openbabel-wheel
An unofficial repository to distribute OpenBabel prebuilt wheels through Pypi..
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes, if you need OpenBabel for molecular chemistry work and want to avoid compilation. The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and offers broad platform coverage. The GPLv2 copyleft license is a hard constraint for proprietary or closed-source projects; evaluate your licensing requirements first. Medium install friction is typical for compiled scientific packages with platform-specific wheels.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.8 or above; Windows users must have Python 3.9+.
- Linux requires glibc >= 2.17; macOS requires macOS 14 or later.
- Medium install friction due to platform-specific wheel distribution.
License · maintenance · safety
copyleft license (copyleft) — Distributed under GNU General Public License v2 (copyleft). Users must comply with GPLv2 terms when using or distributing this package, including providing source code access and maintaining the same license for derivative works.
last release 2026-02-17 (178 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-05 · 27 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 113,008 downloads/mo, #12,354 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install openbabel-wheel
from openbabel import openbabel
# Access OpenBabel functionality via the openbabel module- Whether the prebuilt wheels include all OpenBabel features or a subset of the full library
- Performance or compatibility differences between this wheel distribution and building OpenBabel from source
- Whether command-line tools like obabel are fully functional in all wheel distributions
What it is and what it does
openbabel-wheel is an unofficial distribution of OpenBabel, a C++ molecular chemistry toolkit, packaged as prebuilt Python wheels for easy installation via pip. It eliminates the need to compile OpenBabel from source, which can be complex and time-consuming. The package provides wheels for multiple operating systems (Linux, macOS, Windows) and architectures (x86_64, aarch64, arm64), supporting Python 3.8 through 3.14.
Once installed, users can import the openbabel module to programmatically manipulate molecular structures, convert between chemical file formats, and perform computational chemistry tasks. The package also exposes the obabel command-line tool for format conversion and molecular analysis. It is distributed under GPLv2, the same license as the upstream OpenBabel project.
Use it for
- Convert molecular structure files between formats (PDB, MOL2, SDF, SMILES) in Python scripts without command-line tools
- Perform batch molecular property calculations and structure validation in chemistry research workflows
- Build cheminformatics pipelines that require fast, reliable access to OpenBabel without compilation overhead
- Integrate molecular structure handling into scientific Python applications for drug discovery or materials science
- Use the obabel command-line interface for quick format conversions in shell scripts or data processing pipelines
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes, if you need OpenBabel for molecular chemistry work and want to avoid compilation.
The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and offers broad platform coverage. The GPLv2 copyleft license is a hard constraint for proprietary or closed-source projects; evaluate your licensing requirements first. Medium install friction is typical for compiled scientific packages with platform-specific wheels.
Install
openbabel-wheel on PyPI
Before you install
Medium install friction due to platform-specific wheel distribution. The package maintains active development (last commit 2026-08-05) and offers wheels across Linux (x86_64, aarch64), macOS (x86_64, arm64), and Windows (amd64) for Python 3.8–3.14, though Windows wheels only cover Python 3.9+.
Requires Python 3.8 or above; Windows users must have Python 3.9+. Linux requires glibc >= 2.17; macOS requires macOS 14 or later.
License in practice
Distributed under GNU General Public License v2 (copyleft). Users must comply with GPLv2 terms when using or distributing this package, including providing source code access and maintaining the same license for derivative works.
Quickstart
pip install openbabel-wheel
from openbabel import openbabel
# Access OpenBabel functionality via the openbabel moduleVerify before relying
- Whether the prebuilt wheels include all OpenBabel features or a subset of the full library
- Performance or compatibility differences between this wheel distribution and building OpenBabel from source
- Whether command-line tools like obabel are fully functional in all wheel distributions
Package facts
| License | copyleft license copyleft |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.8 |
| Install friction | Medium. Platform-specific wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | None |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 178 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 113,008 / month, #12,354 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableEnvironment :: ConsoleEnvironment :: Other EnvironmentIntended Audience :: EducationIntended Audience :: Science/ResearchLicense :: OSI Approved :: GNU General Public License (GPL)Natural Language :: EnglishOperating System :: MacOS :: MacOS XOperating System :: Microsoft :: WindowsOperating System :: OS IndependentOperating System :: POSIXOperating System :: POSIX :: LinuxOperating System :: UnixProgramming Language :: C++Programming Language :: PythonTopic :: Scientific/Engineering :: Bio-InformaticsTopic :: Scientific/Engineering :: ChemistryTopic :: Software Development :: Libraries |
Evidence: openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp310-cp310-macosx_14_0_arm64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp310-cp310-macosx_14_0_x86_64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp310-cp310-manylinux2014_aarch64.manylinux_2_17_aarch64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp310-cp310-manylinux2014_x86_64.manylinux_2_17_x86_64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp311-cp311-macosx_14_0_arm64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp311-cp311-macosx_14_0_x86_64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp311-cp311-manylinux2014_aarch64.manylinux_2_17_aarch64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp311-cp311-manylinux2014_x86_64.manylinux_2_17_x86_64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp311-cp311-win_amd64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp312-cp312-macosx_14_0_arm64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp312-cp312-macosx_14_0_x86_64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp312-cp312-manylinux2014_aarch64.manylinux_2_17_aarch64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp312-cp312-manylinux2014_x86_64.manylinux_2_17_x86_64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp312-cp312-win_amd64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp313-cp313-macosx_14_0_arm64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp313-cp313-macosx_14_0_x86_64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp313-cp313-manylinux2014_aarch64.manylinux_2_17_aarch64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp313-cp313-manylinux2014_x86_64.manylinux_2_17_x86_64.whl; openbabel_wheel-3.1.1.23-cp313-cp313t-macosx_14_0_arm64.whl
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