What Is the Quickest Way to HTTP GET in Python?

When you're working with Python, sometimes you just want to grab the contents of a URL with as little friction as possible. Whether you're debugging an API, scraping data, or automating some monitoring script, knowing how to quickly perform an HTTP GET request is a must.

This post shows you the fastest ways to do it in Python, using both built-in modules and popular third-party libraries.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.x installed on your system
• Terminal access or a Python script file

No need for a full project structure. These are all one-liners or short snippets you can drop into your scripts.

Method 1: Using requests (Recommended for Most Use Cases)

The requests library is the most popular way to make HTTP requests in Python. It's not part of the standard library, but it's well-maintained and intuitive.

Install it first:

pip install requests

Then, to make a GET request:

import requests

response = requests.get("https://api.github.com")
print(response.status_code)
print(response.text)

Why it matters:

• Handles redirects, SSL, and headers out of the box
• Easy to work with JSON APIs (response.json())
• Supports timeouts, sessions, and retries

Use this when you're building anything more than a one-off script.

Method 2: Using http.client (Built-in, but Verbose)

If you don't want any external dependencies, http.client is built into the Python standard library.

import http.client

conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("api.github.com")
conn.request("GET", "/")
response = conn.getresponse()
print(response.status, response.read().decode())

Why it matters:

• No need to install anything
• Good for learning how HTTP works under the hood

However, it's quite low-level. You'll need to manage headers, handle redirects manually, and decode content yourself.

Method 3: Using urllib.request (Also Built-in, Slightly Cleaner)

urllib.request is another standard library option. It's higher-level than http.client but still less ergonomic than requests.

import urllib.request

with urllib.request.urlopen("https://api.github.com") as response:
    content = response.read().decode()
    print(content)

Why it matters:

• Standard library
• Less boilerplate than http.client

Still, you'll find yourself handling things manually more often.

Method 4: Using httpx (Modern Alternative to requests)

httpx is a newer HTTP client designed to work in both synchronous and asynchronous contexts. It's especially helpful if you're already using asyncio.

Install it with:

pip install httpx

Then:

import httpx

response = httpx.get("https://api.github.com")
print(response.status_code)
print(response.text)

Why it matters:

• Drop-in replacement for requests
• Supports async with httpx.AsyncClient()

Use this if you're building a modern async application or want better performance.

Bonus: One-Liner with requests in a Script or REPL

If you just need a quick test from the REPL:

__import__('requests').get('https://httpbin.org/get').text

Not pretty, but useful when debugging from the command line.

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For anything more than a throwaway script, stick with requests or httpx. Built-in tools are good in environments where you can't install packages or want to reduce dependencies.

Want to explore further? Try handling timeouts, setting custom headers, or working with APIs that require authentication.