Comparing
Async http client/server framework (asyncio)
The next generation HTTP client
| Metric | aiohttp | httpx |
|---|---|---|
| Ecosystem | Python | Python |
| Difficulty | Beginner ✓ | Intermediate |
| Weekly downloads | 0 | 119.1M↑ |
| Latest version | v3.13.5 | v0.28.1 |
| Recipes | 1 | 2↑ |
aiohttp only
Shared
httpx only
Use aiohttp when you need a battle-tested async HTTP client or server, especially in applications that make many concurrent HTTP calls (scrapers, API aggregators) or build lightweight async web services. It has a mature ecosystem and is widely used in production.
Use httpx when building FastAPI or asyncio applications that call external APIs. Also reach for it when you need HTTP/2 support, a requests-compatible API with async support, or a single library that works in both sync and async contexts.
For new async API projects, FastAPI (built on Starlette/uvicorn) has better developer ergonomics, automatic validation, and docs. For synchronous scripts, requests is simpler. httpx offers a compatible API with both sync and async modes if you want flexibility.
For simple synchronous scripts where you already use requests, there's little reason to switch — requests has a larger ecosystem of auth libraries and middleware. For high-volume async scraping at scale, aiohttp's lower-level control may be more efficient.
aiohttp
httpx