What Is the Difference Between is and == in Python?
Equality versus identity, and why `is None` is the one place `is` is standard.
Aditya Challa1 min read
Summary
In Python, == checks whether two objects have equal values, while is checks whether they are the exact same object in memory. Use == for comparing values and is mainly for singletons such as None.
Example
Use is for None
PEP 8 says comparisons to singletons like None should use is or is not, never the equality operators.
Pitfall: small ints and strings
x is 256 may appear to work because CPython caches some objects, but this is an implementation detail. Python 3.8+ warns with a SyntaxWarning when you use is with a literal.
Related: /blog/how-to-check-if-a-file-exists-in-python
Related: /blog/what-does-if-name-main-do-in-python
Sources
Lab evidence
What I found running this
Facts in this draft were checked on 12 Oct 2026 against the primary sources listed in the body (official docs, release schedules or Google/YouTube help pages). No benchmarks or timings were run, so the post makes no performance or measurement claims; dates are quoted as published by the maintainers, and any estimate is labelled as such.
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