pip install vs. conda install

Question

After activating a virtualenv

source activate myVirtualEnv

how is pip install basemap different from conda install basemap? Both gave me different results, why is that?

pip install basemap

Collecting basemap
  Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement basemap (from versions: )
  Some externally hosted files were ignored as access to them may be unreliable (use --allow-external basemap to allow).
No matching distribution found for basemap

conda install basemap

Successfully installs

Answer 1

Pip installs from PyPI. There are no releases of the basemap package on PyPI, it is just a simple registration page pointing at the real download location (SourceForge).

Conda pulls from its own repository, typically with convenience builds of libraries common to the community Conda is aimed at. Conda's repository has a version of the basemap package available for installation, so it succeeds.

This is not to say that Pip is "worse" than Conda in this instance, as you could easily download the package and install it with pip locally. This particular library has just opted to not add releases to PyPI.