tornado
Tornado is a Python web framework and asynchronous networking library, originally developed at FriendFeed.
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. Tornado is a battle-tested, actively maintained framework with no runtime dependencies, broad platform support, and a permissive license. It is the right choice if you need to handle high concurrency and long-lived connections. Install it if you are building WebSocket applications, real-time systems, or APIs that must scale to many simultaneous clients without thread-per-connection overhead.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.9 or later; integrates with asyncio, so familiarity with async/await patterns is expected.
- Tornado has medium install friction but ships as pre-built wheels across major platforms (macOS, Linux, Windows, ARM).
- The project is actively maintained with a release 7 days ago and remains in active development with 22188 repository stars.
License · maintenance · safety
Apache-2.0 (permissive) — Tornado is licensed under Apache-2.0, a permissive license that allows commercial use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions—suitable for most production and proprietary projects.
last release 2026-08-07 (7 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-07 · 22,188 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 130,349,391 downloads/mo, #290 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install tornado
import tornado.web
import asyncio
class MainHandler(tornado.web.RequestHandler):
def get(self):
self.write("Hello, world")
app = tornado.web.Application([(r"/", MainHandler)])
app.listen(8888)
asyncio.run(asyncio.Event().wait())- Whether the package includes built-in support for HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 protocols.
- Performance benchmarks or throughput limits under typical production loads.
- Whether clustering or multi-process support is built-in or requires external orchestration.
What it is and what it does
Tornado is a mature Python web framework and networking library designed to handle high concurrency through non-blocking I/O. It powers applications that need to maintain many simultaneous connections—such as real-time chat, live dashboards, or push notifications—without spawning a thread per connection. The framework provides request handlers, WebSocket support, and integrates with Python's asyncio for writing asynchronous application logic.
The library has no runtime dependencies and ships as pre-built wheels for Python 3.9+ across macOS, Linux, Windows, and ARM architectures. It is actively maintained, with recent releases and strong community adoption (ranked 290 on PyPI by downloads). The Apache-2.0 license permits use in commercial and proprietary projects without restriction.
Use it for
- Build a real-time chat or messaging application using WebSockets for bidirectional communication.
- Implement long polling for push notifications or live data updates to web clients.
- Create a high-concurrency REST API that handles thousands of simultaneous client connections.
- Develop a live dashboard or monitoring interface that streams updates to multiple browsers.
- Build a proxy or reverse proxy server that routes traffic with minimal overhead.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
Tornado is a battle-tested, actively maintained framework with no runtime dependencies, broad platform support, and a permissive license. It is the right choice if you need to handle high concurrency and long-lived connections. Install it if you are building WebSocket applications, real-time systems, or APIs that must scale to many simultaneous clients without thread-per-connection overhead.
Install
tornado on PyPI
Before you install
Tornado has medium install friction but ships as pre-built wheels across major platforms (macOS, Linux, Windows, ARM). The project is actively maintained with a release 7 days ago and remains in active development with 22188 repository stars.
Requires Python 3.9 or later; integrates with asyncio, so familiarity with async/await patterns is expected.
License in practice
Tornado is licensed under Apache-2.0, a permissive license that allows commercial use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions—suitable for most production and proprietary projects.
Quickstart
pip install tornado
import tornado.web
import asyncio
class MainHandler(tornado.web.RequestHandler):
def get(self):
self.write("Hello, world")
app = tornado.web.Application([(r"/", MainHandler)])
app.listen(8888)
asyncio.run(asyncio.Event().wait())Verify before relying
- Whether the package includes built-in support for HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 protocols.
- Performance benchmarks or throughput limits under typical production loads.
- Whether clustering or multi-process support is built-in or requires external orchestration.
Package facts
| License | Apache-2.0 permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.9 |
| Install friction | Medium. Platform-specific wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | None |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 7 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 130,349,391 / month, #290 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | License :: OSI Approved :: Apache Software LicenseProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPythonProgramming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPy |
Evidence: tornado-6.5.8-cp39-abi3-macosx_10_9_universal2.whl; tornado-6.5.8-cp39-abi3-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl; tornado-6.5.8-cp39-abi3-manylinux1_x86_64.manylinux_2_28_x86_64.manylinux_2_5_x86_64.whl; tornado-6.5.8-cp39-abi3-manylinux2014_aarch64.manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux_2_28_aarch64.whl; tornado-6.5.8-cp39-abi3-musllinux_1_2_aarch64.whl; tornado-6.5.8-cp39-abi3-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl; tornado-6.5.8-cp39-abi3-win32.whl; tornado-6.5.8-cp39-abi3-win_amd64.whl; tornado-6.5.8-cp39-abi3-win_arm64.whl
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See also pytest-tornado · terminado · pytest-tornasync · eventlet · websockets · mode-streaming · asyncore-wsgi · motor · async-stripe · localstack-twisted