The Qt website (www.qt.io/download) offers various methods of installation, including a customized online installer available to anyone with a Qt account (which is free to sign up for). Typically, a Qt installation comes with Qt Creator (the project IDE), the GUI designer, additional tools, and examples. Visiting the preceding site will automatically detect your system and suggest the most appropriate download (this is normally the best option).

Some operating systems offer Qt libraries and tools as part of their package manager, which often provides a more lightweight installation that'll automatically stay up to date. However, this option doesn't deliver the complete feature set of the Qt development tools, and the Qt bindings discussed in this chapter default to using the standard Qt installation provided by the online installer.