PyTorch vs TensorFlow: A Face-to-Face Comparison

Compare PyTorch vs TensorFlow: origins, advantages, ease of use, scalability, performance, and visualization, in a head-to-head comprehensive review.
Ran Romano
Ran Romano
Co-founder & CPO at Qwak
January 6, 2023
Table of contents
PyTorch vs TensorFlow: A Face-to-Face Comparison

The world of deep learning has witnessed a massive shift in the last few years. With the advancements in hardware and software,you can now process data faster and more efficiently than ever before. The two most popular deep learning frameworks, PyTorch and TensorFlow, have been at the forefront of this revolution. With the emergence of these powerful deep learning frameworks, developers have more options than ever when it comes to building sophisticated models. PyTorch and TensorFlow both are based on the Python programming language and are used to build and train neural networks. PyTorch is developed by Facebook's AI research group, while TensorFlow is developed by Google Brain. Both frameworks offer powerful features and capabilities, but it can be difficult to decide which is the better choice for your project.This article walks through the origin and pros & cons of PyTorch vs TensorFlow and will compare both frameworks in terms of their performance, ease of use, scalability, and other features. 

Recap: What is Deep Learning?

Deep learning is an area of artificial intelligence (AI) that enables machines to learn from large volumes of data and make decisions without explicit programming. Deep learning algorithms are based on the structure and function of the brain, using artificial neural networks (ANNs) to process data in a way that mimics the way biological neurons process information. The need for deep learning frameworks arises because of the complexity of these tasks and the amount of data involved. Deep learning frameworks provide the necessary tools and libraries to enable developers to quickly build deep learning models and deploy them into production applications. These frameworks also provide optimized implementations of deep learning algorithms that can significantly reduce the time it takes to train a model.

What is TensorFlow?

Google's TensorFlow is a powerful open-source software library for data analysis and machine learning. It was originally developed by Google Brain team members for internal use at Google. However, in 2015, Google released TensorFlow as an open source project, and it has since become the de facto standard for deep learning research.

TensorFlow uses data flow graphs to represent computations with nodes representing mathematical operations and the edges representing the data in between. In these graphs, nodes are connected via tensors—multi-dimensional data arrays that allow data flow between nodes. The graph structure allows users to easily build and run models, as well as to visualize them. This makes it easier to understand how the model works and to debug it. To run a TensorFlow graph, users first need to create a TensorFlow session. Once a session is created, users can use the session's run() method to execute operations on the graph. 

So, what is TensorFlow session? According to educba: TensorFlow Session is a session object which encapsulates the environment in which Operation objects are executed, and data objects are evaluated. Sessions allow users to create, initialize, and evaluate their graphs. They also provide methods for running, evaluating, and managing variables.

TensorFlow is used for everything from building complex mathematical models to training models and running the final product. It allows developers to create complex algorithms and models that can be used to optimize and improve a wide variety of tasks, including image recognition, natural language processing, and predictive analytics. TensorFlow also makes it possible to deploy machine learning models on a wide variety of platforms, including mobile devices, servers, and even embedded systems.

TensorFlow is a powerful tool for building and training neural networks, but it’s also more complex than many other deep learning frameworks.It is used for major projects across the world and is used by companies such as Airbnb, Google, Uber, Tesla, and more.

Advantages of TensorFlow

  1. Easy to Use: TensorFlow is an easy-to-use library that requires minimal coding experience. It comes with intuitive and well-documented APIs that can help developers quickly get started on building their machine learning models. Additionally, it has a large community of users who are always willing to help and answer questions.
  2. Flexibility: TensorFlow is highly flexible and allows developers to customize their models according to their specific needs. It offers support for multiple programming languages, such as Python, C++, and R, and different architectures like CPUs, GPUs, and TPUs.
  3. Powerful Toolkit: TensorFlow provides a powerful toolkit for building and training deep learning models. It comes with many pre-trained models and datasets that can be used for developing and testing models. Additionally, it also supports distributed computing which helps developers scale their models and training process.
  4. Scalability: TensorFlow can scale to large distributed clusters of hundreds of machines, making it possible to train on larger datasets. It also supports distributed training, allowing developers to build models that are bigger and faster than ever before.
  5. Better Visualization: Tensorflow offers better visulaization options than its competitors.

Disadvantages of TensorFlow

  1. Complexity: TensorFlow is a complex library and can be difficult to learn and understand. It requires a good understanding of machine learning concepts and algorithms in order to use it effectively.
  2. Performance: TensorFlow can be slow when it comes to training and inference, especially on large datasets. This can be a bottleneck for applications that require real-time performance.
  3. Debugging: Debugging TensorFlow models can be difficult due to its complex architecture. It can be hard to pinpoint where the errors are occurring and how to fix them.
  4. Limited Documentation: Despite its popularity, TensorFlow’s documentation is limited and not always up-to-date. 
  5. Cost: TensorFlow is an open-source library but it still requires powerful hardware and GPUs to run efficiently. This increases the cost of training and deploying models.
  6. Let’s discuss in detail what is PyTorch, its advantages and disadvantages.

What is PyTorch?

PyTorch is an open-source machine learning framework that is based on Torch, another popular machine learning framework. PyTorch was developed by Facebook’s artificial intelligence research group, and it’s being used in production by major companies like Tesla. 

PyTorch provides two high-level features:

  1. Tensor computing (like NumPy) with strong acceleration via graphics processing units (GPUs).
  2. Deep neural networks built on a tape-based autograd system.

PyTorch is designed to be both intuitive and easy to use. The main focus of the library is deep learning and it enables developers to quickly build deep neural networks without having to write complex code

PyTorch is a popular choice for building complex deep learning models. PyTorch provides a wide range of features and tools to help developers quickly and easily create deep learning models. It also integrates seamlessly with other popular libraries like NumPy and SciPy, making it easy to use for data science and research.

Advantages of PyTorch

  1. Easy to learn and use: PyTorch is a great tool for beginners due to its easy-to-understand API. It also has strong support from the community, making it easier to find help and tutorials.
  2. Flexible: PyTorch is highly customizable and allows developers to build their own neural networks or tweak existing ones with ease. It also provides a variety of tools for debugging, optimising, and deploying models.
  3. Speed: PyTorch is fast and efficient, allowing users to quickly iterate on experiments and build models.
  4. GPU support: PyTorch supports both CUDA and OpenCL, making it easy to take advantage of powerful GPUs for faster training.
  5. Autograd: PyTorch’s autograd feature automatically calculates gradients, allowing for easier implementation of complex models.

Disadvantages of PyTorch

  1. Lack of scalability: PyTorch does not scale well to larger datasets and can be slow when dealing with large volumes of data.
  2. Limited language support: PyTorch is limited to Python and C++, so developers who prefer other languages may have difficulty using it.
  3. Difficulty porting models: Models built in PyTorch can be difficult to port to other frameworks, such as TensorFlow.
  4. Unstable development: PyTorch is a relatively new framework, and as such, it is still in active development. This can lead to instability, especially when working with new features.

PyTorch vs TensorFlow: An Overview

1. Mechanism

PyTorch and TensorFlow both are powerful tools, but they have different mechanisms.These both frameworks are based on graphs, which are mathematical structures that represent data and computations. PyTorch is based on a dynamic computation graph while TensorFlow works on a static graph.

TensorFlow uses dataflow graphs to represent computations with nodes and edges. The nodes in the graph represent mathematical operations, while the edges represent the data flowing between them. This makes it easy to construct complex architectures without worrying about the details of the underlying code.TensorFlow's static graph requires you to define the structure of the graph upfront, which is more challenging when working with complex models.

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On the other hand, PyTorch uses dynamic computational graphs, which allow for faster prototyping and debugging. With a dynamic graph like PyTorch, you can easily change the structure of a graph on the fly and debug it as you go.This means that the graph is built and modified during the execution of the program, rather than being static. which have to be rebuilt every time the code is changed. This makes it way easier to experiment and modify the code without having to rebuild the graph every time. PyTorch also allows users to mix code and graphs directly, making it easier to debug and optimize the code. TensorFlow, on the other hand, requires users to define the entire graph before execution.

2. Model Deployment

Model deployment is a critical step in the development of machine learning (ML) applications. It involves deploying trained models into production environments to enable real-time predictions or inferences.Let’s see how PyTorch and TensorFlow approach model deployment.

TensorFlow has an edge when it comes to model deployment. It provides TensorFlow Serving, and TensorFlow Lite for deploying models.

According to TensorFlow: TensorFlow Serving is a flexible, high-performance serving system for machine learning models, designed for production environments. It allows developers to easily deploy and manage multiple versions of their models in a single, unified environment and provides support for various model architectures such as deep learning models, Gradient Boosting Machines (GBMs), Decision Trees and more. By using TensorFlow Serving, developers can quickly and efficiently deploy their models in production without having to worry about the complexities of scaling, deployment and monitoring.

TensorFlow Lite is a lightweight version of TensorFlow designed for mobile devices. It can run on any device with a CPU and GPU, including iOS, Android, the web, and embedded devices.

In March 2020, PyTorch introduced TorchServe. TorchServe is an open source model serving library built on PyTorch that enables developers to deploy trained PyTorch models with just a few lines of code. TorchServe simplifies the process of deploying and managing machine learning models at scale and provides an easy-to-use API that allows developers to quickly build model serving applications. It also provides tools to monitor the performance of deployed models, as well as tools for managing model lifecycle.

Along with TorchServe, PyTorch also offers TorchScript which is a language for writing and executing models in PyTorch. It is designed to be easy to use and allows developers to quickly deploy models with minimal effort. TorchScript provides a high-level, imperative programming style for creating models, and also supports Python as a scripting language. Models written in TorchScript can be compiled to a graph representation that can be deployed on CPUs and GPUs.

3. Accuracy

The debate between PyTorch vs TensorFlow is one of the most popular topics in the deep learning community. Both frameworks offer powerful tools for creating complex neural networks and have been used to create some of the most successful deep learning applications. But which is more accurate?

When it comes to accuracy, there’s no clear winner between PyTorch and TensorFlow. For example, TensorFlow has a large library of pre-trained models that can be quickly deployed, but its static graph architecture may limit its ability to accurately capture more complex relationships in data. On the other hand, PyTorch offers more flexibility when it comes to network architectures, but its dynamic graph approach can lead to slower training times.

In general, PyTorch tends to have an edge when it comes to accuracy due to its dynamic graph approach. This allows for more powerful and flexible neural networks, which can lead to higher accuracy. Additionally, PyTorch also supports advanced techniques such as transfer learning, which can further improve accuracy.

4. Visualization

Let’s see what PyTorch and TensorFlow offers for Visualization.

TensorFlow offers a visualization library called TensorBoard. It provides a variety of tools that can be used to visualize and analyze training performance, such as scalar values, histograms, images, audio, text, and 3D plots. Additionally, TensorBoard allows users to track their model’s progress by recording events and displaying them in a timeline.

PyTorch, on the other hand, uses a different approach to visualization. It does not have an integrated visualization library like TensorBoard, but instead relies on third-party packages such as Visdom and Matplotlib. Visdom is a web-based tool for visualizing live training metrics. It supports a variety of plots such as line graphs, bar charts, and 3D scatter plots. Matplotlib is a Python library for creating static 2D and 3D graphs.

So, which framework is better for visualization?  If you are looking for an integrated solution, then TensorFlow’s TensorBoard is probably the way to go. However, if you need more flexibility, then using a third-party package such as Visdom or Matplotlib may be a better option. 

5. Distributed Training

Distributed training is the process of training a model on multiple machines simultaneously. This enables us to use more powerful hardware and take advantage of parallelism to speed up the training process. It also allows us to train larger models with more data. Let’s compare and contrast the two frameworks in terms of distributed training.

First, let's talk about PyTorch. PyTorch is a relatively new deep learning framework and is based on the Torch library. PyTorch offers a wide range of features for distributed training, such as distributed data parallelism and distributed model parallelism.

Distributed data parallelism is the process of splitting the data across multiple machines and training each machine on its own subset of the data. This enables us to use multiple machines to train a model on large datasets. PyTorch also supports Distributed model parallelism, which is the process of splitting the model across multiple machines and training each machine on its own subset of the model parameters.

On the other hand, TensorFlow is one of the oldest and most widely used deep learning frameworks. TensorFlow also offers support for distributed training. However, it does not offer the same level of flexibility as PyTorch as it does not support distributed model parallelism.

In conclusion, both PyTorch and TensorFlow offer support for distributed training. However, PyTorch is more flexible and offers more features for distributed training than TensorFlow. Therefore, if you are looking for a deep learning framework for distributed training, then PyTorch is the better choice.

6. Debugging

Debugging is a crucial step in the development process and it allows developers to identify and fix errors in their code.  PyTorch provides a better debugging experience because its debugger is more user-friendly and intuitive than the one provided by TensorFlow. PyTorch also has a more straightforward way to track errors and view the training process, making it easier to identify and fix issues. Also, in TensorFlow the user is required to learn TensorFlow’s debugger and the variables requested.

PyTorch vs TensorFlow:
Head-to-Head Comparison

FeaturesTensorFlowPyTorch
Programming LanguageWritten in Python, C++ and CUDAWritten in Python, C++, CUDA and is based on Torch (written in Lua)
DeveloperGoogleFacebook (now Meta AI)
GraphsStaticDynamic
API LevelHigh and LowLow
InstallationComplex GPU installationSimple GPU installation
DebuggingDifficult, requires the TensorFlow debugger toolEasy to debug due to dynamic computational process
FeaturesTensorFlowPyTorch
ArchitectureTensorFlow is difficult to use/implementDifficult to read and understand
Learning CurveDifficult to learnEasy to learn
APIs for Deployment/Serving FrameworkTensorFlow servingTorchServe
What’s the differenceEasy-to-develop modelsHighly “Pythonic”
Eco SystemWidely used at the production level in IndustryPyTorch is more prevalent in the research community
Application/UtilizationLarge-scale deploymentResearch-oriented and rapid prototype development

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Final Words 

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By abstracting the complexities of model deployment, integration, and optimization, Qwak brings agility and high velocity to all ML initiatives designed to transform business, innovate, and create competitive advantage.

This article gives an insight on what is PyTorch, and TensorFlow, their benefits and challenges and how they differ in terms of accuracy,deployment, debugging,mechanism, and visualization.

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