soupsieve
A modern CSS selector implementation for Beautiful Soup.
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. Soupsieve is production-stable, actively maintained, has zero runtime dependencies, installs with no friction, carries a permissive MIT license, and is the standard CSS selector engine for Beautiful Soup 4. Install it if you use Beautiful Soup for HTML or XML parsing and want modern CSS selector support.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.10 or later; designed to integrate with Beautiful Soup 4 (version 4.7.0 and later typically installs soupsieve automatically).
- Installation is straightforward with no runtime dependencies.
- The package is actively maintained with a release within the past week, supports current Python versions (3.10 through 3.14), and carries production-stable status.
License · maintenance · safety
MIT (permissive) — MIT license permits commercial and private use with minimal restrictions—you may use, modify, and distribute this package freely provided you include the license notice.
last release 2026-08-07 (7 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-07 · 267 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 428,611,663 downloads/mo, #99 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install soupsieve
import soupsieve as sv
# Use with parsed HTML/XML documents
results = sv.select('.item', parsed_document)- Whether all CSS level 4 draft selectors are fully implemented or only a subset as noted in the description.
- Specific usage patterns and API methods available beyond the select() function.
What it is and what it does
Soupsieve is a CSS selector engine built to integrate with Beautiful Soup 4, replacing its built-in select functionality as of Beautiful Soup version 4.7.0. It translates modern CSS selector syntax—from CSS level 1 through CSS level 4 drafts—into queries that match elements in parsed HTML and XML documents. The library supports standard selectors like classes, IDs, and attribute matching, as well as combinators (child, sibling, descendant) and pseudo-classes like :not(), :is(), and :has(). Some CSS features that lack meaning outside a browser environment simply do not match anything.
Developers use soupsieve either implicitly through Beautiful Soup's select methods or directly via its API for more precise control over selector parsing and matching. It has no runtime dependencies, installs with low friction, and is actively maintained with support for Python 3.10 through 3.14.
Use it for
- Extract specific elements from HTML pages during web scraping by using CSS selectors instead of manual tree navigation.
- Filter XML or HTML documents by complex selector expressions, such as finding all children matching particular criteria.
- Build web automation or testing tools that need to locate elements by CSS selectors in parsed documents.
- Replace older select implementations when you need CSS level 3 or 4 selector features.
- Query parsed HTML in data pipelines where CSS selector syntax is more readable than tree traversal.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
Soupsieve is production-stable, actively maintained, has zero runtime dependencies, installs with no friction, carries a permissive MIT license, and is the standard CSS selector engine for Beautiful Soup 4. Install it if you use Beautiful Soup for HTML or XML parsing and want modern CSS selector support.
Install
soupsieve on PyPI
Before you install
Installation is straightforward with no runtime dependencies. The package is actively maintained with a release within the past week, supports current Python versions (3.10 through 3.14), and carries production-stable status.
Requires Python 3.10 or later; designed to integrate with Beautiful Soup 4 (version 4.7.0 and later typically installs soupsieve automatically).
License in practice
MIT license permits commercial and private use with minimal restrictions—you may use, modify, and distribute this package freely provided you include the license notice.
Quickstart
pip install soupsieve
import soupsieve as sv
# Use with parsed HTML/XML documents
results = sv.select('.item', parsed_document)Verify before relying
- Whether all CSS level 4 draft selectors are fully implemented or only a subset as noted in the description.
- Specific usage patterns and API methods available beyond the select() function.
Package facts
| License | MIT permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.10 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | None |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 7 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 428,611,663 / month, #99 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 :: ConsoleIntended Audience :: DevelopersLicense :: OSI Approved :: MIT LicenseOperating System :: OS IndependentProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Topic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP :: Dynamic ContentTopic :: Software Development :: Libraries :: Python ModulesTyping :: Typed |
Evidence: soupsieve-2.9.2-py3-none-any.whl
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See also cssselect2 · selectolax · cssselect · beautifulsoup4 · bs4 · BeautifulSoup · parsel · pyquery · itemloaders · selectors2