Pip can be configured to connect to other package repositories (local or remote), provided that they comply to Python Enhancement Proposal 503.

[8] First introduced as pyinstall in 2008 by Ian Bicking (the creator of the virtualenv package) as an alternative to easy install,[9][10] pip was chosen as the new name from one of several suggestions that the creator received on his blog post.

[11] According to Bicking himself, the name is a recursive acronym for "Pip Installs Packages".

[12] In 2011, the Python Packaging Authority (PyPA) was created to take over the maintenance of pip and virtualenv from Bicking, led by Carl Meyer, Brian Rosner, and Jannis Leidel.

Pip provides a way to install user-defined projects locally with the use of setup.py file.