How to install pip on Ubuntu

Installing pip on Ubuntu makes it possible to install Python packages from PyPI when a module, tool, or helper script is not available as a normal apt package. That is the usual starting point for project dependencies, Python-based automation, and utilities that need a packaging workflow outside Ubuntu's base repositories.

On current Ubuntu releases, the system installer for pip comes from the python3-pip package. That package adds the wrapper commands for the distro-managed Python 3 interpreter, while python3 -m pip remains the clearest way to bind package operations to the exact interpreter that will run them.

Installing pip does not make interpreter-wide pip install the default safe path on modern Ubuntu. The distro marks its system Python environment as externally managed, so project dependencies should normally go into a virtual environment, and minimal hosts may still need python3-venv if the next task is isolated package installs.

Steps to install pip on Ubuntu:

Refresh the apt package index before resolving the pip package.

$ sudo apt update
Hit:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble InRelease
Hit:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates InRelease
Hit:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-security InRelease
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-backports InRelease [126 kB]
##### snipped #####
Reading package lists... Done

Install the distro-managed pip package for Python 3.

$ sudo apt install --yes python3-pip
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  python3-pkg-resources python3-setuptools python3-wheel
Suggested packages:
  python-setuptools-doc
##### snipped #####
Setting up python3-pip (24.0+dfsg-1ubuntu1.3) ...

The required package name stays python3-pip on current Ubuntu releases.

On minimal images, apt may also pull the base Python 3 runtime, python3-setuptools, python3-wheel, and recommended build helpers such as python3-dev or build-essential the first time Python packaging support is installed.

Verify that the packaged installer is available through the system interpreter and wrapper commands.
```
$ python3 -m pip --version
pip 24.0 from /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip (python 3.12)

$ command -v pip pip3 pip3.12
/usr/bin/pip
/usr/bin/pip3
/usr/bin/pip3.12
```
Use python3 -m pip when possible so package operations stay tied to the intended interpreter, especially on hosts with more than one Python installation.

Display the top of the pip help output to confirm the command set is ready for use.

$ python3 -m pip --help

Usage:
  /usr/bin/python3 -m pip &lt;command&gt; [options]

Commands:
  install                     Install packages.
  download                    Download packages.
  uninstall                   Uninstall packages.
  freeze                      Output installed packages in requirements format.
  inspect                     Inspect the python environment.
  list                        List installed packages.
  show                        Show information about installed packages.
  check                       Verify installed packages have compatible dependencies.
  config                      Manage local and global configuration.

If a later python3 -m pip install <package> returns externally-managed-environment, install the package from apt when a distro package exists or create a virtual environment instead of forcing a global install into Ubuntu's system Python.