marimo vs Streamlit
Streamlit builds an app from a script: no cells, no exploration mode, rerun top to bottom on every interaction. marimo is a notebook first that can also serve as an app, so exploration and the finished artifact live in one file. If you already know the app you want, Streamlit is more direct. If you are still figuring it out and want the result shareable, marimo saves you the rewrite.
At a glance
| marimo | Streamlit | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An open-source reactive Python notebook: change a cell and everything downstream re-runs, so there is no stale hidden state | Not a notebook: a Python framework that turns a script into a shareable data app, rerunning top to bottom on interaction |
| AI | An in-editor assistant, plus `marimo pair` to attach an external coding agent such as Claude Code or Codex to a running notebook | None built in |
| Compute | Local by default. molab, its hosted workspace, is in public preview on CoreWeave with roughly 4 CPUs and 32 GB RAM, opt-in GPUs, and 12-hour sessions, free while capacity is not oversubscribed (checked August 2026) | Wherever you deploy it, including free Community Cloud hosting |
| File format | Pure .py files that diff, import, and test with pytest; `marimo convert` reads .ipynb and `marimo export ipynb` writes it | Plain .py scripts |
| Collaboration | Share as an app, as slides, or as a public molab link; no live multiplayer editing | The deployed app is the artifact people share |
| Cost | Free; molab free during preview | Free and open source; hosting varies |
| License | Open source (Apache-2.0) | Open source (Apache-2.0), owned by Snowflake |
The core difference
Streamlit's model is one script, rerun on every interaction, with caching decorators to make that affordable. It is easy to learn, has a big component ecosystem, and free Community Cloud hosting. What it is not is an exploration environment: there is no cell-by-cell iteration, so most people explore in a notebook and then port the result into a Streamlit script.
marimo removes that port step. It is a real notebook (cells, iteration, inspection) with a reactive dependency graph, and the same file runs as an app with the code hidden. Interactive elements are built in, and because the file is plain Python it also works as a script and as a pytest target.
Where Streamlit still wins is the long tail: more third-party components, more deployment recipes, more people who already know it. Where marimo wins is not maintaining an exploration notebook and a separate app that drift apart.
Pick marimo if…
- You want one file that is both the analysis and the shareable app.
- You are iterating and do not yet know what the final interface is.
- Reproducibility and Git-friendly notebooks matter to you.
- You want to avoid rewriting a notebook into an app framework.
Pick Streamlit if…
- The app is the deliverable and the exploration already happened.
- You need a specific third-party component from the Streamlit ecosystem.
- Your team already knows Streamlit and deploys it routinely.
- You want the simplest possible free hosting for a small app.
Frequently asked questions
- Can marimo replace Streamlit?
- For many internal tools, yes: a marimo notebook runs as an app with the code hidden, and its UI elements cover the common cases. For apps that depend on specific Streamlit components or established deployment pipelines, replacing it is not worth the churn.
- Is Streamlit a notebook?
- No. It is a Python framework that reruns a script whenever the user interacts. There are no cells, no kernel state to inspect, and no cell-level iteration, which is why exploratory work usually happens elsewhere first.
- Which is better for dashboards a whole team will use?
- For a polished, long-lived, frequently-used dashboard, Streamlit's ecosystem and hosting maturity still lead. For an interactive analysis you want colleagues to poke at without maintaining a second codebase, marimo is less work.
Sources
Every claim about marimo and Streamlit on this page comes from their own documentation, last checked . Quotas, hardware tiers, and pricing move; check the vendor before relying on a number. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.