Side by side
Cabal vs PDM
Both stand on package managers. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Free plan LinuxMacWindows
Choose Cabal for Haskell package management and build workflows that benefit from dependency resolution, offline installation, and configurable builds. Look elsewhere if your work depends on guaranteed portability or a promise of complete future-proof interface stability.
Visit Cabal
Free plan LinuxMacWindows
PDM brings project setup, dependency management, locking, and publishing into a Python-focused tool. Note the experimental status of PEP 582 and PEP 751 support, and check the installation instructions for the Python version relevant to your method.
Visit PDMThe facts
| Cabal | PDM | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Not published | Not published |
| Runs on | Linux, Mac, Windows | Linux, Mac, Windows |
| Lowest paid plan | Free or on request | Not published |
| Plans published | 1 | None |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | haskell.org | pdm-project.org |
| On package managers | #26 of 93 | #30 of 93 |
Cabal: what it does well
- Installs packages and their dependencies from Hackage or other suitable archives
- Supports dependency resolution, lockfiles, workspaces, and offline installation
- Builds local packages and generates documentation
- Runs test suites, benchmarks, and single-file Haskell scripts
- Allows optimized or profiling-enabled builds and custom build systems
What to know first
- Packages are not guaranteed to be portable across platforms or Haskell implementations
- Future-proof interface stability is not guaranteed during ongoing development
PDM: what it does well
- Free to use
- Supports dependency locking
- Can initialize projects with pyproject.toml
- Works with several version-control sources
- Can import from Pipenv and Poetry
What to know first
- PEP 582 support is experimental and opt-in
- Installation documentation gives different Python minimums
- PEP 751 lockfile format is experimental