# Waitress

Production-quality pure-Python WSGI server for Python 3 that has no dependencies outside the standard library.


Source: https://findsoftware.frbit.cloud/waitress/
Last reviewed: 2026-10-30
Listed since: 2026-10-30

## Record

### Links

- home: https://docs.pylonsproject.org/projects/waitress/en/latest/
- repository: https://github.com/Pylons/waitress
- docs: https://docs.pylonsproject.org/projects/waitress/en/latest/usage.html

### Identity

- status: active
- maintainer: Pylons Project
- maintainerType: unknown
- parent: unknown
- firstRelease: 2011
- hqCountry: unknown

### Kind

- category: web-server
- hosting: python
- language: python
- runtime: python
- runtimeMin: python 3.9
- basedOn: unknown

### Content

- contentStore: not applicable
- databases: not applicable
- adminUi: not applicable
- headlessApi: not applicable
- templating: not applicable
- i18n: not applicable

### Rendering and deploy

- runsAs: always-on
- renderingModes: not applicable
- installMethod: unknown

### License

- licenseModel: open-source
- license: ZPL-2.1

### Releases

- currentMajor: 3
- latestReleaseDate: 2024-11-16

### Adoption

- githubStargazers: 1602
- packagistDownloads: not applicable
- npmWeeklyDownloads: not applicable
- contributors: 57
- pluginCount: unknown
- packagistMonthlyDownloads: unknown
- ecosystemsMonthlyDownloads: unknown
- httpArchiveSites: unknown
- wordpressActiveInstalls: unknown
- dependentRepos: unknown
- dependentPackages: unknown

### Sources

- urls: https://docs.pylonsproject.org/projects/waitress/en/latest/ (read 2026-10-30)
- urls: https://api.github.com/repos/Pylons/waitress (read 2026-10-30)
- urls: https://docs.pylonsproject.org/projects/waitress/en/latest/usage.html (read 2026-10-30)
- maintainer: https://docs.pylonsproject.org/projects/waitress/en/latest/ (read 2026-10-30)
- category: https://docs.pylonsproject.org/projects/waitress/en/latest/ (read 2026-10-30)
- language: https://api.github.com/repos/Pylons/waitress/languages (read 2026-10-30)
- runtime: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Pylons/waitress/main/README.rst (read 2026-10-30)
- runtimeMin: https://pypi.org/pypi/waitress/json (read 2026-10-30)
- runsAs: https://docs.pylonsproject.org/projects/waitress/en/latest/usage.html (read 2026-10-30)
- license: https://github.com/Pylons/waitress/blob/v3.0.2/LICENSE.txt (read 2026-10-30)
- licenseModel: https://github.com/Pylons/waitress/blob/v3.0.2/LICENSE.txt (read 2026-10-30)
- currentMajor: https://api.github.com/repos/Pylons/waitress/releases/latest (read 2026-10-30)
- latestReleaseDate: https://api.github.com/repos/Pylons/waitress/releases/latest (read 2026-10-30)
- firstRelease: https://api.github.com/repos/Pylons/waitress/commits/0.1 (read 2026-10-30)
- githubStargazers: https://api.github.com/repos/Pylons/waitress (read 2026-10-30)
- contributors: https://api.github.com/repos/Pylons/waitress/contributors?per_page=1 (read 2026-10-30)

## Notes

Waitress is a WSGI server for Python 3 applications. Its docs describe it as a production-quality, pure-Python server with no dependencies outside the Python standard library. It runs on CPython on Unix and Windows.

An application starts the server with a single call to the serve function on a chosen host and port, or with the bundled waitress-serve command. The server runs until it is stopped, for example with Ctrl-C.

## Worth knowing

Waitress does not natively support TLS, and its docs describe placing it behind a reverse proxy. The Pylons Project maintains it and points users to its website for support and development information.

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Data licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Attributes are recorded, never scored; absent means unknown.
Credit, in full: FindSoftware, CC BY 4.0