Gradio

Gradio makes it easy to show a model to other people. With a few lines of Python, you wrap a function, such as one that takes an image and returns a caption, and Gradio produces a web interface with the right input and output components: text boxes, image uploaders, audio recorders, sliders, and more. Running the script gives you a local web app, and a share option creates a temporary public link, which is handy for demos and feedback.

It has grown beyond simple demos. Gradio’s Blocks API lets developers build more complex, multi-step interfaces with custom layouts, and a chat interface class creates chatbots with minimal code. Every Gradio app also exposes an API, and apps can be used programmatically through client libraries. It supports the Model Context Protocol, so a Gradio function can be offered as a tool to AI agents. Many machine learning papers and open models link to a Gradio demo.

Gradio is free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license, and hosting on Hugging Face Spaces is free for basic use with paid hardware for heavier demos. It is designed for demos, internal tools, and prototypes, so large production applications usually need a proper web framework. Streamlit is the closest alternative and is popular for data apps, Panel and Dash serve dashboards, and Chainlit focuses on chat applications. Gradio is the default for model demos.