awesome-python/website/data/category_intros/distribution.md

Users without Python installed can still run your app once PyInstaller takes it from Python script to exe. Pyarmor obfuscates the code you ship.

How to choose:

• An executable with the least setup: PyInstaller
• Obfuscated scripts, or ones that expire or run on one machine only: Pyarmor
• Your code compiled to C rather than bundled as bytecode: Nuitka
• One file to copy to your servers and laptops: pex
• A Windows installer or macOS disk image along with the executable: cx_Freeze

PyInstaller reads your script, finds every module and library it needs, and collects them with the Python interpreter into one folder, or optionally into one executable file. For most programs that takes one command, pyinstaller myscript.py, and your users don't need Python installed at all. It bundles major packages like NumPy and the Qt bindings out of the box. The bundle holds compiled .pyc files instead of your source code, but those could in principle be decompiled to reveal your logic.

Pyarmor is a command-line tool for obfuscating Python scripts, binding them to specific machines, and setting expiration dates. The obfuscated scripts stay standard .py files: pyarmor gen foo.py writes them to dist/ with a runtime package, and you copy all of dist/ to the target. For an executable, Pyarmor packs the obfuscated scripts with PyInstaller. Pyarmor is commercial software: its free version covers scripts that won't make you much money, and anything else needs a paid license.

Nuitka translates your Python modules into a C program that runs on libpython the way CPython does, so building takes a C compiler. Its homepage pitches that compile step for protecting your source code and for speed. Run it as python -m nuitka, so you know which interpreter compiles your program. Its default mode still needs Python on the target. For users without Python, build in standalone or onefile mode.

pex builds .pex files, self-contained executable Python virtual environments in a single zip file, so deploying your app comes down to scp. Pass it your requirements as you would to pip, pex -r requirements.txt -o my_application.pex, and give it an entry point to run, or the file starts an interpreter. A plain .pex runs on the target's own Python; build it as a scie to get a native executable with the interpreter inside.

cx_Freeze normally produces a folder with your executable and the shared libraries it needs, and it can also wrap that in a simple Windows installer or a macOS disk image. Keep its options in a [tool.cxfreeze] table in pyproject.toml, then run cxfreeze build.

Get the folder build working before you switch to a single file, since both PyInstaller and Nuitka say problems are much easier to debug that way. Then build on each operating system you ship for, as PyInstaller and cx_Freeze both tell you to.