184 |
| January 19, 2020 | 6411 |
| March 5, 2020 | 6644 |
| April 19, 2020 | 6839 |
| June 3, 2020 | 7082 |
| July 20, 2020 | 7278 |
| September 4, 2020 | 7503 |
| October 20, 2020 | 7737 |
| December 4, 2020 | 7967 |
| January 19, 2021 | 8186 |
| March 6, 2021 | 8449 |
| April 21, 2021 | 8679 |
| June 10, 2021 | 8876 |
| July 26, 2021 | 9062 |
| September 15, 2021 | 9255 |
| November 11, 2021 | 9424 |
| December 26, 2021 | 9744 |
| February 20, 2022 | 10002 |
| April 6, 2022 | 10211 |
| May 22, 2022 | 10387 |
| July 7, 2022 | 10558 |
| August 23, 2022 | 10729 |
| October 11, 2022 | 10888 |
| November 27, 2022 | 11025 |
| January 19, 2023 | 11187 |
| March 7, 2023 | 11307 |
| April 26, 2023 | 11458 |
| June 12, 2023 | 11619 |
| July 29, 2023 | 11781 |
| September 17, 2023 | 11924 |
| November 7, 2023 | 12064 |
| December 26, 2023 | 12215 |
| February 15, 2024 | 12359 |
| April 1, 2024 | 12519 |
| May 19, 2024 | 12663 |
| July 6, 2024 | 12833 |
| August 23, 2024 | 12974 |
| October 24, 2024 | 13174 |
| December 9, 2024 | 13315 |
| January 28, 2025 | 13539 |
| March 15, 2025 | 13676 |
| May 1, 2025 | 13818 |
| June 30, 2025 | 13922 |
| August 26, 2025 | 14017 |
| November 2, 2025 | 14091 |
| January 11, 2026 | 14159 |
| September 15, 2026 | 14211 |
How each series was read
pandas-dev/pandas
Historical star data · Covers through September 15, 2026pola-rs/polars
Historical star data · Covers through September 16, 2026numpy/numpy
Historical star data · Covers through September 13, 2026apache/arrow
Historical star data · Covers through September 13, 2026dask/dask
Historical star data · Covers through September 15, 2026
Ranking
5 repositories
| # | Repository | Stars | +90d | First star | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pandas-dev/pandas | 49,736 | ~57 | 2011 | debt charts |
| 2 | pola-rs/polars | 39,737 | ~33 | 2020 | debt charts |
| 3 | numpy/numpy | 32,745 | ~34 | 2011 | debt charts |
| 4 | apache/arrow | 17,115 | ~23 | 2016 | debt charts |
| 5 | dask/dask | 13,919 | ~10 | 2015 | debt charts |
Repository health compared
Live analysis · unavailable data stays labelled
Popularity is only one axis. Compare technical scale, maintenance cadence, ownership resilience and change pressure against the same completed analysis that sits behind each report.
Reach
Popularity and real-world adoption
| Signal | pandas-dev/pandas | pola-rs/polars | numpy/numpy | apache/arrow | dask/dask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub starsCurrent public GitHub metadata total. | Best result in this row: 49,736 | 39,737 | 32,745 | 17,115 | 13,919 |
| Stars gained · trailing 90dChange in the newest 90 days covered by each cached series. | Best result in this row: +57 | +33 | +34 | +23 | +10 |
| ForksCurrent public GitHub metadata total. | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| Largest package audienceLargest resolved registry total; sources are shown explicitly. | No resolved package | No resolved package | No resolved package | No resolved package | No resolved package |
| Repository ageElapsed years since the GitHub creation timestamp. | 16 years | 6.3 years | 16 years | 11 years | 12 years |
Codebase
Size and technical center of gravity
| Signal | pandas-dev/pandas | pola-rs/polars | numpy/numpy | apache/arrow | dask/dask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dominant languageLargest share of analyzed code lines at current HEAD. | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| Code linesAnalyzed source lines at current HEAD, excluding blanks and comments. | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| Languages representedLanguages with non-zero files or line counts. | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
Maintenance
Commit volume and recent operating cadence
| Signal | pandas-dev/pandas | pola-rs/polars | numpy/numpy | apache/arrow | dask/dask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Repository commitsFull repository commit total reported by the analysis. | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| Commits · trailing 90dCommit count in the newest 90 days covered by the repository analysis. | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
Ownership
How broadly maintenance responsibility is distributed
| Signal | pandas-dev/pandas | pola-rs/polars | numpy/numpy | apache/arrow | dask/dask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bus factorFewest analyzed contributors carrying at least half the commits. | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| Top contributor concentrationShare of attributed commits carried by the most active contributor. | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
Change signals
Debt markers and fix pressure in frequently changed files
| Signal | pandas-dev/pandas | pola-rs/polars | numpy/numpy | apache/arrow | dask/dask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fix-labelled share · frequently changed filesFix-labelled commits divided by commits across the analyzed high-frequency file set. | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| Recent TODO/FIXME movementLatest cumulative marker count and its change over the trailing 90 days. | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
Head to head
open in the builderFrequently asked
Which of these python data tools has the most GitHub stars?
pandas-dev/pandas is the most-starred of the python data tools gitdebt compares, with 49,736 GitHub stars as of Sep 2026. It earned its first star in 2011.
Which of these python data tools is growing the fastest?
pandas-dev/pandas added the most stars over the last 90 days of its cached history — about 57 new stars. 90-day figures are approximate for older repos, whose history is downsampled.
How is this comparison computed?
The table ranks public repository metadata by current total stars. Each curve is that repository's stored star series — read either from GitHub's stargazer list or rebuilt from historical star data — drawn on shared axes, with trailing 90-day growth estimated from it. The legend under the chart names each series' own source and coverage date. Repo-health charts come independently from each repository's commit history.