How to Install polars in Python

v1.39.3 Data & Science Python >=3.10

Blazingly fast DataFrame library

Install pip install polars

What is polars?

Blazingly fast DataFrame library

Polars: Extremely fast Query Engine for DataFrames, written in Rust

Polars is an analytical query engine written for DataFrames. It is designed to be fast, easy to use and expressive. Key features are:

- Lazy | Eager execution - Streaming (larger-than-RAM datasets) - Query optimization - Multi-threaded - Written in Rust - SIMD - Powerful expression API - Front end in Python | Rust | NodeJS | R | SQL - Apache Arrow Columnar Format

Quick Start

Minimal example to get started with polars:

import polars as pl

df = pl.DataFrame({
    "name": ["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie"],
    "age": [30, 25, 35],
    "score": [88.5, 92.0, 78.3],
})
print(df.filter(pl.col("age") > 28))

Installation

pip (standard)

pip install polars

Virtual environment (recommended)

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate   # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install polars

pip3

pip3 install polars

conda

conda install -c conda-forge polars

Poetry

poetry add polars

Dependencies

Installing polars will also install these packages:

Verify the Installation

After installing, confirm the package is available:

python -c "import polars; print(polars.__version__)"

If this prints a version number, installation succeeded. If you see a ModuleNotFoundError, see the errors section below.

Installation Errors

Common errors when installing polars with pip.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'polars'

Cause: The package is not installed in the current Python environment.

Fix: Run pip install polars. If using a virtual environment, ensure it is activated first.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'polars' (installed but still failing)

Cause: pip installed the package into a different Python than the one running your script.

Fix: Use python -m pip install polars to install into the interpreter you are running.

ImportError: cannot import name 'X' from 'polars'

Cause: The function or class does not exist in the installed version.

Fix: Check the version with pip show polars and upgrade with pip install --upgrade polars.

pip: command not found

Cause: pip is not in PATH or Python was not added to PATH during installation.

Fix: Try python -m pip install polars. On macOS/Linux try pip3.

PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied

Cause: No write access to the system Python package directory.

Fix: Use a virtual environment, or add --user: pip install --user polars

SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED

Cause: pip cannot verify PyPI's SSL certificate — common behind corporate proxies.

Fix: Try: pip install --trusted-host pypi.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org polars

MemoryError when loading data

Cause: Dataset is too large to fit in RAM.

Fix: Read in chunks, filter columns on load, or consider Polars/Dask for out-of-core processing.

Recent Releases

VersionReleased
1.39.3 latest 2026-03-20
1.39.2 2026-03-17
1.39.0 2026-03-12
1.38.1 2026-02-06
1.38.0 2026-02-04

Full release history on PyPI →

Manage polars

Upgrade to latest version

pip install --upgrade polars

Install a specific version

pip install polars==1.39.3

Uninstall

pip uninstall polars

Check what is installed

pip show polars

Last updated: 2026-04-11 • Data from PyPI